..Practice Appreciation..

If asked, could you name the five wealthiest people in the world, or five people who have won the Nobel Prize, or the last five Academy Award winners for best actor and actress? The point is, none of us remembers the headliners of yesterday. When the applause dies, the awards tarnish, and achievements are forgotten, no one cares about who won which award.

But if I asked you to list five teachers or mentors who believed in you and encouraged you, five friends who have helped you through a difficult time, five people who have taught you something worthwhile, or five people who have made you feel appreciated and special - that’s much easier to do, isn’t it?

That’s because the people who make a difference in your life aren’t the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They’re the ones who care. If you want to be remembered for being important to someone else’s life, make them feel appreciated.

If we start focusing on what we have and what you're grateful for, we will begin to see more eventually. Apparently, the tiniest feeling of gratitude can make a big difference and gratitude journals are said to help us appreciate life more and find greater happiness.

Appreciation as a Secret of Success
Another important reason for being in a state of appreciation as often as possible is that when you are in such a state, you are in one of the highest emotional states possible.

When you are in a state of appreciation and gratitude, you are in a state of abundance. You are appreciating what you do in stead of focusing on, and complaining about, what you don’t have. Your focus is on what you have received.. and you always get more of what you focus on.

And because the law of attraction states that like attracts like, the more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract to be grateful for. It becomes an upward-spiraling process of ever-increasing abundance that just keeps getting better and better.

Think about it. The more grateful people are for the gifts we give them, the more inclined we are to give them more gifts. Their gratitude and appreciation reinforces our giving and vice versa. The same principle holds true on a universal and spiritual level as it does on an interpersonal level.

Keeping Score
When I first learned about the power of appreciation, it made total sense to me. However, it was still something that I forgot to do. Sceptical and curious as I was, I decided to start one myself. I hadn’t yet turned it into a habit.

A valuable technique that I employed to help me lock in this new habit was that every time I acknowledged and appreciated someone or rather something, I would place an entry in my digital notepad which can be easily accessible through most cellular phone or if by great chance my lappy is handy at that particular moment will make an entry straight to my daily live journal.

Usually, I would not allow myself to go to bed until I had appreciated 10 people or thankful for something. If it was late in the evening and I didn’t have 10 check marks, I would appreciate my family and friends (that's if I haven't done so earlier), I would send an e-mail to several friends, or I would talk to any of my parent or siblings. I did whatever it took until it became an unconscious habit.

To my surprise, it actually worked. At the end of the week, I was deeply aware how lucky I am. Being thankful for the littlest things in life and appreciate those people around you that had enliven your day may be silly for some people but it does change the way you look at life. Gratitude helps one to appreciate everything more, big and small.

I challenge you to discover ways to immediately appreciate someone, something in your life..starting today!