How Can the Art of Appreciation Transform Your Life and Your Business?

We all know that it feels good to be appreciated, but we may not know all of the benefits of appreciation. 

Below is an article I found that will outline to you some great benefits of how appreciation will transform your life in so many ways.

Isabella ❤ 

------------------------

Article Source: Amanda Emily

Are you feeling a little flat at the moment? Not manifesting your desires the way you had hoped? It could be that things in your personal life are going great, but not so well business wise? Maybe you are entering your work space each morning with dread, or overwhelmened? Or it could be completely visa versa for you and your work or business is moving perfectly, but your personal life is pretty ordinary?

One thing for sure is that the 'art of appreciation' really can transform your life in so many ways. Why? Because when you appreciate, you vibrate at a level similar to love, joy and happiness... The more you appreciate - the more you receive to appreciate.

So where can appreciating really have an impact on your life?

Appreciation and raising your vibration will support you in improving so many areas of your life. It can help you transform a good mood into an even better one. You can enhance your relationship with your loved ones, by remembering and appreciating their good points (rather than all the things that annoy you) and the reasons why you love them in the first place. You might find yourself in a negative situation that feels uncomfortable and threatening to you, and therefore, you want to take control of your own vibration. Or you might generally be feeling low and down and you want to change the way you are feeling, even slightly, so that you can improve your present situation.

It really is simply about directing pleasant thoughts in your mind to objects you wish to appreciate and then maintaining those feelings.

So let's take a closer look at the art of appreciation...

How do we appreciate, especially if we are in a situation which might feel pretty hopeless?

Firstly, take a look around you and find something that pleases you. This can be anything you wish - it does not need to be anything major. It may be your pet, a cup of coffee. If you are driving - it may be a beautiful piece of countryside, or a gorgeous village you are driving through. If in a shopping market, it may be your favourite chocolate bar, or a cute baby in front of you... Whatever pleases you. The longer you focus - the more your positive feeling will increase and the higher your vibration will be.

Secondly, once you notice your improved feeling - begin to appreciate even more around you to improve your circumstance even further. Once your good feeling is noticeably stronger than when you began, look around and choose another pleasing object that you can appreciate and place your positive attention on it. The more objects you can appreciate, the higher you vibrate. The longer you focus upon things that feel good to you, the easier it is for you to maintain those vibrational frequencies that feel good.

So - for example - say you are driving throughout the countryside... You begin to appreciate the dramatic colours of green and the rolling hills; probably hills that in the past you have taken for granted. You then appreciate the trees and buds that have begun to bloom, the gorgeous wildlife and an old building that you hadn't really noticed before. You then begin to appreciate your car, because it is raining outside and you are pleased that you are able to enjoy such beautiful scenery, whilst remaining dry. And before you know it - you feel fantastic and you remember how much there really is to appreciate in the world. You are truly living in your wonderful now!

What about appreciating in business?

You are feeling frustrated that you are not generating the income you desire, or attracting the clients you wish. You long for more income so that you can invest in the business and start attracting the clients you wish. Everyday you get more and more frustrated as things just do not seem to be manifesting for you.

But - are you really using all the tools and resources that you already have. Are you appreciating your present situation?

For example, how about the computer you are using? The internet that allows you to connect with anyone in the world? The incredible social media that is now open to us so we can create relationships with anyone we desire? How about the support network you have of like minded people? What about the pen you have to write with and the books you have to read? The list goes on and on - and you can see that, as you really begin to focus on all that is around you, how much there truly is to appreciate and how you can make this work to your advantage in raising your vibration to a high level.

So - how do you go about practising the art of appreciation long term?

Initially, it would be ideal to set aside 10/15 mins each day to practice this process (not long considering it will dramatically change your present circumstances). After a few days, you can increase the amount of time you do this exercise, although you will naturally begin to do so anyway. You will begin to find more and more things to appreciate and it will begin to be a genuine feeling that will regularly leave you with goose bumps. These feelings confirm that you are in alignment with 'who you are' and where you are intending to go and what you are manifesting.

