A Lesson on Appreciation.

A Thought Adjuster Speaks - Lesson # 78
October 20, 2004.

To be appreciative is to live in joy. This state is not easily achieved except through experience; usually a bitter experience, but emerging from it much the wiser. Little ones are naturally appreciative but disappointments come when their wishes are not immediately fulfilled. A wise parent would explain the reasons, but a hasty parent will brush the child aside, not taking the time for explanations. A way of life for the child now begins with a need for recognition and gratification. If not wisely handled in time by the parents, it becomes a need for instant gratification, yet the appreciation for the desired object is short lived as the child starts desiring the next object. Life is a learning school of constant lessons. Many remedial lessons can be learned by the adult, who has received a less than desirable childhood upbringing.

It is self-education which can have a beginning in the early teenage years, when the young ones become more conscious, and realize that decisions can be made for better or worse, because of the possible consequences. He or she becomes a more self-directed and independent thinker, if not unduly hampered by peer-group pressure and the need to belong. When needs are satisfied in a healthy home life, there will always still be some testing at the beginning of independence. Young adults are like little birds flexing their wings, and at a certain point in time will lift themselves high enough to fly out of the nest, and soar on the currents. The young adult will have the beginning of true appreciation of being alive, and being an independent being.

And so the cycle begins of the independent life experiences, which will ultimately lead to a life filled with joy and appreciation, or of a life being unwisely spent due to the unbridled and thoughtless free will choices and decisions made, and so he or she will have to endure much sorrow. Even then, appreciation of life is still waiting, and can be experienced, and life will eventually attain a much deeper level, as a truly heartfelt joy can surge through the physical system, felt in every cell of the body. It is the realization that one is really never alone, even if it feels like that due to circumstances seemingly beyond control. Life is what you make out of it yourself, for choices always present themselves as potential opportunities. The more you develop a clear thinking and reasoning mind, which is connected to the heart, the more you can make your decisions based on truth, beauty and goodness.

Truth, beauty and goodness are the basis for living, including the golden rule for loving yourself as a child of the Most High God, and loving all others as yourself. This clearly is the most efficient way to progress, for then you will be naturally inclined to work on your self-education through self-discipline in overcoming all your shortcomings and negative and addictive habits and behavior towards self-mastery, for this is the purpose and goal of life -- a life now spent loving, liking and helping others. Appreciation has now become an automatic response to life and life increases in value for you, and songs of praise and thankfulness are lodged in your heart towards the Eternal Giver of Life. Sounds too simple? Try it, you might like it.