Appreciation and Celebration

New Earth Beckons (6)

Feelings of appreciation can be interwoven throughout our experiencing of each new day.

If asked, “What can you appreciate in this moment?”, will something come to mind immediately?

As linear time is counted, there are 86,400 seconds in each twenty-four hour day.  That is a lot of moments in which to potentially feel, within oneself, appreciation — in the midst of whatever one might be “doing”.

I well remember a specific day when I noticed an attitude of “doingness” which forgets pleasant “beingness”.  To me, pleasant “beingness” includes moments of appreciation — brief pauses, often spontaneous — amid one’s day.

Probably I was not yet four years old when I made an observation that has remained with me.  I was outdoors by myself, on a mild day, in the fenced-in front yard of a house which was located on a street with little traffic.  I saw that a woman was approaching, on the adjacent sidewalk, walking at a brisk pace to wherever she was going.  She was dressed in (what I would later learn to call) business-like clothing as she click, click, clicked along in her high heels.

When she neared the house I said, “Hello.”  Looking up at her — she who was much taller than I — I’m sure I was smiling as I delivered my cheerful greeting.  She continued her pace, staring straight ahead, apparently oblivious to the greeting which had just been delivered to her from a small child.

I remember that this puzzled me, this obliviousness — a word that was not yet in my vocabulary.  What registered for me was that “grown ups” — many of them — disallow (either consciously or not) spontaneity which includes moments which have within them the potential for appreciation.  This puzzled me.

Decades later, it continues to puzzle me.

I recognize that people become pre-occupied within the “space” that they are in.  “Grown-ups” have work to do, schedules to keep, responsibilities.  In contrast, the “work” for small children, is usually “play”.  They are “preoccupied” with learning.  They are also well in touch with spontaneity and appreciation.  “What is this fascinating thing?”  “What is that?”  “Oh, what fun!”

Many forget that choice is available, when one enters the lighter “space” where choice exists, rather than the weight of unremitting preoccupation.

In that lighter “space”, one can be disciplined in keeping one’s schedule — productive throughout one’s day — while also experiencing appreciation woven throughout the 86,400 seconds.

Experientially I know it’s possible.  Appreciation is also inherent in the New Earth way-of-being.  I know this way-of-being well.  I also know that some may appreciate a reminder.

Appreciation can be so simple:  the loveliness of the dawn, the dancing of tree branches in a breeze, the taste of fresh fruit, the feel-good feeling of stretching and moving…

And even the arrival of a pleasant “hello” that you didn’t expect.

Appreciation makes celebration easy.  Attuned to the vibration — and it is a vibration — of appreciation, celebration in simplicity is also readily discoverable.

That which we appreciate — and celebrate — enhances our “beingness”  and “doingness” and contributes to the vitality of our presence in the New Earth.