Gratitude is a wonderfully powerful emotion. Appreciation is the positive attitude or mind-set that we have when we're experiencing gratitude and acknowledging all the abundance in our lives. The heart's feeling (gratitude) and the mind's perception (appreciation) come together to create in us an emotional and mental state of abundance. Then the Universe responds to our vibration, mirroring it back to us by bringing us situations and people that reflect our inner state of wealth and plenty.
To create gratitude and appreciation, you may have to adjust your way of thinking. Thoughts influence our feelings, and often we'll bury negative beliefs in our subconscious because they create uncomfortable emotions. By recognizing these beliefs and replacing them with more uplifting thoughts, we make it easier to experience positive feelings.
Then, too, it's very easy to fall into a pattern of focusing on the negative and seeing the glass as halfempty, your bank account balance as "not enough," your partner as lacking, and so on. If you make a point of recognizing and acknowledging the positive aspects of your life, you'll be appreciative. You'll not only feel gratitude and have a great attitude, you'll actually appreciate, or nurture, your feeling of having been blessed, which will increase your ability to draw in and maintain wealth.
Every day, you can choose to create feelings of wonder, excitement, abundance, and gratitude. When you get up in the morning, take a moment to say a prayer of gratitude that you're waking to a day filled with possibilities and that you have the health to enjoy it and the freedom to choose your emotions regardless of what happens. Savor your breakfast. Say a prayer of thanks for your food, and imagine that every person in the world is sitting down to a nice, inviting breakfast just as you're doing. While you visualize millions of people enjoying their morning meal, feel abundance and gratitude. Imagine your wonderful feeling of plenty carrying across the world and entering the heart of every person on the planet. Your mind may try to protest, saying, But there are people starving in the world! That's true today, but it doesn't have to be true tomorrow. When you feel abundance and are inspired to share it with others, you lift others up to your level of abundance. It all starts with feeling gratitude and plenitude, and with the desire to share those feelings.
Throughout the day, stop yourself again and again as you go about your usual business and create a sense of gratitude that you envision spreading into the hearts of people everywhere. Feel thankfulness for your clothes as you're getting dressed. Be grateful for those people who grew and harvested the cotton that went into the material of your clothes, as well as those who diligently sewed them, packed them, shipped them, and sold them. Feel thankful for your car, your children, and the wonderful neighborhood and schools they enjoy as you drive them around. Be thankful for your dog as you go for a walk, or your cats as you feed them. At every opportunity, all day long, create feelings of abundance and wonder for what you have. Be in awe of your good fortune.
Make a point of sharing your own abundance with others so that you may inspire them to feel abundant, too. Even if you only have a cramped studio apartment, a box of crackers, and some apples to serve as refreshments, invite people over. Let them share in your bounty. Allow them to enjoy your loving home and to feel the energy radiating from your smile. Be generous with your time, money, love, and encouragement. Inspire them to laugh as you tell them a joke and share your sense of humor. Being able to share what you have will make you feel more abundant.
In his book Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl recalled how when he was imprisoned in German concentration camps in World War II, some of his fellow prisoners, who were starving and forced to do manual labor, would give away their last precious scrap of bread and offer comfort to others. These people understood that no one had the power to take away their freedom to choose to be positive and express compassion, and they decided that holding on to their humanity was absolutely crucial for their well-being. Frankl believed that positive feelings and attitudes were what kept men and women alive in the grimmest conditions. We can all learn about the value of sharing our own abundance with others from this example.
So replace any feelings of scarcity with ones of abundance, and share your resources with those around you. Offer whatever you can, whether it's money, assistance, love, compassion, or practical help. Be sure that you're open to what other people's needs are, rather than imposing your own ideas on them. Ask them, "What can I do to help you?" Then give from the heart and enjoy the feeling of abundance you experience as a result.
You can also create the powerful feelings of gratitude and abundance by being thankful for others' abundance. If you resist the tendency to be envious or to feel competitive with those who are experiencing wealth and riches, you can truly enjoy their success and cultivate your own at the same time.
