Appreciate the People in Your Life: Your Journey to Self-Mastery

Most parents tell their kids that life goes by quickly. Kids often ignore this advice until one day they find themselves giving the same advice to their kids. We have a limited number of days on this planet. Because of this, you should appreciate people in your life.

When you start to approach your mid years, your older relatives are going to pass away. You will regret not having spent more time with them while they were still alive. Life gets busy, to be sure. But, we need to make time to spend and appreciate our elders. Their time is more limited than ours, all things being equal. And as they age, they need the love of family. They realize it more than people who are younger, that they won’t be around much longer.

Conversely, we need to appreciate our kids and encourage them to spend time with us, for the very same reasons. Your mid years will soon turn into your advanced years. You will be the one realizing that there’s not much time left.

Aside from family, we need to have friends as well. Our friends complete us and give us a more rewarding life. Appreciating friends is just as important as appreciating family. In many instances, friends will move away and we don’t hear from them again. It’s important to make an effort to keep in contact. This is not an easy task.

Appreciation is about being grateful. It’s about taking the time and thanking them for being a part of your life. Always be willing to help your friends and family. Be grateful for the little things that people do as well as the big things.

Make sure you let the people in your life know you are there for them. Don’t just say the words. Take appropriate action, if needed. Sometimes, people don’t like to ask for help. Consider showing up even if they say they don’t need help. Often, they admit that you helped and made their lives easier.
Sometimes, appreciation is simply listening to others and finding out what they truly want or what they dream about. If you can later help them realize their dreams, they will be just as appreciative of you as you are of them.

If you want to be appreciative, be willing to give more than you take. This will set the stage that you are a caring person and it shows that you appreciate people. It’s easy and rewarding at the same time.
Appreciating people is showing gratitude. Gratitude is a part of a healthy mind-set. Your mindset is a part of your journey to Self-Mastery.

It's the little things really. But little isn't really so little, is it?

---