[The Ripple Effect] Change Your Life With Appreciation
Published: Fri, 11/15/13
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Hello everyone! Welcome to November's issue of The Ripple Effect. The autumn colors are in full swing here in
Virginia. Although I much prefer warmer
weather, I absolutely love the colors of fall and would never want to miss out
on seeing them each year. Below is a
photo taken this past weekend in Casanova, VA.
It gives a small glimpse of some of the colors we've seen here the past
couple of weeks.
Poplar Springs Inn, Casanova, VA
It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is just about here. Because we're about to celebrate the holiday of thanks, I thought I'd share how the practice of appreciation has changed my life. Being grateful is not something I do once a year and it's not something I only think about - it is a daily active practice, which has positively changed my life and can positively impact yours as well. I shared this all in this month's article and hope you enjoy it. Feel free to pass this month's edition along to anyone you feel would enjoy reading it. Keep spreading those positive ripple effects and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Best, Andria
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Change Your Life With Appreciation In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday this month I wanted to share one of the most powerful ways to change your life for the better - either your entire life or one part of your life. Appreciation is your path to positive life changes. I'm sure you heard of having an "attitude of gratitude" but this is different. What I'm talking about is a practice of appreciation. This is not just about thinking of the things you are grateful for, it's about actively appreciating them. There are two specific ways I practice appreciation that have benefited my life and the lives of many of my clients. The first is starting my day with appreciating my life. One of the first things I do when I wake is list what I am grateful for in that moment. Often it's my warm bed, my purring cats, my husband, our home, the good night's sleep I had, or the day ahead. I make a point to write down at least five things I am appreciating right in that moment. This is powerful because it sets the tone for the day. Starting the day by looking for things to appreciate sets you up to continue to see more and more things throughout the day that you will appreciate. The next thing I do is end my day with general and specific appreciation. What I mean by this is that at the end of each day I list five general things I am grateful for that occurred during the day. These can be things like being grateful for an easy trip to the vet with my dog, a great client meeting, signing up a new client or a wonderful conversation with my Mom. Then I have a separate, more specific list. This is directed at the area of my life I'm looking to improve or change. For example, one of my clients is looking for a new job. She has very specific criteria of the type of job she wants and while looking for that job, she is appreciating things about her current job. This puts her in a good frame of mind for her job search. Instead of feeling as if she has to escape the current situation, she is approaching the search in a very positive frame of mind. This might not be easy but it is powerful and life changing. Sometimes she writes down that she is grateful for the fact that she is one day closer to finding her dream job or that she is grateful her boss was out of the office for the day, or that she learned something new that will help her in the next job. This practice shifts her energy more positively, which has beneficial impacts on her situation. You can do this for any situation in your life. If you are looking for a new home, start appreciating all the things you love about your current home. Inevitably those things (and much more) will be present in your new home. If you are looking to improve your health or physical fitness, start appreciating all that is currently going well with your health. The practice of appreciation has positively impacted my life over and over again. For example, after going through my divorce many years ago and feeling quite low about the status of my personal life, I started this practice of appreciation. The list that started with items like, I am so grateful that today is over and I am so grateful for the lazy rainy Saturday so I can stay in bed turned into a list with things such as: I am so grateful for this beautiful new home I'm living in, I am so grateful for this wonderful man I met, and I am so grateful I just married the perfect man for me. Another great way to practice appreciation is to have what a colleague of mine refers to as a "thank account". He carries a small journal with him all day every day and as he finds things to appreciate, he jots them down in this journal - his thank account. This works great for people who may have trouble recalling all the wonderful things that happened to them in a given day and is also fun to look back at the end of each day or each week to see all the items you've noted. Regardless of the approach you take, practicing appreciation is something that can and will change your life. If you consistently take time to look around you and acknowledge all that you are grateful for, you will continue to find and have more and more to appreciate.Happy Thanksgiving! This month's action step: Start your practice of appreciation so you'll have even more to be thankful for before Thanksgiving arrives! It takes a very short amount of time and creates lasting life change - well worth it!
Andria Corso is the founder of C3 Coaching and Consulting. an Executive Leadership and Career Development Coaching and Consulting firm. C3's mission is to help our clients reach their highest potential. Read more about C3 here or contact us to find out how we can help you and your organization reach your greatest success. Contact information: Andria L. Corso ~ 888-432-4245 Connect with Andria & C3 at:
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Radio Show? Andria
and co-author Julie interviewed author and speaker Martha Johnson on the topic
of Personal Resilience. Listen to this
show and any others you may have missed by clicking 
Running On Empty - The other day during a group coaching session, one of my clients shared a
story about a time in his career, which he was not proud of, but happy
it happened. The story was about when he was working an exorbitant
amount of hours (upwards of 90 per week), getting very little sleep, not
eating well and neglecting himself. What he remembers of his story is
as follows: He was walking from a conference room to his boss's office
during a hectic day while trying to meet an upcoming client deadline.
He had been feeling okay that day - just tired with a slight headache
but that was normal since he wasn't sleeping much or eating well. The
pace was a bit frantic and he remembers thinking that he needed to
quickly get some updated data to his boss. His next memory is waking up
in a hospital bed with strangers around him. The "strangers" were
actually his parents and doctors but he didn't recognize anyone.
an old picture of a great team I used to work with many years ago. It
was one of my favorite work experiences from my time working in a
corporate environment. What made it one of my favorite experiences was
the team, how close we were, and how much we all loved working together. The reason we were all so close was because of our leader - he had a great approach to team building. His approach was for us to do things together that created memorable experiences. These memorable experiences were created outside the work environment and were about doing things unrelated to work. 
