I challenge you: Yes you, tea lover. We all know tea as a contemplative and reflective beverage. However, we also know we have the option to gulp and go.
Such a waste, though, isn’t it. In this fast-paced, nose-to-the-grindstone society, so much gets lost, gets forgotten, and taken for granted.
Alas, there comes this one day of the year where we raise our glasses (or cups) in a toast for all we have for which to be thankful.
We confuse or lump gratitude, appreciation, and thanks all into the same category. Vibrationally speaking, all three are different. However, just for this occasion we are giving thanks, expressing thanks, recognizing and sharing our bounty, and being thankful for the lives we have, the people we love, and the freedom we live.
Not everyone is as blessed.
Many with much less are statistically happier. That gets somewhat bewildering, doesn’t it? Perhaps we need more days of the year to express our thanks. Maybe this requires looking into why thanks, gratitude, and appreciation are not the same thing.
Oh, this is indeed going to require plugging in the kettle!
Yay, most of us just look for a new reason to sit with a cup of tea!
Just for today, could you take the entire time it takes you to sip a full cup of tea, and focus only on the things, people, situations, animals, plants, and anything else you can come up with for which to be thankful?
Not things you are grateful for or appreciative of, just thankful.
Writing things down is always a beneficial experience in that it to keep your thoughts on track, and serves you again (with a fresh cup of tea) when you choose to reread them.
Your cup of tea becomes your hourglass for the exercise. It is a challenge that takes you to the bottom of your cup and into the depths of your soul. Leave your brain and your monkey mind behind, and allow each sip of tea to take you deeper into your heart and soul. Therein, lay all your treasures.
While you are there treasure hunting, perchance you will also discover the differences between gratitude, appreciation, and thanks.
Yes, each one of those may involve numerous cups of tea, and quite conceivably, this could become an activity of self-empowerment you repeat on a regular basis.
Thankfully, we have the perfect beverage to assist us on our journey of mindfulness, self-development, and sheer enjoyment.
Images provided by author.
You pose an interesting question Dharlene. I must confess to lumping them all together but I will sit with each, along with a cup of tea, and tease out the differences. Thanks you for calling it to my attention to gratitude, appreciation and thanks.
I am very appreciative of you as a regular guest contributor on T Ching and would like to give thanks to you for your efforts.
As I thank you, Michelle. To make things a tad easier, Ester Hicks explains things marvelously. Here’s a link to a 7-minute clip that makes quite clear the difference between gratitude and appreciation. In my personal opinion, ‘thanks’ is far below both of these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DhHXoIC0iU
Thanks for providing the link.