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I love doing appreciations before bed and when I awaken in the morning. Having never been the most disciplined and orderly person, my practices tend to vary and change. I am working on viewing this as an asset rather than a liability.
I am open to new things, try a lot of practices and tend to always have something interesting to do, regardless of the season or the location. Still, I have an uncanny ability to forget to do basic things.
Appreciations or Gratitudes are at the top of my list of daily practices. Sometimes I wake up or go to bed and forget to do them! So, when I heard the idea of picking a letter each day, starting with “A” and appreciating three things that start with that letter, I thought I would try it.
I remembered another similar practice mentioned by another mentor (which I had forgotten about LOL). This one was from Bernie Segal on the Hay House Summit. I began about a week ago, waking with the letter “A” and finding many more than three things to appreciate. Then I started noticing more A’s as the day wore on.
Having the letter seems to give me more focus. At about the 4th day, I shared the process with Neil and he joined me. This morning we spoke over breakfast about the letter “K”. It seems to help to share them, as it expands each of our lists and has become a game of “Oooh! good one- I didn’t think of that.”
Why stop at three, when the whole day can become a game of gratitude. Here is my list for today- I hope you will add to it and join me tomorrow as I celebrate things that begin with the letter “L”: I appreciate my Kindle, my Kids, my friends’ Kids- including Kaya Kalena, Kissing, The Kinks, Kindred Spirits, Krinkle cut potato chips, and Kendenup, Australia (where we are heading in August).
A couple days ago, on our “G” day, we came across the Goose, the Gander and their Goslings pictured. It’s easy to appreciate all the natural wonders nearby on the shore of Lake Ontario.
Leave a comment below. What do you appreciate?
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Thanks for your comment, Liesbet. We did start over, but we also tend to change up our practices and do different things. I found, that after doing this for a while, it became more habitual to talk about gratitude in our conversations. We just left a four month stay in La Penita de Jaltemba, Nayarit, Mexico. As we wound down we just talked a lot about what we appreciated about our time there.
This looks like a great practice and Mark and I should start doing this as well, since we tend to often think quite negatively and find it easier to complain about things than appreciate other ones. I could start by making it a habit when writing my diary in the evening. I do hope my husband will join me at some point. So, after 26 days, you start all over again?
I’m going to start with the end of the alphabet today and work my way to the other direction (rebel). I’m sure you can guess why. Love you Sequana. Thank you for sharing your brilliant ideas and passing on what you’ve gained from others. You’re one of my favorite teachers!
Thanks, Val. I just found this in my spam, go figure. I love your thoughtful comments and I also appreciate your amazing little boy!
Well, Neil & Laurie … cannot say thank you enough for taking such good care of our home in Mississauga.