What Is Gratitude?

Twenty-two years ago I started writing a gratitude list. I still add to it today, and it is the size of a book - seventy something pages, single-space typed with a new item on each line -31067 words!

I and everyone I have taught this technique to have found it life changing. What we think about expands, and by thinking about our "gratitudes" we get more good things come into our lives about which we can have more gratitude. It starts to build on itself.

:-Don

Gratitude is living in an act of giving not for what can come back to you, but for what you have been given. Gratitude is freely giving, as we have been freely given, out of a heart of feeling blessed. Thats my two cents on this most important topic.

We all do things in love - for people. Whether it's loving, cooking, shopping, repairing, teaching, listening, sharing, or whatever you give of yourself for another's good; it's a gift. Parents spend many years raising children, instructing them in life's ways. Besides teaching them the rules of life, parents also share their love by supporting, encouraging, and nurturing. Although they are not seeking pats on the back for things they do, it is always joyful to parents when a child appreciates their efforts and shows gratitude and thanks them.

"Thanksgiving" is a kind of recognition. This recognition should be from our hearts in a kind of recognition. We live in the natural world, giving us the gift of nature too.

Gratitude and appreciation are two separate feelings. I get wrinkled every time I read something intended to be LOA that pushes gratitude.

Gratitude is a thankfulness that is given from a perspective of subordination - it suggests that one has been given something that they are not completely entitled to - or through the work of charity, which, in turn, suggests to your subconscious that you are less than the giver.

Appreciation, on the other hand, is merely pleasure in receiving with no self-depreciation. You do not see yourself as less than the giver, nor as even a bit unworthy. You may feel appreciation for a special birthday gift, but you would not feel gratitude for it.

When I write or talk about LOA - the difference in these words is one I stress very sharply. It's important to understand that you receive because you are supposed to have what you are getting - there is no charity in that, only natural order. Feeling appreciation or delight at receiving forms an equal two way energy flow, thus strengthening both the giver and the receiver. Feeling gratitude depletes your energy and elevates the giver's and causes an inbalance in energy flow.

Always appreciate -- never subordinate yourself. You are meant to receive what you get and the giver is equally elevated by the act of giving as you are by the act of receiving.

TB - subconsciously "grateful" indicates "obligation" whereas "appreciation" doesn't. For LOA to work correctly there can be no obligation rendered in an exchange. The energy is supposed to be of equal force so it can achieve an amplified vortex. If the amplification takes place only one one end, there is no benefit to the receiver in the long run. Giving and receiving lose their equality of action.

I have heard others say they don't feel "grateful" as an obligating attitude, but if you look at times you've been "grateful" for receiving something you need and other times where you have "appreciated" it - you will detect at least a slight difference of emotion. I can tell it just from the linguistics that accompany discussions by people who receive and give. It's there, even when very subtle.

When ever I see LOA I think some one forgot to put the "M" right after the "L" and accidentally transposed the "O" and "A"


Here, I'll fix it fer yah. LMAO


I appreciate Shaquille O'Neal's talent in basketball.
I am grateful that at 5'10", I don't have size 22 feet!
Of course, it might get me more dates if I did.

NOT Smilin' Bob

Maybe I should change the name of my gratitude list to my appreciation list?
Nah -that's not quite right either.

Much of what is on my gratitude list are occasions in which I have been able to be of help or service to others. Many of the "items" in my list are people I have been lucky enough to get to know. Some of it is about material things which have come into my life, some of it is goal achievement, but no matter what it is, I am glad for it.

It started out at the suggestion of a friend after a group of us were talking about what was going "right" in our lives. At first I used the list to bring myself "up" emotionally because I had gone through a particularly difficult time in my life. I would read the list and add to it every morning.

When it began to take more than 20 minutes to read, I recorded it onto a cassette tape (remember those?) to play in the car. Little by little I was able to gain an entirely different attitude about myself and my life. And over the years since I have been writing this list, my life has gotten better and better and better.

:-Don

Nice, Don. I, however, like "appreciation" list better. Glad for and grateful aren't the same either. Maybe I just studied psycho-linguistics too long, eh?