It has been a long time now that I have had the time to really relax and spend time appreciating what I have. We rush around here and there, buying this and that, we played with it then dump it aside, we get caught up in the life of ‘toys’ that we have lost our sense of appreciation.
What is it really that we want? Do we want to keep up with the neighbours, what they have, I must also have one, in fear of being get lost behind? What is it that we wish to become? A digital junky, chasing after the latest toy? Notice how the value of the toy drops after a couple of month? We bought it just to be ‘seen’ with something new. What is happening to our world? Rather, what has happened to us? We want because others have it, not because we want it anymore, when will we spend some time to figure out what we want in life? What is important to us in life?
You buy the toy, you played with it, then you put it aside, locked away somewhere, in the dusty store room. Are the toys a reflection of you? Or the toys a reflection of your ability, your net worth? When will we learn that life is important irrespective of the toys we have? Many people will rob another for the toys the others have, kill for the things around them, kill themselves because the have lost things. What is important? If your life not worth so much more than the toys or things that you own?
We spend time escaping life. Will we ever find the time alone? Maybe that is scary for some, yet it is one of the most valuable thing you can do for you, you will discover what is important to you and begin to put things into perspective in your life in contrast to how you behave before. When will you slow down and reflect, when will you stop chasing of toys? When will you realise that you are much more, way more than your toys?
Spend some time to appreciate yourself! Notice your accomplishments, even though little, still it is an accomplishment. We are reminded of our failures, when we fail to appreciate the ‘little successes’ in our life, we can become rather ‘imbalanced’ and begin to feel that we have not done anything successful, that stress can put us into a tail spin downwards.
Start to notice the good, the success you have done.
No not to brag about it, to notice it and appreciate the little successes you have done. Experiment with it, witnessing the little successes and notice how you feel inside over a period of time. The little critique from others will seems like no big deal after that, for the appreciations you show to yourself, put you back into a greater balance, life will seems a lot easier, you will be happier.
It is odd, yet the world seems to notice only the ‘wrongs’, the ‘bad’, the ‘failures’. Ignoring the rights, good, successes, you deserve a little break in your life, put some balance back into your life, appreciate yourself, little by little, the balance returns.
Appreciate Yourself And Derive Happiness
Emotional health is enhanced by self-appreciation. If you are not able to appreciate yourself, you feel rejected. In fact, the fear of rejection affects people because it destroys their emotional well-being. But, you can learn this skill, though developing the skill is not very easy.
As children, we were appreciating ourselves. Even now, you may observe children looking at mirrors and admiring themselves. Once we grow old, somehow, we become pessimistic and probably, this change in attitude leads us to stop crediting ourselves for the good things we possess. In fact, no one else rejects us. It is we who reject ourselves. But, we should understand that we need to re-construct our self-image to learn the art of self-appreciation. The problem with all of us is that we keep moving the goal posts in life and hence we will never be able to reach them. This makes us all the more dismayed and we reject ourselves more.
Another problem is that we do not accept ourselves as we are. The same problem exists when we view others also. We do not understand that we should take people as they are. We expect them to have the qualities we want them to have. We should learn to accept ourselves and others unconditionally.
The best way to accept ourselves as we are is to do an honest analysis and find out the ‘good’ in us. We must start appreciating ourselves for those good things in us. We should not focus on what we do not have.
You can take a few steps to learn to appreciate yourself.
– You can make a list of your successes and achievements in life, however small they may be. Everything including passing of examinations, getting a job, dating a girl, first salary, solving a problem and so on should enter the list. These things might have definitely excited you and might have given you a sense of accomplishment whenever you achieved them. You should see this list as frequently as possible. This will slowly erase the memories of your failures because the thoughts of successes will start dominating your mind.
– Another step is also suggested by experts for you to learn self-appreciation but this step should be taken on a daily basis. Before retiring for bed at nights, you must sit in a quiet place and bring back the memories of the day. You must start focusing on five appreciable things you did that day. It may be smiling at a poor newspaper vendor, helping a blind person to cross the road, giving a good piece of advice to your friend, not trying to defend yourself when you are being accused for something, eating a good lunch, appreciating the beauty of a flower and so on. Even things you may consider as ordinary should be focused on. You should not allow your mind to drift towards negative things that happened during the day. If you do this exercise daily, you will start looking at good things alone in your life. This is a great step in learning to appreciate yourself.
By taking these small and conscious efforts, you will start appreciating yourself. Your attitude towards others will also undergo a dramatic change because you will start seeing only good things in others. Your entire life will change and you will see the world with new eyes.