Positivity: Appreciation

Appreciation is an important aspect of gratitude.

Yes, appreciation can be another word for gratitude, but it can also be a separate aspect of gratitude. While one can be grateful for things, having appreciation for them and being appreciated are amazing builders of positivity.

What’s the difference? Appreciation is more specific than just gratitude. You can give and receive both, but there is a more focused understanding of appreciation. Feeling grateful is about expressing happiness with a person, a thing, an intangible, while feeling appreciation is about expressing a real recognition of a greater depth of happiness and satisfaction for the person, thing or intangible. Appreciation is not just gratitude, it is extra-valued gratitude.

Giving appreciation for something is very powerful for building positivity. When you express your appreciation, you open up greater channels of energy that can really elevate a given situation. The act of appreciating is always a positive act.

Appreciation can be for something small, like that person holding the door for you when your hands are full; it can be for something large, like the sun rising every morning. More than simple gratitude, appreciation is a focused sense of thankfulness, it is powerful positivity.

It is somewhat easier to understand the difference in the receipt of appreciation. Gratitude is the simple thank you received. Appreciation is the comment about how helpful, how useful, how valued what you are being thanked for is. Appreciation is not just thankfulness, it is an expression of worth and value towards whatever is being appreciated.

A very recent accolade in my life has made me feel an intense sense of appreciation. I have been told that my work is valued, and as such appreciated. It goes way beyond a thank you, it has been expressed to me that my worth is grand.

In return, I am feeling an amazing sense of appreciation. I am more than grateful for this, I feel a sense of incredible empowerment, and an outpouring of positive energy. The positivity this has created is almost impossible to express, but it is as though gratitude has been magnified exponentially.

I am more than grateful for you. I thoroughly appreciate each and every one of your who reads these weekly posts, and who strives to find and experience more positivity in this world. I appreciate you and your desire to experience more positivity.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that we can use the power appreciation to take gratitude to the next level, we can empower ourselves to express appreciation for more things in our lives. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be appreciative of. Appreciation leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

This is the fifty-ninth entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.