Gratitude and Appreciation. Two words that get thrown around a lot, especially in the New Age community. Masaru Emoto has shown through his experiments with water that those words can change the very structure of the water itself. But what do they really mean? Why are they important? How do the feelings of gratitude and appreciation help us keep our hearts open?
Websters defines gratitude as “the state of being grateful” and grateful as “appreciative of benefits received.” It defines appreciation as “recognition of the quality, value, significance, or magnitude of people and things.” The definitions indicate that they are both a form of thankfulness and an acknowledgment of value.
Have you ever tried to be thankful and in a bad mood at the same time? It’s hard if not impossible—you have to choose one or the other. Think back on those times when you felt truly thankful for something. Remember the feeling that rose up in your being—expansive, loving, happy. Those are the feelings of an open heart. At the core, gratitude and appreciation aren’t concepts or definitions, they are feelings—something that we can’t merely think about but must experience. In experiencing those feelings our being expands, our hearts are able to open and remain that way.
Many people just feel gratitude and appreciation for the good things in their life. In living life with a truly open heart you learn to feel gratitude for everything in your life—to see the value in every experience, which in turn opens your heart even further. Rather than judging something as “good” or “bad,” when you perceive life from your heart you realize that everything is in divine perfection. How can you not be grateful for perfection?
