Healing thoughts from the trail...

Appreciate

I walk and pray every day. Once when I was on a walk I was frustrated and confused about how to pray. This is a challenge I experience quite often. Instead of just praying or meditating and sticking with one thing, I jump from practice to practice and remain in my head way too much. 

On this particular day, I asked the Universe for some help and I heard the word “appreciate.” I was aware of the practice of appreciation from a course I had purchased from coach extraordinaire Jesse Elder so on this particular day I launched into the practice that is listed below and felt an immediate shift in energy. You could say I went from frustration to peace and joy. After initiating this practice I have experienced this shift hundreds of times now and that's why I'm excited to share it with you.

Gratitude and appreciation are choices

People seem to be recognizing that gratitude and appreciation are the antidotes to the fear, addiction, and narcissism that is so prevalent everywhere you turn today.

Sometimes gratitude and appreciation just well up inside you, but most of the time it’s a choice. As Henry Nouwen says, there are many occasions when “I can choose gratitude instead of a complaint.”*

Abundance

Gratitude and appreciation help us to shift to a place and attitude of abundance too. I want to practice appreciation for everyone and everything I see. I want to appreciate the things that I do that align with Self because I believe that "what we appreciate, appreciates.”** 

If you are trapped in negativity exemplified by fear and scarcity, then you can almost immediately make a change by shifting your focus to what you appreciate and are grateful for instead. 

Change the energy in the room

My Dad is a great example of the energy created with appreciation and abundance. He believes everyone can be great and he’s one of those people that changes the energy in a room for the better. One time we were on a father son fishing trip and we had different fishing guides each time out for the week. By the end of the week the guides were fighting over who would guide my Dad that day because they loved having him in their boat and they thought he was good luck!

Let's do this!

I’m feeling motivated and inspired just writing about this. I want to do it right now.

As I become aware of my thoughts and notice my surroundings, I breathe in and breathe out gratitude.

I delight in humanity and nature because I believe that to do so is a divine activity and I expand as I do so.

Joy!

Mindfulness Practice:

Think of something you appreciate, or simply notice something and appreciate it. I’ll use my Under Armour® baseball hat as an example because it’s sitting on my desk as I write this. (See photo below).

> I appreciate my Under Armour® baseball hat.

Ask why you appreciate the item, person, place or thing that you are appreciating and see what surfaces.

> Why do I appreciate my Under Armour® baseball hat?

• I appreciate that it’s a good looking hat (the best looking hat I’ve ever owned) and I think I look good in it.

Keep going as far as you can...

> Why do I appreciate looking good in my Under Armour® baseball hat?

• It feels good to look good and I like feeling good.

> Why do I appreciate feeling good?

• I appreciate feeling good because it changes my energy from negative to positive. I'm simply happier when I feel good, so bring it on!

I think that’s as far as I can go with this one. The answers aren’t as important as the way it makes you feel. When I do this exercise I feel a lot happier and over time my gratitude and appreciation grows, breaking my  cycle of negativity that leads to my desire to medicate myself with things that aren’t life enhancing.

Practice appreciation throughout your day

Take appreciation breaks. Jesse recommends you practice appreciation at different times during the day. For example, at lunch look back on your morning and appreciate the things you have accomplished and then at the end of your day, do it again.

Shifting to a place of gratitude and joy

When I was commuting to a job 30 minutes from my home I would often do this exercise all the way to work or back home at the end of the day i.e. I appreciate that sparkling new Land Rover beside me on the road. Why? It looks amazing and the person who owns it must have worked hard to make the money to purchase it. Why do I appreciate that? Because it’s good for the economy. Their hard work and purchase is providing jobs and raising stock prices. Why do I appreciate that? Because (at the time I was working for a non-profit) when the economy is good people have money to donate to charities. Why do I appreciate that? Because the money donated to my charity is helping people find work and keeping me employed… Again, it wasn’t the answers that were important as the feeling and abundance it opened me up to.  I felt it and by the time I got to work or back home I was in a place of gratitude and joy.

In process,

Rod

FOOTNOTES

*Henri Nouwen (2013). “The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming”, p.85

**Jesse Elder