Lighten the Load

Have you ever been in a place that made you tired before you even began?

It is so easy, on a day when we are pressed with all there is to do and to accomplish, to feel bogged down, under fire, or just plain worn out. But remembering the principles of Appreciative Living has helped me to a new place where no matter what is happening around me, I am able to find a thread of appreciation in myself that makes it all a bit better. So, when there is dinner to prepare, and the dog to feed, and thinking about the calls I have to make, and the work still waiting on my desk, my mind has begun, through my training and training others to live and think appreciatively, to automatically turn to the good fortune implied in all of those things.

When there is dinner to prepare, I feel lucky that there is food in the house, that it is fresh and nourishing, and that I have the good luck and blessing to be sharing it with my loving family.  My dog Lucy, who depends on me for all her needs, provides me with the unconditional and devoted love and loyalty that only a pet can provide.  I can tell her things that I can tell no other being on earth, and she will not judge me, or find me wanting in any way.  Her devotion to me is as sure as the day dawning. The calls I have to make, whether they are for business, or to check in with the people I love, add something immeasurable to my life.  I have found something that I love to do, and I am lucky enough to be able to teach it to others, so that I can hope that their lives are as enhanced as much as mine has become with the practice of living appreciatively. Keeping in touch with friends and relatives is not only something that was taught to me by my parents’ example, it is a sacred duty and a pleasure. And the work on my desk is the extension of my thinking, the expression of who and what I have become: a teacher, a person eager to share what is good in what I have learned.

In every circumstance, there is something to appreciate, and there is a way to find it and make it ours.  At adult gatherings, where there are children fidgeting; there are healthy, smiling, mischievous faces, eager for fun. When we witness an unfortunate circumstance or an accident, if we notice that there are people who are trying to help and provide comfort, there is something to appreciate. When we look back, or reflect on unhappiness, there is, if nothing else, something to be grateful for in the fact that it is behind us.  Even in the loss of a loved one, there is the time we have spent together, the love we have shared, the happiness we have been lucky enough to have partaken of that makes us grateful for the good, if only we can see it that way.