Are Monday mornings becoming a routine to you? Have you lost your drive to live your life to the fullest? Then maybe it’s time to pause, smell the flowers, and learn to appreciate everything about and around you. Published by Hypnosis in London on 18 January 2016, written by Malminder Gill.

How we look at things that happen in our lives can affect the way we feel towards it. For instance, we can view everyday challenges as opportunities for growth and be thankful for them, or we can see them as hindrances to our success and curse each day of our lives. How we choose to see things can affect our attitude towards living.

The Concept of Appreciation

Although gratitude and appreciation are often interchanged, they are not the same. Gratitude acts as the base from which appreciation grows. You cannot appreciate things in life that you are not grateful for. Gratitude is, therefore, the state of thankfulness. We can be grateful for some things in our lives without fully appreciating it. It’s because, in order to appreciate something, you need to be fully ‘present.’

Appreciation is more of present moment awareness. It’s being reflective of things that we are grateful for. To appreciate things in life means focusing on what is nurturing and good. While learning to appreciate may not keep negative things from happening, but they keep us from overemphasizing those things in our lives.

People who know how to appreciate have a different perspective in life compared to those who don’t. If you’re someone who knows how to appreciate things in life, you don’t take your life and other people’s lives for granted; you make every single moment count. Although you may look back on your past from time to time, you don’t let it dictate your present. Learning to appreciate things also makes you more fully aware of your life’s value, and so you learn to embrace it more fully.

Why Bother to Appreciate

When you appreciate something, you draw a specific kind of emotion and attract more of that. For instance, if you appreciate the time spent with your family, you feel good about it, and so you learn to focus on the positive aspects. The more you focus on it, the more you attract positive things in your life.

Learning how to appreciate things in life such as time spent with loved ones or kindness from strangers can make us fully aware of our connectedness with other people. Hence, our appreciation tends to strengthen the bond we have in our community on which we can draw in support in times of difficulties.

Studies also reveal that appreciation can affect the hypothalamus, a region in our brain responsible for eating, sleeping, and mood. Showing appreciation can, therefore, help you in improving your eating and sleeping habits as well as in work/life balance as it helps reduce stress.

Learning the Art of Appreciation

It’s never too late or too early to learn the art of appreciation. Here are some tips on how you can start learning to appreciate things in life:

1. See every day as a fresh new page

Start your day right by appreciating the new day. Treat it as an opportunity to make a difference or make a positive impact on other people’s lives. Think of something that can brighten up one’s day. It can be a random act of kindness or doing someone you know a favor.

2. Keep a journal of things you are thankful for

Before you get up from your bed every morning, grab your journal and write down the things you are thankful for. It doesn’t have to be long. Doing it for even 5 minutes can make a whole lot of difference. This activity won’t just make you realize the things you appreciate in life, but it will also give you a mood boost.

3. Pay attention to the best moments of your day

Sometimes with our long list of to-dos, we fail to appreciate the good things that happen to us each day. It can be a ‘thank you’ note from a customer or a healthy lunch shared with a friend.

Learning how to appreciate things means taking the time to pause and think of the best moments of your day.You may want to write it down in your journal so you can flip the pages and get a mood boost when things aren’t doing well.

4. Make time for your most valued treasures

Another way of learning the art of appreciation is by making sure to make time for the people and things that matter most to you. Doing this can make you realize what you truly value in life.

5. Be present

You cannot fully learn to appreciate things without being in the present because appreciation is all about living with more awareness. So choose to be in the moment as there’s no assurance that you’ll be able to experience it again.

Learning to appreciate things in your life no matter how small they may be can do a lot of difference to your well-being. So try these tips and learn the art of appreciation.

Aside from learning how to appreciate things, hypnotherapy is also a good way to boost your mood. In my years of professional practice in hypnotherapy, I have helped clients deal with different mood problems including depression, anger, and low mood. Through hypnosis, I can help you get rid of the negativity and guide you to feel more calm and balanced in life.

For a free consultation, don’t hesitate to contact me through this page.

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