I’m still practicing with and reaping the benefits of the most recent Practice Intensive on Abundance. One of the many helpful suggestions included in that training was “enjoy what you have.”
That’s simple, right? Kind of a no-brainer? Conditioning would like for me to shrug my shoulders, roll my eyes, and adopt its “duh, I know that” stance. But by some good grace, I was able to experience the teaching in a new way.
Throughout the week of the Practice Intensive, things in my life were practically jumping up and down and waving at me, eager for my attention and appreciation. I could write a whole book on the slew of categories of things in my life that were just waiting for me to notice, enjoy, and appreciate.
One of those categories was “gifts I’d received in the past.” I started looking around at things in my house and noticing how many of them were gifts from loved ones: that platter in the kitchen that my mother bought in the tiny art gallery in Ohio, the Christmas tree ornament my friend Lisa made for me with a photo of us as kids on it, the warm fuzzy blanket my sister gave me years ago that makes me feel safe and cozy, the oil painting of my son that my friend Greggie painted.
The more I noticed, the more I saw. The more I saw, the more appreciative I felt. And so I picked up some thank you cards and starting writing thank you notes to the people who gave me those gifts. “Do you remember years ago when you gave me that platter? I use it all the time and I really love it. I’m so grateful to you…” And with every note I wrote, I felt more connected to these loving and generous people in my life.
It hadn’t occurred to me before to thank people again for gifts that are so meaningful to me. But the truth is, I love these things and they bring me such joy. And the practice of re-appreciating not only fills me with happiness, it also seems to make those gifts themselves sparkle and gleam with love. Whereas before I might have just seen a platter or painting, now when I look at them, I see the people who gave them to me and I feel the love of the generosity behind the gifts.
And here’s one more layer to this practice: not only do I get to appreciate these gifts over and over and let people know I appreciate them, I can also keep telling this story over and over! Every time I talk about what I learned, I get a rush of good feeling in my body. I get to think of all the things I enjoy and love and all the people those things are connected to. I get to feel cared for and loved. And I get to care for and love people and things in my life.
Conditioning hates this so much. Because, basically, appreciation is all about telling good stories and feeling good feelings, over and over again. Conditioning thought it had a monopoly on the process of story repetition. But I can use its tricks to my benefit.
This is definitely a case of the process is the outcome. But the icing on the cake of this practice is that there is a human on the other end of the practice who gets to receive a surprise love boost. And thinking of that makes me happy all over again!
Gassho,
Sherry