Appreciation. Yesterday, it was Blue Jay Parenting Skills. Today, it was How The New Guy At The Butcher Shop Wraps My Bacon. A few weeks back, it was Gravity. Nearly six months in to my yearlong personal challenge to actively appreciate something every day, I’ve noticed I’m paying more attention to things that used to slip past unnoticed. There’ve been other benefits as well, here are the top three.

Better Observer

Like I said above, I’m paying more attention–always on the lookout for something to appreciate. A year ago, I probably wouldn’t have noticed how the blue jay parents brought their fledglings to my suet feeder and were like, “taste this stuff, it’s delicious and always here in the winter” or how the butcher wrapped the bacon nice and flat without crushing it like the other guy. It turns out my days are full of Tiny Good Things that often went unnoticed before I made the effort to seek them out and file them away in my head as Things Worthy Of Appreciation.

Less Negativity

Growing better at observing those Tiny Good Things has helped me battle Negativity Bias. I’m not generally a negative person, but sometimes it takes over. Giving more attention to the act of appreciating has made it harder for the negative stuff to win my focus. A bit more on Negativity Bias:

Even when we experience numerous good events in one day, negativity bias can cause us to focus on the sole ‘bad thing’ that occurred. It can lead us to ruminate on small things, worry over having ‘made a bad impression,’ and linger on negative comments and the like (Lupfer et al., 2000; Chen & Lurie, 2013; Wisco et al., 2014).

positivepsychology.com

More Action

I’ve also gotten better at acting on my appreciation, showing it. Things like reading up on gravity (gravity make’s me 2 inches shorter than I’d be in space), thanking the butcher for his meat handling skills, and ordering more suet for my bird friends.

The Process

My process is pretty simple, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to stick to it if it was too complicated. I wake up, either a big black floppy-eared dog or a big white pointy-eared dog flops down on my chest, and I spend a moment mentally thumbing though the Things Worthy Of Appreciation list. Then I pick one, spend a few moments reflecting on it, and tell the dog to get off me because it’s time to start the day.

Maybe next year, I’ll write them down. That might be the next step. Maybe not. I will, however, continue the appreciation process–the payoffs have been well worth the effort. You might want to give it a try. If it’s something you’re already doing, I’d love to hear your thoughts and observations in that comments.

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