When we feel down or blue, often we remind ourselves to be grateful for what we have. Gratitude is a wonderful way to uplift our spirit, and to say ‘Thank you’ to someone who has done something good to us.
It is a common pratice for spiritual seekers to make a list of things we should be grateful for. Instead of complaining for what we don’t like, or what we don’t have, we shift our attention to the things we like and the things we do have. And a feeling of gratitude pervades our being.
Last night, as I was falling asleep, I thought of all the things I should be grateful for. But then, I remembered the words of Abraham, the best Law of Attraction teachers, through the workshops of Jerry and Esther Hicks. I have been following the way they teach the Laws of the Universe for many years, and it has been a life changing experience.
Besides gratitude, we often talk about appreciation. Are they comparable? Can using one over the other make a difference? Looking at the literal meaning of each word:
grat•i•tude
The state of being grateful; thankfulness.
ap•pre•ci•a•tion
The act of estimating the qualities of things and giving them their proper value.
A rise in value or price.
Recognition of the quality, value, significance, or magnitude of people and things.
Going deeper, feeling thankful can also imply the opposite vibration of something that can be taken away, or won’t be there in the future. While appreciating something adds value to it, with no strings attached.
If you have an old car and feel really grateful that it’s working well, you are also thanking the fact that it hasn’t broken down yet. Subconsciously, it goes something like, ‘I am grateful to have this car, let’s hope that it will continue to serve me, as it has so far’.
The energy field of the car is blessed, of course. But it doesn’t make a quantum jump.
If you really appreciate your old car, you increase its intrinsic value. With it, you appreciate the human genius that brought it into existence, the beauty, the comfort of easy transportation, and the feeling of freedom it gives you. ‘I so appreciate my car. I truly love it.’ There is no inherent worry that the car may not work tomorrow. It’s loved for what it is here and now. The energy field of the car is blessed, and at the same time increased.
When you are grateful to someone, you acknowledge what they have done. The giver benefits from knowing that they have given you hope. But when you appreciate someone’s action, you have added something to it, and given it a life of its own. The giver benefits from receiving back the increased value, your love.
Feeling grateful is still a wonderful feeling, especially when we express thanks to other people. But when we understand the small quantum leap that appreciation can give, we can easily go a step further and start adding our own value to external circumstances, people and things. We blend our own energy, with the energy of the world. We contribute to the expansion of things.
This way, through our thoughts and feelings, we add beauty, we increase love, we are an active part in the miracle of creation.
With gratitude comes hope. With appreciation comes knowing.
reginaldc
Marty
Elizabeth Barrette
Kim Woodbridge
