Thanksgiving always creates a flurry of focus on appreciation, but how often do we direct that love and gratitude into true self-appreciation? Loving yourself just as you are, learning and striving to be more and growing, even just a little bit, as you screw things up is all part of being human. It’s how you learn what is truly worthy of your gratitude and loving attention, and what you most value at a core level. Yet, most of us put self appreciation last on the list if at all, instead placing value in thanking only external forces.
Your good fortune, relationships, hard-won victories and scrapes with disaster are always easy pickins to toss onto a gratitude list. The things that exist “outside” of you are the easiest to see and appreciate because it doesn’t take any introspection or deep inner exploration to see them. However, turning around that focus of a gratitude to feature what you actually love and appreciate about yourself can shake up your self-view quite a bit and even feel a bit overwhelming.
So, is the act of self appreciation easy or hard for you? Do you find that you automatically connect your good fortune and thankful-worthy moments to the acts of others, “luck” or a higher power?
Leaving yourself and the power of your creative gifts out of the gratitude equation is not only a disservice to yourself, but a big loss for others who aren’t truly able to share in the real power of your creative gifts. While external elements and forces play a role in shaping your life and ability to experience gratitude, they are useless without the power of your inner gifts and your willingness to not only honor them, but appreciation them.
It’s when you can truly see and appreciate all aspects of yourself that you witness love how you view love and gratitude in your life completely transform. Getting rooted into your real, authentic self clearly and naturally sets you up to see the truth in others and authentically share the true you and power of your gifts.
So, after the feast or shopping is done and your crazy family gives you a few moments alone, take a little time to think about the things you most love and appreciate about yourself. You might be surprised how they are the exact things you love and appreciate in others.
Photo credit: happy_serendipity