4 Secrets for Strengthening Your Muscle of Appreciation

A reader requested I write a blog giving tips for generating more gratitude and appreciation in her life. 

Daisaku Ikeda writes in Faith into Action, page 7 (under Appreciation)
"To "enjoy what there is to enjoy" means to cause the "mystic lotus of the heart" to blossom brightly with a sense of appreciation and joy. Someone who can find joy, who can feel appreciation, experiences a snowballing exhilaration and joy in life. Such is the heart's function."

So here you go. Thanks so much for writing in! 

4 Secrets for Strengthening 

Your Muscle of Appreciation! 

By Jamie Lee Silver of ChantforHappiness.com

Gratitude is attitude. It starts with YOU. It is a muscle you can build. And once you build it....ahhh the benefits that begin to flow! 

Tip #1
Before you get out of bed think about ten things you are grateful for that very day. They can be ANYTHING. You can be grateful for sight, hearing, feeling. You can be grateful to be alive...grateful to have woken up! Lie there and think of ten things. I've mentioned before that when my Mom was feeling depressed I gave her this tip and everyday after that she did this, and her depression lifted. She always told me it was this one action that changed her life. 

Tip #2
SMILE! 
Smiling is a cause not an affect. 
The more you smile, 
the more reasons you will have to smile!
Make your smile light your day. 

I like to think of the song by Carol King:

You've got to get up every morning

And show the world

All the love in your heart!

When you smile you physically create a happiness hormone in your body. There have been studies done recently about this. Also, when you smile at another person, they automatically feel better...their brain registers happiness even if they do not smile back at you. Isn't that cool? Smile! 

Tip #3
Write a Rampage of Appreciation
Take a notebook and put titles as the top of each page. Titles could be:
My body
My work
My relationship with _______
My parents
My children
My home
My car
My self
My practice
My________
...and on an on...you get the idea. 

Then list all the things you ARE grateful for under each heading...or all the things you COULD BE grateful for. 

I promise you that you will feel happier after doing this! 

4. Chant in Gratitude
While chanting  ~ generate these feelings of gratitude and happiness. Your gratitude will amplify and spread.

What do you do to build the muscle of appreciation into your life? Write me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com