In our culture, we're rarely encouraged to appreciate others' wealth and abundance. Mostly we're encouraged to do the opposite. There are many Websites, TV shows, and tabloids devoted to criticizing and ridiculing successful people, and it's become commonplace to cast suspicions on anyone who is wealthy, famous, or powerful. Every time we engage in negative beliefs about wealth and create feelings of competitiveness and jealousy, we miss an opportunity to create feelings of gratitude and abundance.
Recently, Denis, Michel, and I were visiting a resort area in the U.S. where many wealthy people have second homes and enjoy owning and driving restored vintage cars and other rare, expensive vehicles. We had great fun looking at all of these marvelous cars, pointing, smiling, waving, and tooting our own horn and giving the thumbs-up to those riding in a bright blue 1920s-style roadster with canary-yellow wheel covers, a two-toned '50s sedan, or a bold red '60s convertible with leather interior.
The drivers and their riders would inevitably smile and wave back. We were vicariously enjoying their abundance and creating a sense of gratitude and thankfulness. After all, it was as if we'd gotten free tickets to a car show! What a delightful surprise to see so many curious vehiclesand the drivers were clearly enjoying themselves as they shared their abundance with us and were taking great pleasure in our admiration of their cars. It was a wonderful day, and we had fun keeping an eye out for the next unusual vehicle.
When we appreciate others' value and abundance, we help them to feel abundance instead of lack and to give from generosity and the desire to share their wealth rather than from any need to ease their feelings of inadequacy, powerlessness, or unworthiness.
We've all experienced people who pressure us to take their advice or adopt their way of thinking. This can be quite a challenge, especially if they're forceful and we're feeling insecure. When this happens, create feelings of faith, creativity, and abundance.
Appreciate the other person's abundance of ideas, which he or she is willing to share with you. Be open to what that individual has to offer you, but remain in your positive feelings of abundance and confidence so that you can be discerning about the advice given.
One of my clients, Annette, was urged by a wellmeaning friend, who was a real estate agent, to buy a house instead of continuing to rent. The agent insisted that Annette was losing a great deal of money by renting, and that she'd better act immediately or she'd lose even more. The friend didn't stand to gain financially from a sale, because she lived in a different city and wasn't going to make a commission. However, she had strong feelings of fear and unworthiness and was trying hard to convince Annette to buy a home in order to ease her own uncomfortable feelings. She also genuinely wanted to be of value to Annette and hoped to protect her from what she felt was a very real danger.
Annette listened to her friend's advice and thanked her for it, but she made a point of not becoming fearful or creating feelings of irritation or resentment as she was pressured. She valued her friend's love and kindness and expressed appreciation for it, knowing that as she did, she'd make it easier for her friend to replace feelings of unworthiness with feelings of worthiness. Then, Annette did more research, talked to her accountant and her banker, and ultimately chose to continue renting for a while and to focus on creating wealth, paying off her debts, improving her credit rating, and saving money for a down payment and closing costs. Annette's positive emotions allowed her to buy a house when she was ready to and not commit to a mortgage and high monthly payments. By
remaining in a positive state, she was able to make the right choice for herself.
We all make more informed decisions, experience clarity, and manage our money much better when we operate from positive emotions. We create greater abundance for ourselves and others when we truly appreciate all the wealth we have in our lives and all that others have in theirs. Today, make a point of appreciating. Feel gratitude and increase the abundance in yourself and others.
I deeply appreciate all the love in my life. I am deeply valued and deeply blessed. I am rich with love and support. I am grateful for all the wisdom and resources available to me. I have a wealth of people who care about me and who enjoy seeing me experience
abundance. I love to share my riches with them, and they love to return the favor.
I have unlimited possibilities before me. I enjoy boundless resources. I have wisdom and common sense. I am a gold mine of opportunity and wealth!