In other articles, we made requests to feed our needs.

Next, it's time to offer gratitude and appreciation.

Do we express gratitude just because Mommy says you have to say, "thank you"? No. Offering gratitude is valuable because it contributes joy to ourselves and to others around us. It makes an impact. It's practical magic.

We live in a vibrational universe. The vibration of gratitude and appreciation is a magnetic force that can help you to:

• Attract more of you want

• Notice more of the abundance you're immersed in, but overlook, every day, and

• Cultivate a felt sense of joy within yourself and others that helps counterbalance the obstacles, struggles and challenges of day-to-day life.

Have you felt the joy of giving someone gratitude today?

Have you seen the radiant smile shining from someone's cheeks when they feel authentically and specifically appreciated?

Have you heard of "compersion"? Compersion is most simply: the joy of witnessing another's joy.

The rewards of daily gratitude, appreciation and acknowledgement cannot be captured in simple words. It's a form of love. Can you feel it?

Offering gratitude is simple. Just name the need in you that was fed, and share your appreciation to the source.

For example:

With every word you read, dear reader, you offer me companionship and support in practicing a culture of ease and joy in ways that I don't often experience in the world at large. Thank you for your companionship in this practice, and thank you for companioning me in this culture.

How did it feel to receive that gratitude? Can you see how this bit of gratitude not only expresses my appreciation, but also clearly specifies what need of mine was fed by your actions? Plus, I really mean it!

Some people find it hard to take in gratitude, they shuffle and grumble about it with the inner-critic brigade that says they don't deserve it. So serious! The places where we have difficulty letting in love, care, appreciation and gratitude are invitations to heal our relationship to ourselves. What need is innocently being fed by cringing away from gratitude? Whether you want to remain humble, to encourage more effort, or something else, you absolutely can do this and also enjoy the uplifting, amplifying gifts that gratitude and appreciation bring. A + B. Both. Look at this shuffly grumbly guy. Doesn't he look constipated? Let the love in! Let it in!

Explicit, direct, powerful gratitude includes three pieces:

1. What need of mine was fed

2. What specific action fed that need

3. How am I feeling, how does this fed feeling feel?

You can express gratitude:

– to yourself – to others – to the Universe/Source/God

Ex: Thank you for the flowers you brought to my house last week. The colors were so beautiful in my kitchen sunlight, it really perked up my mood every day! I really appreciated it.

Ex: Thank you, inner Protector, for the ways you have so sincerely tried to protect me by focusing on the past or the future. I understand how deeply you care about me and want my well-being.

Ex: I am so grateful to Creation for the warm, comfortable, shelter I get to experience every day, the warm, comfortable bed I get to sleep in, and the abundant delicious food I get to eat every day. Thank you, God/Universe.

Do you notice a shift in how you feel as you read these and really drink them in? Can you feel sensations in the area around your heart, or your solar plexus, or in your hands?

Try this practice for 7 days, exercising, deepening and learning how to bask in the sweet sensation of small needs being fed, even if not perfectly fed, even if it's not completely fulfilled yet, still drinking in the pleasure of this amount of the need being fed, and having gratitude for that.

Here are ideas for ways you can cultivate and deepen your gratitude and celebration practice:

• Each morning, write three pieces of gratitude in a Daily Gratitude Journal

• Commit to a practice each day of giving at least one person a deep, heartfelt expression of gratitude, appreciation, or acknowledgment

• Today, right now, take a moment to offer gratitude, appreciation and acknowledgment to some aspect of yourself and/or your body. Repeat this practice every time you bathe or shower.

Celebration Empathy and Responding

Many of us connect with others by complaining about some aspect of our day. Back to the daily grind. Monday blues. What an awful week, thank God it's Friday. What if we make a practice of connecting with others about our joys?

It can feel really difficult and uncomfortable to celebrate joys while so many of us are physically struggling, underpaid, exhausted, or emotionally hurting. However, like food to a starving soul, it's especially during difficult times that bits of gratitude and celebration are so important.

Here are the questions that you might use with yourself or others to create celebration opportunities:

- Tell me one thing you did in the last day that you are pleased about. - What will you be doing today to give yourself a bit of care for you? - How was your last week/weekend/month? Anything you are happy about?

Sharing our celebrations can feel vulnerable, especially if we are not met with shared delight.

Here are some ideas for how you might respond to a moment of celebration or gratitude: Gratitude To You

– Aw. That's great. I'm so happy you are pleased. – Excellent, it means a lot to me to help. – Thanking me?! Thank You! – You are very welcome. – It was my pleasure.

Celebrations

– Congratulations! That's fantastic! – Yay! That's amazing! – Hey! How cool! Good for you! – Aw. That's great. I'm so happy for you! – Way to go! Great job! – Proud proud! Excellent! – You rock! – Woo hoo! – I'm delighted you are delighted!

Here are questions you can answer now to practice cultivating gratitude and celebration right now:

• What is one aspect of your life, work, friends or family that you deeply appreciate? For 30 seconds, focus on what needs of yours are fed and how it feels to experience that.

• What is one aspect of yourself that you deeply appreciate? For 30 seconds, focus on the needs this part of you feeds, and how deeply you appreciate it. How does it feel to receive appreciation from yourself? Bask in that for 30 seconds.

• Even in the worst of times, you can still be fed by a gratitude and acknowledgment practice. If you can't think of something that you appreciate, at least think of something that doesn't suck as badly as everything else. Spend 30 seconds paying attention to the value of this. Then find another subject that doesn't suck so bad. Appreciate that for 30 seconds. Do this five times, and notice the ways you feel different.

By cultivating a practice that acknowledges, celebrates and appreciates life, we contribute to uplifting ourselves and the world around us. We also encourage others by helping them see how they contribute, and we encourage ourselves by seeing more of the abundance we are immersed in every day.

Walking The Talk

How can you benefit from this Tip for Sanity?

1. What is the tip described here? Describe when and how it could be applied.

2. What are some pros and cons of practicing daily gratitude, appreciation, acknowledgement and celebration?

3. Compare this practice to a life without it. How might life with this practice be better or worse? What are some benefits of doing it differently?

4. Where might you apply this practice to increase joy and acknowledgement in your life? In your relationships? At work? In your community or groups you enjoy?

5. Very often, anger stems from not experiencing acknowledgement. How might using this tip reduce frustration for yourself and others?

6. What do you value as your biggest take away from this week's Tip For Sanity?

For more help with this tip, or if you’d like a free phone consultation toward an ongoing coaching relationship, call Maya toll-free +1 (800) 889-3829 Tue-Sat 1-4pmET or click here to book an appointment.

Maya Gail Taylor's work with more than 10K clients as a consultant, coach certification school owner, wellness coach, tech developer, author and human evolution trainer has earned her more than 500 LinkedIn endorsements. She trained extensively with Marshall Rosenburg, David Deida, Ken Wilber, Newfield Network, BayNVC, Integral Institute and many others, while delivering her own body of work called "The Integrated Approach" (TIA), a meta-catalogue of skills and technology supporting the evolution of human consciousness through psychographic awareness, balancing, empathy and a 10-point integrated emotional intelligence informed by needs-consciousness and the transpersonal. To learn more about this method, follow LIFTnibbles on YouTube, Instagram or Facebook.

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In sessions with Maya, you can trust you will get care, confidentiality and extraordinary results.

Click here to schedule a session or call +1 (800) 889-3829 Tue-Sat 1-4pmET.