Gratitude or Appreciation?

Are the words appreciation and gratitude different?  Many people use the words interchangeability. However, are they really interchangeable?

“Appreciation” is defined as “recognition and enjoyment of the value and good qualities of someone or something and a full understanding of a situation.”

“Gratitude” is defined as “the quality of being thankful; a positive response shown by the recipient of kindness, gifts, help, favors, or other types of generosity, towards the giver of such gifts.” 

 According to Law of Attraction expert, Esther Hicks, “Appreciation is presence of everything that feels good and the absence of everything that feels bad.  The state of Appreciation is seeing whatever you are looking at through the eyes of Source.  Appreciation and gratitude are very different vibrational states.”

Why are appreciation and gratitude different vibrational states?

Everything in the world is composed of energy that is vibrating, oscillating and resonating, at various vibrational frequencies. The Hertz (Hz) is a unit used to measure such vibrational frequencies and is defined as “one cycle per second.”  The Law of Attraction, simply stated is “Like-attracts-Like.”  Whatever you send out as a vibration, is what you attract back into your life.

Human emotions are based on energy that vibrates at a certain frequency. A number of scientific researchers (e.g., Dr. David R. Hawkins, in his book Power vs. Force, etc.) have determined that positive human emotions, such as love, peace, happiness, etc. vibrate at higher frequencies than negative human emotions such as fear, anger, despair, etc., which vibrate at lower frequencies.

The vibrational frequency of love has been measured at about 500 Hz while the vibration of fear at about 100 Hz.

Again according to Esther Hicks, “when you feel gratitude, you are looking at a difficulty that you have overcome, but there is still some of the vibration of struggle present.”

For example, you may express gratitude for having worked “enough” hours and having “enough” money to pay your rent this month.  In such an expression of gratitude, there is also a vibration of fear of not being able to work “enough” hours in a given month or having “enough” money in a given month and also a vibration of lack embedded in your vibration of gratitude.

In contrast, you may express appreciation that the amount money in your bank account each month allows you to maintain the life you truly desire.

Your expression of gratitude and appreciation send out very different vibrations.

Stephen Lesavich, PhD

Many people do daily “gratitude” journals.  It may be more appropriate to do a daily “appreciation” journal instead.

Esther Hicks also has stated “Appreciation and Love have identical vibrations. Appreciation is true alignment of who you really are as a soul and seeing everything you encounter through the eyes of Source energy.” 

How can you choose words to use in your own life?

1.  Understand Words Have Power.  The words you use on a regular basis create an energetic point of attraction in your life. The energy of words you choose to say directly attracts people, events and circumstances into your life with the same vibrations based on the Law of Attraction.  The words you use on a regular basis also become embedded patterns accepted into your subconscious mind as your own “truths.”  The embedded patterns in your subconscious mind create approximately 95% of the vibrational energy you send out.
2. Understand the Vibrational Energy of All the Words You Speak.   You want the vibrational energy of the words you speak to be in alignment with your desired outcomes.  In many instances, you may think the words you speak are appropriate but actually include a lower vibrational energy, such as fear, lack, etc. For example, many people consider the word “excitement” to be a word with a positive vibrational energy.  However, there is an argument to be made that the word “excitement” includes a lower vibrational energy of “lack” because it includes something that you do not have in your life yet at that moment. If you say, “I am excited to see the concert on Friday,” you have not experienced the concert in your life yet. So you “lack” the concert experience.   For all of the words you choose to speak on a regular basis, ask yourself this question:  “Does this word have any lower vibrational energy that I may not be aware of?”
3. Speak High-Vibrational Words. Choose to speak as many higher-vibrational words that do not include any embedded lower vibrational energies as you can.  If you happen to speak any lower vibrational words, or words with lower vibrational energies, immediately change them to higher vibrational words.  One of the terms we say as lawyers in legal proceedings is “strike that,” when we want to remove a statement we made from the record of the legal proceedings.  So if you speak a low vibrational word, say out loud or mentally, “strike that,” or “cancel that, scratch that,” or some other similar words.  Then choose another higher vibrational word to speak instead.

Choosing words wisely in your own life will help you create a positive impact in your life and co-create the life you truly desire.

Stephen Lesavich, PhD

Copyright © 2021, by Stephen Lesavich, PhD.  All rights reserved.

Certified solution-focused life coach and experienced business coach.

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