Abraham List Class 1
Content & Assignments:
Three Appreciation Gamesby Connee Chandler
Begin by making a list of 10 things you love. As you do it, notice how you feel. It may serve as a graphic demonstration of the joys of "The Appreciation Games," our first topic. I think it is wonderful to spend time in contemplation of all that you appreciate in your life, and to share in the results of our thoughts of what we appreciate.
Abraham says that appreciation is the highest vibration we know. What we call "being in love" includes also the vibration of yearning, and is not pure. But when you appreciate, you automatically allow your vibration to return to the high, fast vibration of your core. If you tried writing the list of 10 things you love, I bet you clearly demonstrated the upswelling of joy caused by writing a letter of appreciation.
So that is the first of the three promised appreciation games.
The second is "What do I like about this?" Abraham tells the story of the man in his car who invented the game when he was stuck in traffic. He said it was very easy to notice what he didn`t like about that. So he determinedly decided to notice what he did like about it. That his car was reliable and comfortable and his air conditioning was great even though it was warm outside. That his car phone gave him access to the outside world. That he had an off button on his car phone that allowed him to shut out the outside world! That there was a very pretty girl in the next car, and he`d been beside her for a long time. He really liked that!
My experience with "What do I like about this?" is to incorporate it in any part of my day, whether I was actively liking the day, or not. Just the activity of basking in my appreciation of what is going on, enhances my awareness and makes me more mindful of how good my life is and how much I love so much of what is in my experience. In the grocery store, I can like the abundance of healthful, inexpensive, beautifully prepared and presented food. I can like the cheerful staff, and compliment them on how much I like to shop there. I can appreciate the cleanliness of the store, and how they carry my favorite brands. I can like that I have the money to put one of these and one of those and several of these in my basket. I can notice my basket is moving gracefully about the store before me, making it simple for me to carry all the wonderful food I am wanting to buy. I can like that I have a reliable car to get me to and from the store, and that the store provides nice men to bag my groceries and put them in my trunk.
In every moment there is at least that much, and probably much more, to like, if we look for what we like about this. And of course, Law of Attraction gives us more of what we like to notice, just as soon as we put our focus there!
The third appreciation game is "Book of Positive Aspects." It is "What do I like about this" focused and made more emphatic by writing it down, preserving, and accumulating it. We have used it a lot on the Abraham Internet mailing list as a way of dealing with people with whom we are experiencing conflict, but Abraham`s definition of it is even broader.
Here's what the Abraham-Hicks calendar, page 381, says about "BOPA."
"Your Book of Positive Aspects
You are upon the brink of magnificent, deliberate creating. You have been the creators of your experience from the day that you emerged into this body. Now you will be the deliberate creators of your experience. Trust that which comes forth from within you.
If you will buy a new notebook, and call it your Book of Positive Aspects, and spend 10 minutes each day writing positive aspects about your home, your body, your work, your relationships...If you will wake up every morning acknowledging that you have re-emerged into the physical and that today you will look for reasons to feel good...And if you will pay attention to the way you are feeling, and utilize the process of pivoting [we will cover pivoting in detail next week]...it is our absolute promise to you, that -- within 30 days -- you will see such a dramatic turn of events in your life experience, that you will not believe you are the same person."
So, Abraham says that BOPA can be used for all aspects of your life, expanding on the many things you already know you love, everyone you know, your body, your work, your prosperity and so on.
When you are appreciating someone, and they are unable to uplift themselves to the level of your vibration, they vibrate right out of your experience. Most people you love will be uplifted by your appreciation to a new level of appreciation and connectedness for themselves.
That is the "content" of class 1. We covered 3 appreciation processes. "The Appreciation Game" was done as "10 things I love", "What do I like about this" was explained, and "Book of Positive Aspects" was also explored.
Assignment on Appreciation Games
The assignment is to actually practice using the Book of Positive Aspects. Start out by making a list of people, living and dead, as you can think of in your life who have influenced you significantly. I came up with 75 in the first 10 minutes! Think of immediate family, extended family, teachers, friends, lovers, co-workers, students, employees, employers, acquaintances in the community, writers whose works you have studied, people you have tried to emulate.
I noticed in doing this exercise that there were several people I went to school with over 20 years ago on my list that I could immediately think of NOTHING good about! I have not thought of these people in years, but my vibration of resistance/resentment was right where I left it, 20 years ago! BOPA was a great opportunity for me to easily clear out some underlying resistance that has been there, negatively affecting my life until now.
Then pick 2 people from your list who are easy to adore, and 2 who are more of a challenge. Find a notebook, and write the names of each on the top of a fresh page. Then, on that page, write as many positive aspects as you can think of for that person. Do the people you adore first, so it is easier to get the ball rolling. Sometimes it is easier to see a good quality in the "challenging" people after you have appreciated it a friend or family member. Abraham says, if you can't think of anything good at all, make something up!
Note that when you are doing the BOPA, you might discover yourself trying to do positive aspects of one person you are having trouble with, and noticing that instead you are thinking of someone else behaving in a similar way from your past. Should this happen, go ahead and write a BOPA page on the person from the past as well.
After you have done this exercise, please consider sharing your results with the Abraham List at Yahoogroups.com, either by sharing a couple of your lists, and/or by sharing you reactions/feelings/comments about the BOPA process. Feel free to make comments about your experience with the two other appreciation games, as well.
I hope all this is clear and fun for you to do.