"The more you find something to appreciate, the better it feels, the better it feels, the more you want to do it; the more you do it; the better it feels the better it feels... the more you want to do it" (Abraham-Hicks)

Now the point here is that the more you maintain these good feelings and the more you keep your vibration high - the more the law of attraction will deliver to you other thoughts, experiences, people and circumstances that will please you. This is a critical part that people leave out when trying to use the law of attraction... The feeling fantastic in your 'now' part.

How can we ever expect to attract exciting, amazing, happy, joyful and prosperous experiences, if we do not feel this way already and are not appreciating what we already have?

It's important to remember that the more you practice the art of appreciation, the less resistance you will have in your own vibrational frequencies... And the less resistance you have, the better your life will be.

Once you get into the flow of appreciating, day after day, week after week - no resistant will exist and you will be in an exaggerated state of allowing. Your vibration will be in a position where all the things and circumstances you have desired for so long will begin to flow to you like a flower effortlessly blooms. The problems we tend to experience when manifesting our ideal circumstance is that we just try far too hard: we try far too hard to control the situation, rather than merely working on our feelings and our vibration.

The only thing that will ever hold you back in attracting what you desire is your own achievement of resistance. The art of appreciation will support you in aligning vibrationally to those objects that you desire and you will begin to practice the art of receiving.

"Once you have made a decision that nothing is more important than that you feel good and you have decided that you are going to consciously look for some things to appreciate today, the object your attention has now become the feeling of appreciation. You have now established a circuit between you and that object of appreciation that the law of attraction will begin working on immediately, so you will start seeing more things to appreciate right away" (Abraham-Hicks)

What steps are you going to take to feel good today and start appreciating your now? How are you going to work on raising your vibration? Are you going to make the decision to let things go, appreciate your now and go with the flow?

I would love to hear your comments on how this is working/not working for you?

Thanks so much for spending time with me here today - I really appreciate you!

Make it a transformational day!

-----------------------------------

 Come and join us in our DailyGratitude4Life Facebook Group of friends and gain in the benefits of writing your daily gratitude to help transform your life. 

 Subscribe to our BellaVita4Life Free Online Magazine App to help you achieve a healthy and meaningful life which is essential to balance your body, mind and soul.

 Come and join us in our BellaVita4Life-MagazineFacebook Page. We provide information to help you to reach your full potential and strive towards emotional, spiritual, social, financial and physical success and to improve your overall wellbeing.

Isabella ❤ 

Gratitude - Is It a Set Up for Failure?

A great question to ponder.  Are you grateful for you?  If not, why not?

Isabella ❤ 

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. John F. Kennedy

Article Source: Joleen Halloran

An attitude of gratitude has always been a precursor for living in a good moral standing. Those that are not grateful, we are told, will be miserable, will not go the heaven, or will not receive more. But this very notion that we must be grateful in order to "get" something else, is a set up for failure. Here is why.

To be truly grateful for something means that we value it, appreciate it, and have an authentic unconditional love of it. Gratitude, as a platitude, is actually the exact opposite of truthfully appreciating something or valuing it. Feigning gratitude in words or even with forced emotion is really another form of lying. If you are grateful, you live within it, you do not need to advertise it. Not that there is anything wrong with advertising it, but unfortunately many think a demonstration of gratitude is merely convincing ourselves and others how much we have it.

We have been told, "Be grateful for what you have or else you will not receive more." So, we started ticking off our items to be grateful for and making sure that everyone else knows it too. We are also told that we must be grateful for God. Those that are not grateful to God are in big trouble in the hereafter. We are also told that "not" being grateful is behavior of only the most vile, selfish people.

All of these conditioned beliefs set us up for guilt, shame, unworthiness, and despair. I'm such a miserable person, I don't even appreciate what I have, and so on. We shout and reverberate our gratitude for God because deep down, we fear that not being grateful means we will not have a chance for His grace or worse, that we might go to hell. But if we are not truly grateful for what we have, it's not because we are bad or evil, it's because we are asleep (metaphorically). Gratitude is an innate quality to the soul and individual spirit of man. We don't have to feign it, we are it. If we experience moments in our lives that point out our un-gratefulness, we should be shouting hallelujah, I have been shown the light.

