THBM:
One of the most important ideas for me is the understanding that appreciation means adding value. More than just seeing the value in something, true appreciation requires me to add my own new value as well. I had to learn this concept later in my life as my desire to increase the quality of my experience grew. A mentor of mine brought to my attention just a few years ago, this kind of definition to appreciating anything. Like a home that appreciates in value because time or something new has been added, I must also add my energy or my time to anything if I want to increase its value for me. Value in life is a funny thing, its meaning is relative to the person perceiving or experiencing. In other words, we all will never find exactly the same value in something. There are subtle and bigger differences in how each of us perceives the value of anything. But the value we each see in anything is always related to how much energy or time we have added in our experience of our object of value.
This understanding of appreciation has shown me to be a kind of short cut to having deeper and richer experiences. If I love something in my life and I want to appreciate it, then I know that by adding my energy to it and my time of focus on it, then I will increase its value to me. I will feel a deepening of my appreciation for these things I appreciate in this way. And so my experiences then become heightened one after the other. Thus the quality of my life grows exponentially. But I can only offer what I have. And what I have is who I am. I am love. I am joy. I am so very good.
