Today's
quotation:
Make
it a habit to tell people thank you,
to express your
appreciation, sincerely
and without the expectation of
anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you,
and you'll soon find
many others around you. Truly
appreciate life,
and you'll find that you have more of it.
Ralph Marston
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Today's
Meditation:
Over
and over again, we hear the message that if we appreciate
things more, we'll have more of the good things in
life. And when better than during this Thanksgiving
season to remind ourselves that fostering such an approach
to life can help us to live fuller, happier, even
healthier lives. And to remind ourselves that such
an approach to life takes effort-- it doesn't necessarily
come easily to us, and we do have to work at keeping our
focus on the things to be thankful for rather than the
things that aggravate us or annoy us.
It's
so easy not to thank someone else. It's so easy not
to appreciate actively some of the blessings that we have
in our lives. But if we do make the effort, then we
will reap the rewards, just as the farmer who sowed the
seeds at the beginning of the season has a harvest to
gather when the season ends. It is truly up to us to
determine what we'll harvest, too. Without
appreciation for life and the people in our lives, we'll
harvest things like frustration and aggravation.
We'll have season after season of drought, and all sorts
of hungry insects will devour our crops before we can get
anything out of them.
"Make
it a habit." Habits don't just happen. It
takes effort to start them, and it takes effort to
maintain them. Appreciation is a habit that bears
wonderful fruit not just for the person who appreciates,
but for everyone else in that person's life. Where
are your habits? If you work on developing habits
such as appreciation, you can be sure that your life will
be a reflection of the positive energy that you're putting
out into the world.
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