In Foundational Truth, I offered that “This new road back to optimal health for me has multiple powerful and real motivations. My body has been telling me I need to get back to that, in undeniable ways. My spirit is ever more ready to accept that, without optimal health, I cannot do the dreamwork I soulfully desire. I simply cannot. Not an option. Not a freakin’ option. And, truthfully, for the last 20+ years, I have played a role that got comfortable… “big ol’ happy and safe Barry”. I have been “successful” in many of my own endeavours, but I am done with that. I am so very done with that, for me. The happiness thing remains. Even the safe with others thing lol. But this boxer dancer boy wants to live his soulful dreams and be his own kind of “sexy”, if you will. It is not about image nor popularity nor body shaming. The Barry Unit is just wanting to be full on Barry… mentally, physically, spiritually and soulfully. True ‘dat.“
If I were to differentiate between Gratitude, Thankfulness and Appreciation… it would be that Gratitude, for me, is an internal experience. We practice it internally. Thankfulness, for me, is the expression of Gratitude in words and deeds. Appreciation is another level, again for me. It is the valuing of something or someone in how we engage it. It is not lost on me that, in business terms… depreciation is the devaluing of an asset. Appreciating is an increase in value. And yet again, for me, Appreciation is that practice where we show our Gratitude and Thankfulness through our active engagement.
When I think of my own journey, I am grateful for identified trails, trials and triumphs to date. Feeling that is Gratitude. In consciously acknowledging same, I am expressing thanks… Thankfulness. But in making my health a priority, and engaging the body accordingly, I am appreciating same. Appreciations adds value by engaging the value.
As I continue my own road back to optimal health (and indeed as I “experience” a bit of a bug this Weekend, with necessary rest and recharge even now), I am reminded that how I engage my body best… it is Appreciation in practice. What and who will you appreciate? Happy Canadian Thanksgiving.
Peace.
Barry Lewis Green, The Unity Guy with Epic Engage.
Developing Leadership Character – Ivey Business Journal
“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness. ― Anne Frank