Gratitude, Appreciation & The Law of Diminishing Returns

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Onto this blog post . . .

A recent Abraham Hicks video got me thinking about the difference between gratitude and appreciation. As I said each word aloud, I could feel the difference in how my body related to the concepts that these words were attempting to communicate.

An inhale and exhale accompanied my uttering of the word gratitude. I stopped as I walked through the parking lot to my apartment. Attention to my breath brought a sense of presence.

Expressing the word appreciate was filled with momentum, energy, even a sense I was contributing to something. I was prompted to move again.

I consulted an online dictionary:

Gratitude - a noun - describes a state of being.

Appreciate - a verb - describes an action.

My intellect was on fire! This had something to do with overcoming the plateau I feel I've reached when it comes to attracting my new life.

When the book The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne, came out in 2006, it blew my mind. Ask. Receive. Believe. It was so simple. I attracted large sums of money and I could barely keep up as my new consulting business took off.

Then . . . it just stopped working. Why?

Then I found another book. I was on fire again. Then those concepts lost their magic. Then I got addicted to Oprah's weekly Super Soul Sunday TV series. It gave me what I needed at the time.

Being on a plateau can feel like a respite after an intense period of learning or progress. But what was once new becomes old. The concepts in the book The Secret were not new. The wisdom they contained was old, but it was presented through the lens and experience of a new human being.

Could it be that all the focus on living a life of gratitude has reached the point of diminishing returns? Has daily recitations or journaling what you genuinely are grateful for lost its power? Do you judge yourself for not feeling what you should be feeling?

Living a meaningful life never ends. Contrary to C.G. Jung's suggestion, there's no ultimate moment of wholeness. But there are lots of small moments. They feel like teasers, but they are the thing you're looking for, the point.

Last week, I felt off kilter, I even had a dream where I chased a man holding a knife out of my apartment. I didn't feel fear, maybe an indication that I can overcome the the actual fear I've been feeling as I prepare to launch a book next month.

Time to do something new! Feeling gratitude for the life I'm living isn't enough. There are remnants of questioning whether I deserve it. But appreciating this pleasant surprise of midlife transition is adding momentum to what my inner being has had planned for me all along.

Are you experiencing a plateau? Are your dreams trying to prompt you to take a new path? Pay attention to images or coincidences that make you pause.

Click here to check out my most recent newsletter. I'm recruiting launch team members for my coming nonfiction book, Your Soul is Talking; Are You Listening? Send me a note at dlukovich@gmail.com for more information.

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Thank You!

Give a shoutout to Markus Winkler for the typewriter image.

Give a shoutout to Tehzeeb Kazmi for the beautiful mountain and plateau image.