Perpetual Appreciation

This episode, what we’re talking about today is discovering a system that we can begin to put in place so that we can activate on command, the ability to dive into a state of perpetual appreciation. Now this idea came to me when I was in a gym, I was in a gym recently and I was talking to a trainer. And I was fondly recalling back to a period of time when I was at my strongest my strength was at level 10. And even looking back at that time in idea right now. I asked myself, will I ever reach those heights again, Will I ever be able to press as much as I pressed squat as much as I was able to squat, do as much as I was able to do if you can see the look on my face when I was telling them the story.

It was like I was proud of a child I was proud of an accomplishment that was hanging on my shelf like a trophy. And I look back in my life. And I haven’t been able to meet that level of performance since that period in my life. But what is really interesting, what’s funny what is what really perplexes me is that I did not honor Nora relish that period while I was going through it. It’s one of those things nowadays, that puts a smile on my face, but did it put a smile on my face, then what these things are our opportunities to understand that right now we could be in one of those periods of our life. But we’re busy chasing that horizon that we forget the progress we made from the start of the journey.

And so are we measuring how far we’ve come? Or are we measuring how far we still have to go. Now both of those two points perspectives, one requires the attention to see the steps that have been taken. And the other can truly drag you down into an attitude of incompleteness where we measure ourselves by a horizon line where it’s like that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that we never reached. But this journey, this beautiful journey that we’re on right now requires a sense of appreciation. So there are things there are states, their ideas, there are things that you’ve created in your life right now, that are added zenith, underway to with zenith, you are capable of so much right now through the progress that you’ve made since you started these many journeys.

Relish it now, don’t wait for the finish line. The finish line can come and go or may never come. But you right now you’re awesome. celebrate that. Don’t look back in your journals five years from now, and look fondly on today look fondly on today, today. And some of these things that we can begin to do is we can track them, we can no tape them, we can set aside a piece of our morning and meditate and ponder exactly the person that we are becoming right now, this day. And the second we begin to lose perspective of the great majesty of all that has been conspired in this moment. We lose sight. And I don’t want to, I don’t want us to lose sight. Because every day is as good as it can get.

And tomorrow, it may change, we may get better. We may slip. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. But today is something to be relished. Today is something that we must realize, can evaporate. Our skills can evaporate an opportunity can sweep our legs out, we can continue to grow, but that is not guaranteed. So what I want you to understand that your life is a sedima Your life is this movie, your life is a feature presentation, enjoy every minute of it. And don’t get caught up in the distractions competing for your attention. Those are the commercials. Those are the things saying that you’re incomplete, you’re not enough, that is the horizon line pushing itself further into the distance of the future, asking you to compare yourself against it.

And therefore feeling a little bit more incomplete. But you are whole, you are the best version of you that has ever existed. What about you do you love? What about you was not in place last year? Who in your life is there adding value right now? What are you capable of doing that once was a dream once was an idea. But now you set forth the intention, you began to implement the plan. And you can feel it it is tangible, it is visible, it is no longer just an idea. You are not asking faith, you are not asking for that commitment within yourself because you’ve made it and you stepped out on faith. And now you can you can begin to see it for what it really is.

So this, this notion of perpetual appreciation begins with systems that begins with habits. One of the activities that I’m beginning to implement, obviously, I do this appreciation at the beginning of these episodes, I journal I appreciate I try to hold a perspective. But I have a new toy. I have a toy that I heard about years ago but really didn’t implement. And I challenge you guys to implement it in whatever small or large way. Get creative with it. Have fun with it. Well, what I’m talking about is a jar of awesome. And I know some of you you’ve heard it through a Tim Ferriss podcast. But that’s what I’m beginning to do today. At the end of my day, I’m going to note my progress.

I’m going to note some of the things that I wasn’t able to do before that now today, I’ve accomplished and at the end of each day write down the things that surprised and delighted you throughout the day. And note note that down. When you’re on a high you can read those and get higher. When you’re on a low you can read those things and feel better. But what you don’t do is you don’t discount how far you’ve made progress on. All we require in order to continue to move forward toward the achievement of the person that we’ve realized in our imagination is the sense of perspective as it relates to our progress. I’m not comparing myself to you, I’m not comparing myself to the image on the television screen.

I’m not comparing myself to the people on Facebook or Instagram, I am comparing myself with myself. And comparing myself with the sense of progress that I’ve dutifully probably mispronounced that word been pursuing each day. And that is enough to get me out of my bed. That is enough to try to smile that is enough to have total perspective on this journey. You have your health, there’s about a million things that you can think of that you can appreciate. Just walk around the neighborhood one time and see everybody of all different age groups and health kind of spectrum. You have your finances, you have your career, you have your knowledge, you have your wisdom, you have your family, you have your friends, you have your career, you have all these things.

Appreciate one thing about it, appreciate, appreciate appreciate because what it does is it puts you into a mental state to continue to go after it. Your dreams are worth going after. You’re a better person, when you’re tuned in and inspired. You have access to more of your body, more of your mind, more of your soul. And a lot of that comes through the right state of mind. And one of my favorite states of mind to be in is a state of perpetual appreciation.