Seeing through the lens of appreciation.
Recently I’ve made a huge effort to practice appreciation in my day to day life. As soon as I start to go about my day I list the things I’m appreciative of in my life and this in tern reminds me of how much I have. When I have critical thoughts that aren’t serving me throughout my day I come to appreciation. Depending on what the critical narrative is I would think about what I appreciate around that subject.
Let’s say a friend lets you down and you’re feeling upset and annoyed about it. Instead of stewing in those thoughts think about what you appreciate about your friendship and about them. You can still be upset with them and have a honest chat about it, but coming to appreciation will stop the story inside your head going on overdrive.
When we are seeing life through the lens of appreciation, we are experiencing life more abundantly, so not from a place of lack, or comparison, or scarcity.
When we are in the scarcity mindset we act from fearful and anxious thoughts, and a way to counteract this, is to see life through an appreciative and therefore abundant lens.
In my own life practice I’ve found it liberating to see see through the lens of appreciation and to shift my mindset to one of greater abundance.
However, I do need to continuously remind myself to practice appreciation in order to make it my default lens. Our brain falls on the negative bias as a way to protect ourselves so we need to make an effort to see through a more positive lens.
When we are seeing through the lens of appreciation we are responding to life from a place of abundance rather than lack. This is sending out a completely different energy into our day.
Incorporate the below into your day to shift you into appreciation mode…
STEP 1
As soon as you wake up begin to think about all the things you appreciate in your life. All the people in your life, what they do for you, all the luxuries in your life, your health, life itself, your breath, your body…… absolutely everything. Every single morning do this whilst showering, cleaning your teeth, making your coffee and when you first wake up in bed.
STEP 2
When you have pockets in your day e.g. making a cup of tea, walking to the shops, driving the car or cooking - instead of fantasising about conversations you’re going to have, or something that might happen, list again things you appreciate. It’s ok to list the same things that really matter to you but also get creative and list things you haven’t listed before. Feel the appreciation for those things in your body.
This is a super easy practice to incorporate into your day. Do it as often as you can remember. You will begin to find that it naturally becomes your default mode.
This practice really begins to highlight how much one has and really we have so much.
Download the below workbook to discover more about appreciation and how it shows up in your life.