Here is an example. Most people feel that they should be grateful for their jobs. Many people today have been heard to say, "I know times are tough, so I am so grateful for my job." Which is another way of saying, "I really hate my job but at least, thankfully, I am better off than a lot of other people right now." This is not gratitude, it's resignation and/or attempt to build up our own self-worth from the backs of other more unfortunate unemployed people. First of all, if you were truly grateful about your job, you probably would not feel a need to declare it. You would live it! Your job would be an extension of your gratitude for it. You would know this because your job makes you feel good, helps you to contribute, and provides not only monetary needs, but emotional and spiritual desires as well.

If you are complaining about "it", whatever or whoever "it" is - news flash, you are not grateful. If you cannot be happy within this moment, and you are constantly looking forward to the next day, or the next exciting event, or even wishing this moment would hurry up and be over, guess what, you are not grateful for what you have. When you wish for, pine for, fight for, anything, you are not grateful for what you have. If you see anything as missing from your life, then you are not grateful for it. Gratitude is unconditional acceptance of what IS. Seem harsh?

Some of you might say, "Hey, I wish for and I will fight for peace." Why? Is it missing in your life? If it wasn't, why would you feel like you need to fight for it? For others? Find it in your own heart first, then see what needs to be done to promote peace. Peace, Love, Joy and so on are not won because we refuse to accept their absence - they are won when we admit their presence. See, if we can't embrace the wholeness and completeness of where we are now, then we will always be grasping for it in the future. No amount of demonstrating, shouting, commiserating, or scheming will change it, even if we do it with the banner of love and gratitude in our hand. Peace is. Love is. Gratitude is.

A recent strategy for developing a sense of gratitude is keeping a gratitude journal. This is something I do myself, but it is within this deep contemplation about what I am truly grateful for that brought to light the set up. I noticed that as I was ticking off things I am "supposed" to be grateful for, how rote and contrived my list began to feel. I was really just paying lip service to them. I guess the theory is that the more we say it in our minds, the more we might believe it? I used to write every day how grateful I am for my family. Really, then why do complain about them, judge or criticize them (even if only in my head). A harsh reality for me was when I realized I was not really all that grateful for them. This is a tough message, I know. It sure was for me. But blame, guilt or shame is not the answer to this dilemma. The answer comes from acceptance, forgiveness, love and compassion, both to myself and to my family. The solutions and the corrections must come from the truth.

Living from a false premise "I am grateful for my family", when truly you have never really forgiven so and so for what they said, or really you wish so and so would change, and really you are so disappointed in so and so - is not only robbing yourself of authentic living, but you will never find a solution to those feelings by living "as if" they weren't true and feigning a sense of gratitude.

The resolutions to what you are "not" truly grateful for cannot come from an attitude of denial. Don't feel bad because you still resent Aunt Mary for what she said ten Thanksgivings ago, feel curious. Not for why Aunt Mary said it, but for why you still resent her for it. What wake-up call is this giving you? When you value Aunt Mary, when you appreciate her and show that appreciation in your actions and behaviors towards her - then you are grateful for her. Until then, work on the real root cause of the conflict in you. This does not mean you have to be fake or unkind to Aunt Mary, just that you know in your own heart and soul, you still have feelings of conflict about her that YOU need to address.

The notion that we cannot have more until we are grateful for what we have is true, but the part that was left out was, you must TRULY be grateful for them. That is again, the set up. The idea is that if we "act" grateful (and some of us even truly believe we are grateful by the English definition of the word), then more things will work out our way. Then we scratch our heads in wonder about why things are not working out for us, we are so grateful after all! Acting ungrateful by not recognizing or being flowery with our thanks and so on, will obviously make others not like us (we are told anyway). But really, acting ungrateful is just being honest. That does not make it admirable perhaps, but neither is fake gratitude.

