5 Things That Will Happen When You Practice Appreciation

What You Can Do to Feel Great More Consistently

5 min readJul 23, 2019

Our willingness to practice appreciation consistently reveals our attitude and outlook on life.

If we practice appreciation, it means we’re being intentional about giving attention to the positive things in our lives.

It’s easy to give attention to what’s not going well or things we don’t like. This is because our environments can cause us to focus more on what’s not right rather than what’s right.

Practicing appreciation doesn’t require a lot of time and it can be done at any time. It comes down to our mindset and consciously focusing on positive things rather than negative things.

Examples of what we can appreciate every day includes:

Waking up and having another day to make a difference.
Having food to eat and clothes to wear daily.
Having a home to sleep in.
Opportunities to follow our dreams and achieve goals.
The ability to serve others and use our knowledge, skills and abilities.
Being able to create things in the world.
Having use of things that makes our lives easier or better.

We often take things for granted because they’ve always been in our lives. We can enhance our experience of life if we make appreciation an everyday practice.

It’s helpful to know that practicing appreciation is more important when we’re struggling or going through a difficult time.

One of my habits is to write things I appreciate or am grateful for every morning. That puts me in a positive frame of mind for the day ahead. When I face challenges, one way I practice appreciation is to ask myself, “What’s the opportunity in this challenge?”

That simple question helps me shift my focus to what’s possible instead of focusing on what’s wrong.

5 Things That Will Happen When You Practice Appreciation

There are many benefits you’ll experience if you make appreciation a regular practice. Here are five things you can expect to happen when you practice appreciation every day.

You will improve your mental, emotional and physical health. When we focus on what’s good in our lives, it will show up in everything we do. It will also reflect our attitude about our lives, which will help our overall health and wellness.
You will be generous to yourself and others. There is a law that states what we focus on expands. Therefore, when we focus on what’s positive, we’ll experience more of it. This will show up in our generosity because the more we give, the more we’ll gain.
You will create a higher level of trust with others. When we appreciate others through our words and actions, it will make them feel good. Everyone loves to be appreciated and acknowledged. How we communicate with others will impact the level of trust we have with them.
You will develop stronger relationships. A higher level of trust also means people are more likely to help, offer resources and support us. That will solidify our relationships, which can lead to new collaborations or partnerships.
You will be more motivated. We lose motivation when we’re discouraged or struggling with something. That often means we’re giving attention to what’s not right or going well. When we focus on what’s right, it will cause us to take different actions. That will also help generate more momentum.

Ways to Practice Appreciation

Here are ways you can make appreciation a regular practice.

Write at least three things you appreciate about your life daily.
Give someone a compliment every day.
Set a recurring reminder in your phone to take a minute to appreciate your day.
Remember someone who influenced you and let them know the difference it made in your life.
Reflect on your day before going to bed and appreciate yourself for something you did well.
View a challenge you’re facing from a different perspective and look for what’s good about it.

Conclusion

When we practice appreciation, our lives will improve. Since appreciation implies focusing on what’s positive, we’ll experience more positive things we as continue practicing it.

If we don’t practice appreciation regularly, we’re more likely to let circumstances or other people affect our attitude. This means we won’t give ourselves the opportunity to look for all the good things around us.

Action Step: Choose a time when you’ll practice appreciation every day. It’s a good practice to start each day with appreciation or gratitude. Decide how much time you want to spend practicing appreciation.

Question: What are more things that will happen when you practice appreciation?