Oh…this is a big topic and closely related to gratitude. And I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts on the subject.
To appreciate we must first recognize that something good, important, interesting or just plain nice is available for us in a way that might not have been seen before in our daily lives. As we take a daily review of our activities appreciation might suddenly take place. We might realize that without a certain circumstance being present in our lives another really important circumstance might not have shown up.
We learn how to appreciate the activities in our lives. We learn to appreciate the circumstances in our lives. We learn to appreciate the people in our lives and most importantly we learn to appreciate ourselves.
How do we appreciate ourselves? Let us count the ways! First of all I appreciate YOU for being interested enough to read these posts! I appreciate the fact that I have a really nice laptop in order to do this posting. I appreciate that I have some quiet time in the morning in which to gather my thoughts and put them onto my website and FaceBook. I appreciate that I have any thoughts at all!!
I appreciate the fact that even though it is supposed to be 95 degrees today in SOCAL I have air conditioning in my home and the dollars to pay for it. The list can go on and on…people, my family, the things I have learned etc. But most importantly I appreciate the fact that I didn’t give up on life, on myself, on my children or any other conditions which might have seemed difficult to balance. Everything taught me something.
Perhaps, as we head toward the Christian Holy Week, it is a good time to make a list, either mentally or on paper, of all that we appreciate in our lives. Little things, big things, in between things. They all lead us to a form of inner peace when we take the time to count what is good. This helps us to focus on what is right, what we do have, rather than what we feel we are missing, what left us behind or passed us up.
It seems such an easy task but once we begin the list will grow and so will the focus from what is NOT to what IS. It helps us to stay on the positive side when things get rough and it reminds us of how much we have when we feel loss, overwhelmed and indifferent to our lives.
I love you…Please forgive me…I am sorry…Thank you!