Altruist behaviors that are done out of disingenuous gratitude require recognition. If you expect recognition, or are disappointed because you didn't get it, then your grateful actions are not genuine. These types of generous actions are done for your benefit, not the recipients. This is not to say stop doing them - they still may be helping someone else, but please consider your motives and your intentions when giving to others to express your gratitude. Don't worry, if you are truly grateful, you'll show it appropriately. It will be natural and effortless. You do not have to come up with elaborate or flamboyant action to demonstrate true gratitude.

My intention with this article is not to make you feel bad. On the contrary, my intention is to give you some relief and hope. You are not a "bad" person if you are not grateful - unconscious, misled, or metaphorically asleep, perhaps, but not bad or mean. This contemplation about gratitude is an opportunity to get yourself straight on what you really value and appreciate, and what you may want to work through internally to release so that you "can" truly be grateful.

I know that many of you have things and people in your life that you are truly grateful for. You may have noticed that when you just let gratitude unfold from genuine appreciation and value, that these things just continue to grow and take root in your life. Take some time to consider how you value yourself and others. Be an advocate to others by expressing gratitude for yourself and to God by how you conduct your life. If you are not there yet, don't fake it. Be patient and compassionate instead. Yes, gratitude is an essential element for living from the highest moral and spiritual standpoint, but so are honesty, authenticity and love. Gratitude, like other inherent qualities you always have available to you (love, joy, peace) are not fake it until you make it emotions. It takes awakening to see it in yourself, not enforcement. Expressing unconditional honesty and love IS gratitude. You should almost NEVER have to say it. It must be lived.

Here are a couple of ideas to think about while you are contemplating your great-fullness in your life:

• What you value and appreciate expands. If you are feeling like things you should be grateful for are lacking (like family, job, relationships, finances), consider how you value them right now. Can you see that by devaluing them (considering them lacking) pushes these things away, not brings them closer to you?
• Please do not fall into the ego trap of feigning gratitude for gain. True gratitude is lived and experienced, not forced with words and deeds. Be truly grateful first - the deeds will come.
• Gratitude emerges from the source. Are you grateful for you? Do you value yourself by always honoring yourself with love and grace? Or, do you find something lacking? Begin within, only then can you be experience gratitude.
• Take any small item in your life that you love and consider it deeply. Like a kitchen knife. How do you care for this item? Do you sharpen it? Do you always make sure it is clean so you can use it all the time? Do you always reach for it? Now contrast your value to your favorite item to your favorite person. How do you express your appreciation of this person?
• Please consider deeply the difference between value and appreciating something or someone and obsessing and controlling them. This is an important idea I will leave you with because, even though it speaks to authentic gratitude, it is a topic worth exploring in-depth, perhaps in another article. I think logically you know that obsessing and controlling is not gratitude - so where do you stand on this?

----------------------

 Come and join us in our DailyGratitude4Life Facebook Group of friends and gain in the benefits of writing your daily gratitude to help transform your life. 

 Subscribe to our BellaVita4Life Free Online Magazine App to help you achieve a healthy and meaningful life which is essential to balance your body, mind and soul.

 Come and join us in our BellaVita4Life-MagazineFacebook Page. We provide information to help you to reach your full potential and strive towards emotional, spiritual, social, financial and physical success and to improve your overall wellbeing.

Isabella ❤ 

How to Develop an Attitude of Gratitude

Much has been said about the benefits of adopting an attitude of gratitude to live a happier life. This is because when you get into the habit of being grateful, you literally open the door for blessings to constantly flow into your life. But you don't have to wait for huge things to happen in order to feel grateful, because those will manifest naturally just by becoming grateful for what you already have... today, right now.

Article Source: Tamara Baruhovich

You see, once you get into feeling grateful regularly for the things that others may take for granted, you will be creating a cycle that goes from feeling grateful to great things happening in your life to feeling happier to feeling grateful all over again, and again... It becomes a positive cycle that can just improve upon itself as you go.

