When you sit down to a meal, do you take a moment to appreciate it? Or is it something that is taken for granted? There are many in the world who will not have a meal tonight, or the next night, or the night after that. Appreciate your meal. Appreciate the life that was given by the plants and the animals so that you could have that meal. Appreciate the work that was done by the growers, the pickers, and the preparers so that you could have that meal. If you have good health, appreciate that. If you have pain, appreciate that. Appreciate your ability to feel, to see, to hear, to draw breath. There are many who cannot do even that… If you buy something, appreciate it enough to make it a worthwhile purchase. Instead of "making do," make it special. That does not mean it has to be costly. It means you have to take the time and attention to ask yourself what it is you would really enjoy.

Live your life with conscious attention. Consider the invisible web that binds you to others through everything you do in every day. When you turn on the water at the sink, someone else made that possible for you to do. When you lie down in your bed at night, someone else made that possible for you to do. Someone made the bed. Someone made the sheets. Someone delivered it to the store where it was bought. Someone built the room in which you lie. Maybe it was you, but then you used materials that someone else made available.

Take a last look around and see how everything there is was made possible in so many ways by so many people around the world. There already is a global economy and no part exists in isolation from the others. You already are part of a global society, and what happens in one part of the world affects every other part. There is no movement made, no breath drawn, anywhere in the world that does not affect every other part in the world, whether you are aware of it or not. Appreciate your connection to everything else. It is there. You can feel it. FEEL it! Don't think about it so much. Feel it. Feel how you are part of the intricate web of life, of the flow of life and even of death. Appreciate these days and appreciate all that you are in these days, for you are changing, too… Be in an "attitude of gratitude" and you will feel yourself blessed beyond counting. (Operation Terra) - www.operationterra.com

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. (Eric Hoffer)

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say 'thank you'? (William Arthur Ward)

Jim Hicks offers the concept that if you decide, just for now, that there is nothing to fix but only life to savor, you can transform your reality. And he is right. What if you simply stopped right now, right here, right in the moment, and chose to let go of everything that needs fixing (your husband, your wife, your children, your parents, your finances, your health, your shadow, your inner child, your past, your future) and just savored this precise moment - and this one - and this one? Why not stop reading for a few minutes and simply cherish? Cherish what? Cherish All That Is, everything, whatever comes up. (Salem through Diandra) - www.inwardjourney.com (Source: Sedona Journal of Emergence - June 2004) - www.sedonajournal.com

When you drink the water, remember the spring. (Chinese Proverb)

Do not run through life so fast that you forget not only where you have been, but also where you are going. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored every step of the way. (Unknown)

Our first order of business must be to stay positive. To entertain only positive possibilities. To imagine only affirmative alternatives. To surround ourselves with wholly uplifting, life-affirming people and influences. To align ourselves solely with the greater good so that our actions will be born of only the finest of our best intentions. (Donna Henes) - www.DonnaHenes.net

I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes - until I met a man who had no feet. (Jewish Proverb)

I had no shoes and complained, until I met a man who had no feet. (Indian Proverb)

Every time you speak negatively about someone you cut off the creative forces around you and create an imbalance within your system... We must carefully check ourselves every day to prevent from becoming trapped in this "coffin," by continuing to walk upon the path of gratitude. If a person continuously expresses negativity through his words, thoughts and deeds; if a person slanders others, if one is always jealous of other people's talents, beauty, successes; if a person harbours hatred toward those who have injured him and is critical, the aura weakens and loses its magnetism. You will not be successful in your life. However, as you sincerely expresses gratitude to others, a change of consciousness occurs, increasing your sensitivity so you can see beauty, acknowledge beauty, and respond in beauty... Your beauty manifests only by you being mindful of the beauty in others. (Unknown)

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. (Charles Dickens, 1812-1870 British Novelist)

We never cherish what we've got until the day it's gone. (Dean Fraser)

Getting interested and involved in life is enacting gratitude. (Dean Fraser)

…grievances are poisons that prevent you from connecting with love and wholeness. They separate you from your loved ones, from yourself and from your true, divine nature. As long as you hold onto them, grievances will bind you to a painful cycle of negativity and suffering, and you will feel alone. (The Council of 12 through Selacia) – http://www.Selacia.com (Source: Sedona Journal of Emergence February 2004) - http://www.sedonajournal.com

Stop to smell the roses along the way. (Unknown)

Two men look out from the same prison window; one sees the bars and the other sees the stars. (Frederick Langbridge)

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. (Helen Keller, 1880-1968 American Blind/Deaf Author Lecturer Amorist)

