I am at a training seminar this week, meeting with people who’ve been in this particular training program for three years.  I’m part of a team that supports the participants as they complete the final course of their training.  Coming together this week fills me up with gratitude for having so many beautiful people move through my life. 

As we engage the process and the week begins to unfold itself, I am more aware than ever of the power of gratitude and appreciation.  As those of us who serve as the support team do our work, and as the participants do their process of learning and practicing, I experience how the whole dance unfolds because we openly appreciate one another’s roles and responsibilities, and the talent and skill we each bring to the process. 

All this got me to thinking of the power of giving appreciation to people in our lives.  I’ve been thinking about how appreciation is a gift that offers to the recipient an experience of feeling valued and worthwhile and brings to the giver a deepened sense of gratitude – which then nourishes a sense of well-being.

And so, for this week’s experiment, I invite you to explore your relationship with appreciation.  For the coming week, each day, notice what happens if you offer at least one person in your life an expression of appreciation.  For example, if you go to the dry cleaner, take a moment to let the person or people there know how much it means to you to be able to bring your clothing to them and to receive it back cleaned.  Or, if you run into your postal carrier, notice what happens if you offer him or her appreciation for bringing your mail.

With family members, other loved ones and friends, notice what happens if you take the time to thank them for the small, everyday things they to do enhance your quality of life, or fill you up with a sense of belonging or being loved.  These don’t need to be elaborate expressions of gratitude.  Instead, they can be a momentary “thanks – I really appreciate that!” when someone close to you hands you a glass of water, drops you off someplace, or does an errand for you.

The point of this week’s experiment is to create an opportunity to explore your relationship with offering appreciation, and – at a deeper level – your relationship with gratitude.  Both appreciation and gratitude are sources of ongoing nourishment – for ourselves and others – and serve to enhance our quality of life.  The key is to make them a habit and then notice how this particular habit affects your daily experience.

As with all the experiments, there’s no right way to do this one.  It’s a chance to play with offering appreciation in a variety of ways and then noticing what happens.  As always, please bring curiosity along as your constant companion.  In closing, as my first expression of appreciation in doing this week’s experiment, I wish to say thank you for the time you’ve taken to visit my website and read this experiment.  It is a delight and a gift to me to be able to share these experiments with you.