“What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it – would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.” ~ Ralph Marston 

When was the last time you stopped to acknowledge the world around you? When was the last time you stopped to appreciate the beauty that surrounds you? To express your gratitude for the many wonderful and loving people that are present in your life and to express your gratitude for being alive?

When was the last time you stopped to give thanks to life, to God, to those you love, to those you don’t, for many of the valuable lessons they taught you, for many of the gifts they offered you and for many of the precious moments they shared with you?

When was the last time you looked at yourself in the mirror, into your own eyes, to acknowledge your own presence, your beauty, and perfection and to tell yourself how much you love yourself?

When was the last time you took a break from the busyness of life, to be alone with yourself, away from everyone else and to feel the life that runs through your life?

When was the last time you gave yourself permission to relax? To let go of worry, stress, anxiety, fear, and doubt, letting go of all your problems and trusting that life will provide you with the solutions?

“Don’t despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don’t – surrender to events with hope.” ~ Alain de Botton

If you ask me, we stress too much and we enjoy life too little. We stress and worry about all kind of small and big things, things that we can control and things that we can’t control, expecting the worse to always happen, and instead of focusing on the many things that are going great in our life, we talk about our problems, the things that went wrong in the past, the things that are going wrong in the present, and the things that might go wrong in the future. 

We don’t know how to enjoy life, how to live and how to be happy, with what we have, with where we are and with who we are.

It seems to me that we are in a constant chase to acquire more stuff, to make more money, to have more and to do more, and no matter how much we keep on doing and getting, there always seems to be even more left to be done.

We waste our vital life forces, constantly chasing more of everything, and in this process of wanting to have more and do more, we lose our humanity. We lose touch with who we are and we forget that we are human BEings and not human DOings. We forget that we are human beings and we start acting like machines. 

You are not a robot. You are not a machine. You are a human being who has feelings and emotions. You have a heart, not an engine. You are made to feel, to love, to appreciate and to enjoy life, not to run around like a mad person, constantly trying to do more, have more and become more. 

Appreciation: The Key to a Happy Life

Mahatma Gandhi was right, “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” So stop running so fast. Slow down a little bit. Learn how to breathe. Feel your pulse, your heart beat. Feel the life and the energy that runs through you. Feel the life in your life. 

Learn to appreciate the life you now have. The ‘little’ you now possess. Express your gratitude and appreciation for everything that life had to offer up until this moment and work on perceiving your ‘little’ as ‘a lot’. 

Always remember that life is a journey, not a destination. It’s about living each day as if it were your last. It’s about enjoying each moment as if it were the only moment you had left to live. It’s about loving the ‘little’ you now have, the ‘little’ you now know and the ‘little’ you now are, while at the same time looking forward to knowing more, having more and becoming more.

Get yourself off of auto-pilot. Stop running like a mad person from one place to another without actually getting nowhere. Let go of the need to control how your whole life unfolds and trust in the natural flow of life. Let go of control and relax into life.

Become aware of the fact that your life is here and now. Your life is here, in this moment, in this place. Your life is where you are right now. Treasure this moment. Appreciate where you now are. Because if you can’t be happy, satisfied and grateful with this moment, this life, the person you NOW are, chances are that you will never be happy. You will never be satisfied, content and at peace, no matter how much ‘more’ of everything we will acquire in the future.

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” ~ Frederick Keonig

If happiness consists in appreciating what you already have, the life you are NOW living, the people, things and experiences that you are NOW having, what is ONE thing you appreciate about yourself and your life?  You can share your insights by joining the conversation in the comment section below 🙂

~love, Luminita💫

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