#18 Appreciate Life

Appreciate Life

by Tash Hughes

You don’t need to be suffering from depression to find life grey and dismal at times; we’re all prone to feeling stressed, tired, down and aimless.

We can’t always see a solution to feeling like that, so we go on coping with life without feeling much pleasure in things or appreciating what we have.

Can it be different?

How many times have we heard of people learning to appreciate life and ‘living like there’s no tomorrow’ after a life threatening event? And we all feel good for those people to have found a new chance.

But why do we have to wait until our lives, or the lives of those dear to us, are threatened before we take notice of the joy around us?

That’s not to say we should ignore the sad aspects of life or pretend we don’t have any pressures or stresses on us, because they are important too. But surely we can find time every day just to value what we have and appreciate the fact that we are alive.

How can we appreciate life more?

We could remind ourselves of the bad experiences we have survived as an example of how much better things now are, but that is still a fairly negative approach.

Instead, we can make ourselves much happier to concentrate on the good things and even on how we can improve things for ourselves and others.

Here are some quick ways you can add happiness to your life each day:

• Each night as you go to bed, list the 6 things you are most grateful for that day. If you’re having trouble counting to six, remember the little things such as having a roof over your head, food to eat, eyes to read this with and friends who care.
• Read positive quotes and stories. A quote takes only seconds or a minute to read so even the busiest of people can fit this in.
• Stop what you are dong and stretch your arms and legs. Feel the sensations of stretching and the pleasure of using muscles.
• Go out of your way to thank someone for what they are doing. It doesn’t have to be something they do for you – maybe thanks the lollipop lady for helping children stay safe, a stacker for keeping supermarket shelves full or a recycler for saving resources.
• Smile. Yep, that’s all it takes – just smile occasionally even if no one is there to see it!
• Have a cuddle. Find a child, lover, pet, teddy bear or friend and cuddle them often.
• Wear things you like – perfume, after shave lotion, jewellery, favourite clothes. Wear them and enjoy wearing them rather than leaving them stored for rare ‘special occasions’.
• Contact a friend or relative and chat about unimportant things – use email if you haven’t got time for a long phone call or visit.
• Eat and drink slowly – it is less stressful on your body and mind and gives you time to actually taste it. Experience the textures on your tongue, too.
• Take notice of nature. Watch a sunrise or sunset, literally smell a flower, listen to the rain on a roof, walk on some autumn leaves and breathe in some fresh air. Taking a few seconds to appreciate beauty and nature is a great way to forget your worries and bring a smile to your face.
• Indulge in a hobby. If you can’t actually do it every day, read, talk or daydream about it instead.