Law of Attraction: Would you rather be grateful, appreciative, or thankful?
When it comes to the Law of Attraction, does it matter if you are grateful, appreciative or thankful when you’re working on manifesting a desired outcome?
Most everyone knows that you ought to focus on what you want rather than on what you don’t because what you focus on expands.
If what you focus on does expand (and I think it does) how is that affected by whether you’re “grateful, appreciative or thankful” for what you’re focusing on?
There is a distinction between them.
I’m the first one to endorse having an “attitude or gratitude” but gratitude sometimes make me feel “obligated.” When I feel obligated it can lead to feeling responsible and feelings of guilt. It may just be me but lately I’ve started thinking that while “gratitude” is the right attitude, it may not be the right word.
There was a comment on the Powered by Intuition Fan page recently in response to something I posted. The reply to the post was that they’d rather think in terms of being “appreciative.” This is what started me thinking about this issue in the first place.
Appreciation feels different than Gratitude
I immediately felt a difference when I thought of being “appreciative” versus “grateful.” Gratitude has more of an underlying sense of desperation to it. For example you can be grateful that you averted bankruptcy or that you narrowly avoided foreclosure. I probably wouldn’t say, “I was appreciative” in either of those situations. It doesn’t feel like a fit for the severity of either foreclosure or bankruptcy.
Gratitude implies you “owe” something in exchange. There’s a saying about “owing someone a debt of gratitude” which may be where the connotation came from. In any case, the more I think about it the more I feel that appreciation is a better word to “expand what we focus on.”
I appreciate my good health. I appreciate my loving family. I appreciate my supportive friends. I appreciate my wonderful PbI community and tribe. I appreciate my great job. This feels and sounds better to me than using the word “gratitude.”
Appreciation versus Thankfulness
Once I realized that “gratitude” had this connotation about “owing a debt” I wanted to make sure I found the right word so I began thinking about being “thankful.”
The more I thought about it the more I felt Thankful was very similar to Gratitude. It has the same undertone of desperation and obligation. “I’m so thankful they made an exception and accepted my application even though it was late.” You see what I mean?
From now I’m going to be Appreciative
I like Appreciation best. I just feels right. I’m going for an attitude of appreciating all the good in my life.
My new mantra is now: I appreciate all there is in my wonderful life!
Try it yourself and see if it feels “lighter” to you too.
What do you think? Is there a distinction between being grateful, appreciative and thankful?
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- Abundance: Six Reasons Why You’re Not Getting What You Want (poweredbyintuition.com)
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Hi, very informative thoughts. I appreciate it very much, I guess people have different ways of interpreting words, though, which ever way it is expressed for as long as we feel good about it and gives us a positive perspective of life, it is just fine. Thanks for sharing. Great post.
Hi Sherill,
Great meeting you!
I’m glad you found this article informative. I do think people attach different meanings to the same words.
What I feel appreciation for you might feel grateful for.
Hi Angela, I too think different words ‘feel’ differently to different people. It’s all about the energy we experience, if gratitude has a sense of obligation behind it, or fear then it’s not the word for you, if like Suzie it opens your heart and love flows then it works. I like the word appreciate, it feels good, so does gratitude and thankfulness, I don’t equate them with anything other than joy.
I do love the way you delve into these topics. It’s great food for thought and reminds me to look at other words and the feelings I connect to them.
Hi Elle,
I’m happy you found this article so interesting. I wanted to help others who like me got tripped up over the word “gratitude” when working on manifesting. If you feel resistance toward “gratitude” you won’t manifest your desires as easily or quickly. You’ll hang onto the underlying feelings of feeling indebted and possibly even lingering feelings of resentment about that too. For me appreciation rolls off the tongue without a hint of either being indebted or resentful so that’s why they work for me. It’s all just as you say, up to the individual and the meaning they associate with the words.
Wow Angela, how interesting and I have a very different take on this. When I am writing my gratitude journal each night my heart is full of love, joy and appreciation for the abundance that surrounds me and the blessing I have. I agree with Rosemary, yes while I appreciate what you do, have done for me and how you be and I am very grateful that I have you as a friend. I am so grateful for my life and my health and I feel no sense of debt there or feeling obligated.
I always think of the power of gratitude and it is an inside job, you really have to feel it. There are so many people I believe who are not grateful and until they get in touch with their inner loving maybe they never will be.
Then as you say there is no point using something that doesn’t bring feelings of love and joy.
You might have sparked a blog post from me on this topic 🙂
Namaste
Suzie xx
Hi Suzie,
I love that you feel such love flowing from your heart when you write your Gratitude Journal each night. I do feel gratitude for many things – I didn’t state that in the article but I do. My feelings of being “obligated” when using the word “gratitude” about people come from how I was raised and that’s my own personal challenge to overcome or deal with by using the word “appreciate” instead.
Very interesting perspective. I think these words mean different things to different people. For me gratitude fills me with happiness never guilt. I am so grateful for all that I have. That word captures how I feel. Appreciate seems less of a commitment. I appreciate art, I appreciate all you do for me, but I am grateful for having you. that’s the difference for me. But I really do believe this is a matter of semantics. And what we attach to words. So should probalby use the one that works best.
Rosemarie,
I agree it is a matter of what meaning we attach to the words. For me “grateful” brings up all kinds of feelings that have a heavy sense of being obligated. I can absolutely see your point though.