22 Days of Gratitude
This month on my Facebook Page, readers are joining me in expressing gratitude each day from November 1st – Thanksgiving (in the US, November 22nd.) I’ve blogged elsewhere about The True Meaning of Appreciation, but I wanted to touch on it here too. To appreciate something, we don’t just notice it and add it our list of “things I’m thankful for.” Rather, we notice the thing, and then we take some time to bask in it. We spend a few moments truly relishing this person, place or thing. True appreciation means “to increase in value.” When you take time to look at the beauty around you and soak it in, to really taste the food you’re eating, one delicious bite at a time, to honestly listen to the person you’re with and think about what he’s saying, you are increasing the value of each of these things in your own mind and heart. The more we appreciate the things around us, the more we attract things to us that we will appreciate even more.
You cannot improve your life by looking at everything you do not like, and taking notes of what could be better. Criticizing everything about your home, your job, your friends, your relatives, the meal you just ate or the movie you just saw might seem like a fun pastime, but when you do it, you’re inviting more things with the same qualities that you’re griping about. And trust me, they’ll come to you.
So when you have to do something you don’t like, approach it with a happy heart, find something to enjoy about it, and get it out of the way. Then let it go. Don’t spend the week prior complaining and dreading it, and the week after griping about how awful it was, or your to-do list will fill up with assignments just like it.
And bask in what’s good. Basking is one of the healthiest things we can do to improve every single aspect of our lives. Give thanks this month of Thanksgiving. And while you’re at it, pause and truly relish each of those things you’re giving thanks for.
I hope you’ll check out the newly designed and just relaunched Maggie Shayne home site. Next week (on Black Friday) visit me on Facebook for news of a hot new multi-author contest in which you can win a Kindle Fire HD and a dozen other prizes!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Enjoy your abundance.
#maggieshayne #lifecoaching #basking #thanksgiving #appreciation #Gratitude