Appreciation, originally uploaded by Thorsten Becker.
ap·pre·ci·a·tion
n.
1.Recognition of the quality, value, significance, or magnitude of people and things.
2. A judgment or opinion, especially a favorable one.
3. An expression of gratitude.
4. Awareness or delicate perception, especially of aesthetic qualities or values.
5. A rise in value or price, especially over time.
From The Free Dictionary
A personal question, if I may: What have you appreciated today? Anything in particular that you have shown yourself appreciative for, recognized something’s or someone’s quality, value, significance? I find that in most western societies these days the virtue of showing appreciation has greatly diminished. We are constantly bombarded with opinions, comments, slogans, advertisements, recommendations and the likes, often with a rather negative connotation. It seems to be en vogue to be rude, arrogant, outspoken, taboo breaking and intruding without little to no regards of the effects. Human nature often drives us to find and point out fault and negativity, it is something that comes quite easy to all of us. And admittedly there are many things these days that contribute to this, things that are beyond our control. Rising cost in living, gas prices, commodity prices, political decisions beyond our control, stress at work, a lack of recognition for one’s efforts, all of these factors can play into our disposition. Unfortunately negativity breeds and attracts more negativity. The biblical proverb ‘keep conquering the evil with the good” seems to be more and more substituted with “beat evil over the head with a snippy comeback”. But adding black to black will not make a brighter color. I find it important to actively distract ones negative tendencies away towards positive thinking, not in a sense as to become oblivious to issues around us but as a truly positive counter force.
We all have a choice, each day. We can choose to be positive or we can choose to be negative. We can let things get under our skin and bother us or we can actively seek a positive balance. This is where I find showing appreciation invaluable. Appreciation starts with little things, things we don’t always notice or have come to take for granted. It takes a certain effort to be appreciative, we must stop and think for a moment, overcome certain mental dispositions and actively look around. Appreciation is directly linked to value, how much we treasure something or someone. If we live in a society were things are easy to obtain we may find that showing appreciation is difficult. If something breaks or is lost we can easily replace it so why treasure and cherish it? And how about relationships, do we truly cherish and appreciate people that are “instafriends”? Or would we value and cherish someone more if they’d become our friend over time, revealing their inner self slowly as if opening up treasures to us? What about small gestures of kindness, someone holding a door open for us, letting us step ahead in line, giving up their seat for us? And then there is nature, all sorts of flora and fauna around us. What if some of it would suddenly disappear, would we notice it and miss it? There are things slowly disappearing around us and we are often at a loss as to why. Learning to stop, understand and show appreciation for these things will make a difference. Showing appreciation can change the course of our life significantly. It won’t turn the world into a brighter place but it turns us into a light in the darkness.
Tags: appreciation, Musings, nature, Photography by Thorsten Becker, Rhododendron
