Hi Joshua!

In the Joshua diet playbook you are encourage to list 5 things you appreciate and 5 things you are grateful for. What’s the difference between appreciation and gratitude? English isn’t my mother tongue so it may make it more difficult, but another reason why I ask is because I remember Abraham talking about using appreciation in first hand, that gratitude has a bit of powerlessness connected to it: “I’m grateful for this thing, because I couldn’t do anything about it, but Universe kindly found a solution for me anyway”.

Sometimes, I have also noticed a rebellious side of me when it comes to gratitude, that the word appreciation doesn’t activate in me. It may also have to do growing up with a parent that often told me and my brother to be grateful…

It would be interesting to hear your explanation!
Pernilla (from Sweden)

PS: And so much love and thanks to you all in Joshua live and Round table, you have no idea how much it has added to my life listening to you!!!

Dear Pernilla,

You are not the first to ask the difference between Gratitude and Appreciation. Gary and Lili have also asked about that and we are grateful to you for asking the question. We appreciate your ability to recognize that you prefer one over the other. How fun is this topic?

When you feel gratitude, you are in a mode of receiving. This happens to be a receptive universe. The law of Attraction states that you receive that which you attract. Abraham’s book is titled “Ask and it is Given.” You ask and you receive and you can be grateful for the gift. You can be grateful for that which you have received in the past and for that which you will receive in the future. You can be thankful and show gratitude for everything you feel like you have been given. In reality, the gift is given the moment you birth the desire, and you have allowed it to come. It’s not that you are deserving or undeserving of the gift. You are worthy, so of course you are deserving. It’s that you have figured out a way to be allowing enough of the time so that the gift can enter your reality.

Everything is a gift, therefore everything you get is for your benefit, even that which you think you do not want or think is wrong. If someone stole your bike, you could be grateful that you were not riding it at the time or that you received a new bike you like even more. If someone insulted you, you could be grateful that you have the ability to turn the other cheek and not feel fear. There is no powerlessness in gratitude from that perspective. Abraham might have been discussing the powerlessness in believing that you might be worthy of some things but not others and that it is not up to you to receive the gifts, but to some other force that determines if you are worthy enough to receive them. That might have been what your mother, or your religion had believed in the past. However, we now know that we create our reality and if something comes into our life, then we attracted it and we deserve all the credit. But saying thanks acknowledges the universe’s role in the system of delivery and that feels good too.

Appreciation is the other side of the coin. You appreciate what you have and what you have grows more. When your home appreciates in value, it grows more in value. What you appreciate is what you like and appreciation helps to bring more of those things you like. It also helps you maintain your focus on the aspects of your present conditions that you like. Often, people place the majority of their attention on things they think are wrong and this attracts more things like that. When you focus on what you like, you attract more of that and you think less about the things you don’t like.

There are a hundred things you could appreciate about your body and just a few things you don’t like. You love the way your organs work without your direct involvement. You like how your taste buds work, how your cells work, how your heart beats, and so on. There are very few things you do not like, relatively speaking. But you tend to think about the things that are wrong so much more than about the things that are right. Appreciation is the practice of focusing on that which you think is right. With our gratitude for your question and our appreciation for you,

We are Joshua