Some people put a lot of pressure on themselves to find appreciation for everything. And here’s what’s strange about that: That’s actually an expected appreciation. They have an expectation that there’s appreciation. So what are we really talking about, then? We’re really talking about and sharing with everyone that the expectation is more of a concept. It’s a concept. And if you want to call it an altered reality, somewhere in your life, your values, your rules, how you grew up, the environment that you were raised in—it set this expectation, it set this narrative within you. We’ll call it a default mechanism because you didn’t go out and actively go. I am going to live my life like this. But you found yourself living in reaction to different things and going, “Oh, that seemed unfair.” “Oh, that didn’t feel quite right.” “Oh. And it’s like, okay, why?”
Now we can go ahead and try and analyze it. We were just, like, going; we were present and allowing things to flow through us. And in that moment, you just realized, “I don’t have to judge this. In fact, I don’t even have to accept it, but I can acknowledge it.” And living in that space of acknowledgment in that moment, it’s like I can learn to appreciate this. In fact, if anything, I can find beauty in almost anything around me. And yet, we will still see some things that are happening in this world, which we may know. There’s civil unrest in all parts of the world right now. And, yes, you don’t have to look far to find it because it’s there. It’s front and center. It’s in the news. It’s right in front of you. And people are being lambasted by all this information. But is that your reality? Is that your reality? Is that my reality? I really do believe that we could be sympathetic to every single person. If it’s in Ukraine, if it’s in Israel, or if it’s in Taiwan, maybe it’s the person down the street right now who’s standing outside and trying to find a way to have a hot meal tonight. Could you find appreciation for that person?
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