Appreciation and Meaning Journal

By Andrew Eltes

Is there something missing in your life? Are you seeking to live a more appreciative and meaningful life? In Appreciation and Meaning Journal, author Andrew Eltes guides you to feeling gratitude while focusing on what matters most every single day.

Through a series of ten empowering questions, this journal is designed to
help you:

• deliberately feel positive;
• focus on and feel gratitude for what is going well in your life;
• concentrate on how you can better yourself while growing
and giving to others;
• be centered and prioritize what matters most each day
while feeling the core reasons for these actions; and
• connect to the essence and enjoy the feeling of
accomplishing a goal before it is physically completed.

The Appreciation and Meaning Journal helps you ask yourself empowering questions, feel the benefit of empowering and meaningful answers, and have the best start to the day possible while also being centered and focused on what matters most that day. It should be a day that feels and looks how you want it to.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Mar 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781982264345

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Andrew Eltes.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

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recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use

of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical

problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The

intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you

in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any

of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right,

the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-6433-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-6435-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-6434-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021903387

Balboa Press rev. date:   03/25/2021

Welcome to the Appreciation and Meaning Journal.

Feel gratitude while focusing on what matters most every single day.

I am excited that you have embarked on this journey of daily appreciation and meaning.

The intention of the journal is to help people ask themselves empowering questions, feel the benefit of empowering and meaningful answers, and have the best start to the day possible while also being centered and focused on what matters most that day.

It should be a day that feels and looks how you want it to.

Email: [e-mail]

Website: amjournal.com

This journal is dedicated to Taline Bedalakien,

Ariane Telishewsky, and Dave Blomsterberg.

Thank you so much for helping me on my path.

Contents

The Value of Appreciating in This Moment

The Value of a Morning Routine

The Power of What We Give Our Attention To

The Power of Questions

Suggestions for an Optimal Experience with This Journal

In conclusion

The Value of Appreciating

in This Moment

In life we might find ourselves looking for or chasing something externally or in the future to satisfy us or bring us joy.

Many people might find themselves in a routine state of dissatisfaction with what is in this moment.

When I meet my lover, I will be happy. When I make more money, I will be happy. When I get a new car, I will be happy. All of those things can be nice, but as long as we are focused on the absence of what we want and dwelling there without being solution-oriented, we will suffer.

If we are able to accept what is in this moment, we will feel relief. If we are able to focus on what we have trust in, we will feel relief still. If we are able to then look for what is working or what we could appreciate now, we will feel better now and have a more enjoyable journey on the way to more of what we want.

The Value of a Morning Routine

We all have some type of routine.

A routine is a series of habits or actions one performs on a regular basis. They can serve us or not. Most people have some things they do on a regular basis that are beneficial to them in the short term and long term, as well as some habits or action that do not.

The beauty of having a deliberate morning routine is that you can kick-start your day off on a positive note. You have the freedom and can choose when to wake up and what to do.

If one chooses positive actions that serve him or her, that person will feel better and build positive momentum for the day and for his or her life.

There is a sense of clarity and purpose. There is a sense of excitement and anticipation for the day.

There is a sense of joy and gratitude of one’s ability to experience positive experiences and all the benefits that come from that.

One has a sense of ease and flow—greater health.

There is a result of being a positive role model to your family, friends, community, and possibly beyond.

The journal can be an ideal complement to one’s morning routine, in addition to meditation or mindfulness practice, an exercise routine, and any other healthy way of starting the day.

For added benefit, I highly recommend starting the daily journal after some sort of exercise or meditation. This will help the mind and body come into alignment and be ready for positive focus.

When one is in a positive state of being, that person is more likely to be inspired to positive actions and answers to questions. If one is not in a positive state of being, he or she might still be inspired to positive actions and answers to questions, but I feel it is logical and from my experience that being in a positive state of being prior helps enormously.

If a person asks what he or she is grateful for while not in a positive good feeling, state of being, or mood, that person might not have many or anything come to him or her in that moment.

If one is in a positive or good feeling state of being, it is much easier, as the individual is already in a positive state. Empowering thoughts and ideas come easily and flow.

During a meditation, yoga, or mindfulness practice, so many benefits occur, including a deep peace, relaxation, and being more present. The more present in this moment a person is, the more ability he or she has to enjoy life. This can lead to improved health, strength, flexibility, and openness. This will help in being able being inspired to take positive actions and giving empowering answers to questions.

When we exercise, we gain mental clarity, feel more positive, increase our health, and even become satisfied with the positive action we did to improve the quality of our lives, which are all good. This will certainty help in being inspired to and taking positive actions and giving empowering answers to questions.

Even taking a few slow deep breaths prior will help one relax and come into the moment, which will help in becoming more at peace, relaxed, and open to take positive actions and answer questions in a more empowered way.

The Power of What We

Give Our Attention To

In any moment, we choose to give our attention to what we prefer or what we do not. We can do this consciously or subconsciously. We all also have the freedom to choose. I invite you to take a moment to think about someone you love very much. How does it feel to focus there? If you are like most people, it feels pretty good. Now, how did you activate that feeling? A question was asked, and you took the time to focus on someone. It was your focus with deliberate intent that assisted you in feeling the feeling of love and identifying the one you choose to love.

The Power of Questions

Whatever question we ask, we can find an answer to it.

I invite you to take a moment and answer this question:

What is working well in my life?

Here is another question:

Why does nothing ever work out for me?

These are two very different questions. There are always some things working well in our lives, and when we take the time to acknowledge those things, our whole perspective about our lives can change.

For many years, I was depressed and not aware of the choice I had in any moment to give my attention to what was working and feel grateful or empowered. I was not aware of the value in an empowering question or the power of my focus.

I am very thankful to have found this. The quality of my life has since improved dramatically from those times. The quality of my life has improved again. Many tools and perspectives, including deliberately focusing on what I do want in life and asking better, more empowering quality questions, has assisted me in living in the states of being I prefer to live in on a daily basis.

The ten daily questions found in this journal have been used in my own life as well as in my own coaching practice, and I feel strongly that anyone sincere in personal development will benefit from this.

It is such an easy process to simply ask an empowering question, to take a few moments to answer it, and to enjoy the feeling of gratitude and empowerment. It is my hope