Something that has helped

It’s been a difficult few months for me recently. One of the things that has helped a lot was something that, thankfully, I discovered relatively quickly and have since refined somewhat. The refined version sounds very simple; “appreciate every moment” but it actually takes some practice to get into the habit. Once you do get into the habit you will find that it leads to a positive feedback loop of happy thoughts; which often leave you with a smile on your face which seems to encourage more happiness around you…

Barry Kelly talks about the same thing in How to be happy over at Entropy Overload. It’s really item 3 on his list that I find leads to the feedback loop. I already had item 1 down pat and I’m working on item 2 :)

I originally started to focus on “appreciating beauty in the smallest possible pieces”, which was a bit vague, things like actually noticing the sun on the canal or the fluffiness of a newborn gosling swimming with its mother… Once you notice one thing like this and allow it to lift your spirits then you seem to just keep noticing more. It doesn’t have to be something that’s perfect, which is where my “smallest possible pieces” part came from, you can, for example, appreciate the pleasant curve of an ankle on someone that you otherwise don’t find especially attractive, or the shape of a window on a building that is otherwise architecturally dull…

But it’s not only things you see, it’s all things and situations; just appreciate it all for what it is and allow it all to lift you and you’ll soon find yourself in a feedback loop that keeps it all going without requiring any effort at all.

As Barry says, when it’s written down it looks pretty dumb, but heh, it works for me!