Someone once said that... "Blessings are always there; we just don't notice them. Gratitude clears the haze that obscures the gifts surrounding us." That is such a powerful saying! You might want to read that again, and let its meaning sink into your being. In fact, blessings are all around us. But when we allow ourselves to get overwhelmed with daily challenges is not easy to acknowledge those blessings.

Speaking of quotes, I once heard this one by Sarah Ban Breathnach... "When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present -love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure- the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth." In other words, being truly grateful allows us to experience Heaven on our day to day existence. As you know life is about choices, and if we choose to live being grateful, we can experience a sublime life. In some cases, we are able to transcend the ordinary by just living in a grateful state.

In reality, we live and die by our choices. You can choose to walk around frustrated and complaining about everything that is wrong or you can choose to look at the bright side of things and commit to living with an attitude of gratitude.

Here are a couple of examples:

You have a meeting at work and it didn't go as expected, BUT... fortunately you had a work meeting to go to. Think of the thousands of people who are jobless at the present time!

You had an argument with your teenage son because of his messy room, BUT... you are fortunate to have a child to teach right from wrong as he becomes a responsible adult. Remember that there are parents with troubled teenagers and homeless teenagers with no parents to guide them!

Yes, life can throw some tough curve balls at us, BUT fortunately we are still standing. You see, adopting an attitude of gratitude can transform your life. It can literally turn the tide around and cause you to perceive things from a different angle. This will -in turn- create more favorable events in your life.

I challenge you today to keep an attitude of gratitude, and keep it going every day. No matter how disappointed you may be, strive to always find a reason to be grateful. There are plenty in every person's life, believe me!

-----------------

 Come and join us in our DailyGratitude4Life Facebook Group of friends and gain in the benefits of writing your daily gratitude to help transform your life. 

 Subscribe to our BellaVita4Life Free Online Magazine App to help you achieve a healthy and meaningful life which is essential to balance your body, mind and soul.

 Come and join us in our BellaVita4Life-MagazineFacebook Page. We provide information to help you to reach your full potential and strive towards emotional, spiritual, social, financial and physical success and to improve your overall wellbeing.

Isabella ❤

How Being Grateful For What You Have Will Make You A More Positive Person

If you ever have wondered why other people had something that you were not able to get, you probably felt as if life were unfair. This is negative thinking that needs to be eliminated from your life. Think back to when you were a child.

There were plenty of times that you could not get what you wanted and it could have been a toy to that extra Popsicle. Your parents probably told you to be grateful for what you have. You probably did not know what this meant at such a young age, but it was a wise lesson. As adults, one of the most important things you can do is being grateful for what you have.

The reason that being grateful for what you have is such an important lesson in life is because you will be a much more positive person. You will not focus on any of the negative things in your life because you will be so focused on what you have. Not only is positive thinking great for your mind, it also is great for your health. So many people worry so much in their lives that it ends up affecting their health in a negative way. You can prevent illnesses in your life by thinking positively and being grateful.

Another reason why being grateful for what you have is so important is because there are people who would do anything for what you have. It may not seem like much to you because you might want more, but to those less fortunate, it is the world to them. This is why it is important to be grateful because there always is someone who has it worse than you do. You will be able to realize how blessed you are to have what you have.

Being grateful for what you have also is important because you will become a happier person overall. You will not have negative thoughts that bring down your spirit because you are happy with what you have. This does not mean that you should settle. It simply means that you are able to realize what you have and appreciate it. You realize that you could have nothing, so you should be happy for what you have. When you focus on what you do not have in life, you never will be happy. Even if you get those things, you will worry about losing them. This is why you should appreciate what you have.

Article Source: David Nuka

-------------

 Come and join us in our DailyGratitude4Life Facebook Group of friends and gain in the benefits of writing your daily gratitude to help transform your life. 

 Subscribe to our BellaVita4Life Free Online Magazine App to help you achieve a healthy and meaningful life which is essential to balance your body, mind and soul.

 Come and join us in our BellaVita4Life-MagazineFacebook Page. We provide information to help you to reach your full potential and strive towards emotional, spiritual, social, financial and physical success and to improve your overall wellbeing.

Isabella ❤