Appreciation Lists

I have been working with Ellie Walsh, who is a teacher of the Law Of Attraction. I have known Ellie for a little over a year; she is loud, funny, a dynamo and I just love her. We met while taking the same psychic development class at Venture Inward in East Greenbush, NY. She has taught classes on the Law of Attraction and holds bi-monthly sessions at VI.

What is the Law of Attraction? It is a system of beliefs put forth by Esther and Jerry Hicks, who receive their information through a group of entities calling themselves Abraham. Essentially, your thoughts create your life. Positive, negative, every single thought is a building block of the life you live, at every minute. You want something, you will attract it. If you don’t want something, you will attract it. That’s the kicker that gets me every time.

I believe this stuff. I knew I could improve things in my life by applying this principle on a consistent basis. So that is when I contacted Ellie and began a one-on-one learning relationship with her. I talk to her on the phone once a week, email whenever the need arises and in general have access to her pool of knowledge and experience.

One of the first things she had me do was to create an Appreciation list. Initially I misheard her and was writing up Gratitude lists. I emailed them to her so that she could take a look at what was going on with me, what language I was using and what I was focusing on. It was funny, once she reiterated that they were Appreciation lists; when I relabeled them they became different animals. Gratitude felt like being grateful that I wasn’t living during the 1930’s Depression; appreciation gave me a feeling of openness, abundance and light.

So I have been writing up these lists almost every day. I send them to Ell and sometimes she comments on them, sometimes she doesn’t or comments on them during our phone sessions. I have become more disciplined about writing them; Ellie asked me why I was paying her if I didn’t use the tools she prescribed. Why wasn’t I? I was investing time and money into this, why not jump in full-throttle? I think part of it was that I thought that this simple task was something I could treat casually; I wanted all the good stuff! I wanted to be working at my dream job in a week, lose all the weight I wanted in a month and have all the money I ever wanted in three. Ellie kindly pointed out that writing these lists were essential to shifting my way of thinking; of appreciating what I did have, even if it wasn’t anything that on the surface I didn’t want. I had to fully appreciate something before I could change it. The list writing was the way to facilitate the brain-change. And dammit, she was right!!

My lists, at first, were pretty basic and short. I am appreciative of my boyfriend, my cats, my father’s health, the fact I had a job, etc. Then Ellie challenged me to expand upon them; why was I appreciative of this? And why not be appreciative not only of the fact that I have a car, but appreciate the people who designed and built it. The lists I began creating had more depth and started to open things up for me in my life. I started to look at things with a more gentle attitude and as a result I have been creating a more gentle life.

I have a phone session with Ellie tonight; I can’t wait! I’ll let you know how it goes!