Exercise: The Appreciation Board

Since the release of the movie, The Secret, the concept of the vision board is a practice known all over the world for its ability to help the mind focus its energy on calling into one’s life the people, place, things and experiences most desired. From new careers, new relationships, new cars and new money, there’s been a recent explosion of vision board usage to help manifest the life of your dreams.

…And this isn’t that board.

Several months ago, I developed a similar idea, not for manifesting the life you dream of, but for manifesting a healthy heart and mind instead. Using the principle of gratitude and appreciation, it seeks to nourish our thoughts, feelings and beliefs about ourselves and about the people we surround ourselves with in our day to day life. As vibrational beings constantly engaged in the creation of our lives, and the experiences we live, our thoughts and feelings have a -huge- impact.

It’s so huge, in fact, that you can say that all that you have in life is a clear reflection of what you believe about yourself, your life and your world, and this includes the people we have let into our lives and the relationships we have developed with them. While studying the Law of Attraction, one is sure to learn about the power of gratitude and appreciation, and how looking for, and identifying, the good qualities in others will greatly assist us in not only experiencing the best of them in particular, but in other people that we meet and interact with.

…This is -that- board.

The Appreciation Board is simple, and its purpose is two-fold. For one, we can use it to nourish, build and reinforce positive messages about our own self-image, particularly when it comes to our value, our self-worth and our beliefs in our ability to contribute and make a difference in our world. Secondly, it enables us to also transform our beliefs about how we would like others to relate to us by focusing on the evidence of ways in which the world around us already relating to us in those positive ways.  It’s created in much the same way as a vision board, except that, instead of attaching representations of things you’d like to experience in your life, you will instead fill the board with notes of love, gratitude, appreciation and positive wishes from others to you.

Start by picking up a standard corkboard, magnet board, or even a piece of styrofoam poster board or cardboard poster board.

You can usually pick up one or more of these at your local office supply store, craft store, art supply store, Wal-Mart, K-Mart or Target superstore, Home Depot or similar shop.

The next step is a little more involved… but ever so much more fun!  You will be going through your e-mails, your online messages and chats, your “snail mail” and any other messages from others to you.  Specifically, you’ll be sifting for any notes or lines in which someone else is thanking you, complimenting you or offering you praise.  This can range from a quick one-line “thank so much” or “you wicked rock!” to those heartfelt notes in which someone else is expressing their heartfelt gratitude for who you are and what you do.  If it involves an online message, print or write them out onto a piece of paper.  While you’re sifting, take time to enjoy the process and see yourself for how others are seeing you as they offer you appreciation!  This can be a fun exercise in which you may discover you are far more valuable, and appreciated, than you may have been realizing.

Set aside the various notes, cards, e-mails, etc, and cut out the various lines of appreciation, gratitude and praise.

The next step is easy!  Start pinning, taping, stapling and paper-clipping your notes to the board.  Feel free to decorate your board and to arrange your collection in whatever way you choose.

Place your board in a location where you will see it as often as possible.  If you can, it’s a good idea to set aside a little time each day, no more than 5 or 10 minutes, and spend some time perusing and focusing on the messages contained on the board.  You can add more as you receive them and you begin to develop the habit of wanting to display those heartfelt compliments and expressions of appreciation in this special place.

You will be surprised at the changes that can occur in your way of thinking, in your beliefs, by simply using this exercise to be mindful of the magic you bring to the world and to the lives of everyone you touch.  Better still, as you focus more and more on the appreciation from others, you will likely find that more and more people will come into your life who show you such love and appreciation.  Enjoy and have fun creating a fun and positive tool that will give back to you many times over!

Related posts:

1. The Many Faces of Abundance: Now You See It! When you hear the word “abundance”, what associations come to...
2. Emotion: The Secret to The Law of Attraction “What is the absolute key to Law of Attraction?...
3. Giving Too Much? Taking Too Little? No doubt you have been touched by at least one...
4. The Gratitude Effect No, we’re not talking about the book by Dr. Martini!...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.