The average person living to age 70 has 613,000 hours of life. This is too long a period not to have fun. (Unknown)

Fear less, cherish more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, listen more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours. (Swedish Proverb)

Realize that, when you dwell on what is lacking or seems insurmountable, you pour energy into the negative side producing more and more of what you feel you do not want. The energy necessary to produce a different pattern lies in the acceptance and enjoyment of the present moment. Instead of keeping your attention on your pattern of lack, look instead at the richness of what already exists and appreciate the beauty of what has been designed. You believe you lack motivation, yet you accomplish many things each day. Love yourself for that which you DO accomplish. You believe you lack happiness, yet you experience periods of genuine happiness and humor each day. Love yourself for your ability to express the happiness you have. You believe you lack companionship, yet there are many around you who give you a great deal each day. Love yourself and them for the communication and sharing that takes place. You believe you lack financially, yet you have never gone without that which you need. Love yourself for your ability to provide for yourself and your family without deprivation. See what is there for, in that, comes your expansion into other, increasingly beautiful patterns.

Appreciate and cultivate that which is already yours knowing that all of it is your own loving creation for your own growth. You already know those things which produce the necessary energies within you, yet you are not cultivating that area. You have planted all of the seeds for your harvest, yet you do not water your plants that your harvest may be abundant. You have all of the threads with which to begin your new pattern, but you allow the loom to repeat the same pattern over and over. Always within your reach are the tools with which you may make any creation you desire... all of the seeds with which to plant any kind of garden you wish to enjoy. The choices are your own to make in any way you choose. Careful, loving nurturing of yourself will produce rewards far beyond your present ability to grasp. (Ahara through Patricia Rardin)

If you focus on what you DON'T have, you will never realize how much you DO have… How often do you take time to appreciate yourself? In your habits, in your conditioning, there is so much criticism to offer - of others, of yourself, of the way the world is run. How much time do you take to appreciate your world? Do it now. Do it more often. Make it a new habit. (Operation Terra) - www.operationterra.com

THE VALUE OF TIME

Time waits for no one. Treasure each moment you have. Then, when you can share it with someone special, you will treasure it even more. (Unknown)

It is said that Mother Teresa would walk through the filth of the ghettos of India in full comprehension of the horrors therein but focus upon the energy of the beautiful flowers that grew from the dung. This enabled her to be the healer that she came to be. (The Masters of Light through Daniele DeVoe) - www.lightandbalance.com (Source: Sedona Journal of Emergence - June 2004) - www.sedonajournal.com

There were codes of conduct by which people lived in ancient times… The codes of conduct concluded that you were to take nothing in excess, and that you were to always show respect and properly value what was around you. Today, your pushed to consider codes of conduct and communication in order to reestablish a world in which all things are significant. Your uniqueness lies in your diversity and the innumerable ways in which you, as humans, have sought to experience and interpret reality. (The Pleiadians through Barbara Marciniak - From the book, Earth: Pleiadian Keys to the Living Library) - www.pleiadians.com

Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance. (John Petit-Senn)

Studying and learning new concepts, new modalities, new perspectives is all well and definitely good, but will not take you fully up the seeking path until you incorporate all that you have learned at the physical level - until you gather it all into your heart, and live through your heart. What do we mean by living through your heart? Simply put, you will find your best solutions through loving thoughts and deeds, rather than fear. (The Brotherhood of Light through Edna G. Frankel) - www.beyondreiki.com (Source: Sedona Journal of Emergence - January 2004) - www.sedonajournal.com

The best way to know God is to love many things. (Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch painter, 1853-1890)

Every time you appreciate something; every time you praise something; every time you feel good about something, you are telling the Universe: "MORE OF THIS, PLEASE!" You need never make another verbal statement of this intent and, if you are mostly in a state of appreciation, all good things will flow to you.

We are often asked, "Isn't LOVE a better word that APPRECIATION? Isn't LOVE more descriptive of the Non-Physical Energy?" And we say that LOVE and APPRECIATION are really the same vibration. Some use the word GRATITUDE, or a feeling of THANKFULNESS but, all of these words are descriptive of Well-Being!

A desire to appreciate is a very good first step, and then, as you find more things that you would like to say, "Thank you!" about, it quickly gains momentum. And, as you want to feel appreciation, you ATTRACT something to appreciate. And, as you appreciate it, then you attract something else to appreciate until, in time, you are experiencing a Rampage of Appreciation! (Abraham through Esther Hicks) - www.abraham-hicks.com