Simplify and You’ll Have More to Appreciate

It’s like the proverbial chicken or the egg — which came first, the object of your appreciation or the sense of appreciation itself?

There are days when you feel down, and that’s just how it is.

All the wonderful stuff that fills your heart with joy doesn’t go away on those days…it’s still there. The joy might not be readily at hand, but the people, places and experiences that inspire the joy remain, waiting to inspire you again when you’re ready and open.

Don’t lose hope. Even if you’re not ready right now, you will be. Then, you’ll look at it all with fresh eyes and the old appreciation engine will kick into gear.

Maybe you’re feeling under-appreciated yourSelf. Let’s unpack this a little bit. Did you do something to help that wasn’t noticed? Why were you helping — because it’s what you do, or because you’re looking for acknowledgement? You know the answer. You’re here to help.

Acknowledgement feels good though, and there’s nothing wrong with feeling good. You’re sensing the appreciation of others and they’re adding to the appreciation that exists in the Universe, no question. But it’s not the reason you do what you do.

You’re living into purpose because it’s who you are.

Become mindful in the moment, open to the opportunities for fulfillment you face, and you’ll unlock that sense of appreciation once again.

Meeting the Moment

How do you meet the moment?

Some days, you see it all illuminated by meaning. Getting the kids ready, you hear beauty and potential in their voices, lovely souls chirping sweet songs. At work, you open a ‘thank you’ email and feel inspired to help more than ever. Returning home, warmth and comfort flows over you, as well as deep gratitude for the place, people and experiences that contribute to this energy.

Other days, it all passes in a sweaty flash. Morning until night, it’s a grind. You get up, and all you can hear is the kids’ argument over a toy. At work, you may get another ‘thank you,’ but it bounces off your consciousness as you multitask. When you get home, you just want to turn it all off with TV, then go to sleep.

The dynamics of life can shape the way you meet the moment. When it’s a pleasure, you’ve got patience and a smile for everyone, generating more of the same. When it’s a grind, you can’t wait for it to pass, and this has a profound and self-perpetuating effect as well.

The ebb and flow won’t stop, but whether you’re enjoying the sweet chirruping of the kids or teaching them to share, it’s all part of the same fabric. Living into purpose, you face the opportunity to make meaning with all of life. If you’re looking for the creative space, you don’t need to go anywhere else. It’s right here, unfolding alongside you, all the time.

The Water Path

The days you’re nailing it left and right are the same days you achieve mindful appreciation. See the common in a new way, illuminated by meaning.

Things are already going your way, the trick is figuring out how to see it. Instead of counting your curses, count your blessings. You have all the capacity and bandwidth you need. Many paths open into this space.

Take the water path.

Whether it’s the shower at home or cooler at work, you’re in touch with water all day, everyday. Make water your portal into the moment.

Commit a moment of appreciation for each water encounter. It’s easy because it’s true. Drinking it, washing in it, watching it…you know you love it. Through the appreciation, you become mindful in the moment, and open for business, via the water path.

Things make sense in this state. You look at things, people, or situations, and it all adds up. This is how it feels in the head- and heart-space you’d like to occupy all the time.

You’ve been here before, and you’ll get here again…feeling gratitude for the simplest things. All squishiness aside, this is powerful mojo.

Sometimes you need a signal, a reminder to return. Take the water path, it’s like a bookmark in life.

Path of Air

How do you navigate yourSelf to a place of peace?

Chart a course around the gnashing jaws of attachment (grasping), past the stagnant deadzone of detachment (ignorance), and into the bright airiness of non-attachment (mindfulness).

Rise through the vastness of love. Beyond Ego, love for yourSelf opens into love for others. Love inspires you to go further, beyond simply feeling, you’re driven to create the authentic value that’s yours to give.

Take the path of air.

The path of air isn’t for all birds. Remember driving by that man flying his one-finger salute, honking his horn and so immersed in anger? He wasn’t going to let someone get away with whatever made him angry, so he flipped the bird. Was he showing anyone anything other than how he allowed anger to transform him? Nope. He was just showing the world he let whatever it was get to him. Flipping the bird isn’t the path of air.

Take the path of air.

There’s a reason that meditation starts with the breath. It’s one of the paths of air. Focused on the breath, in and out. It’s a path to mindful appreciation and beyond, to experience unity with all that is.

What beautiful mystery will unfold, if only you’re open to it? What mysteries might resolve, if only you have that extra bit of insight? What great things might you achieve with more of that reservoir of calm? Take the path of air…in and out, all the way to openness and connection.

The Walking Path

How do you get back to that place where you felt at one with everything? One thing’s for sure, you’re getting there under your own steam.

Take the walking path.

It’s so much easier to have a big attitude, non-attached to fear or anger, powered by humble confidence, when things are going your way. You know what it feels like. You don’t attach, so nothing’s getting to you. You’re not listing out all of the petty little things that get your goat when things aren’t going your way.

You’ll reached the place you seek, the same place you already are, even if you don’t feel it yet. But you’ve got to realize it to roll with it. That’s why you access mindful appreciation.

Take the walking path.

Walking meditation is the embodiment of mindful appreciation. Achieve mindful appreciation of your volition. Sitting behind the controls of the giant robot that is your body. Savoring the sensation of limbs moving to transport the brain across the land, quieting the mind and opening to all that is.

What gorgeous soul might you meet if you hold course only a moment longer? Have patience for another moment after that? Take the detour they just put up? It’s the way to serendipities in your life. They’re delightful and unexpected, precisely because the Universe provides outside of your control. Beyond expectation. You’re already blessed with a physical platform for serendipity. All you have to do is open to it.

Take the walking path.

Why You’re A Serendipity Warrior

How do you fight injustice as well as fear and anger simultaneously? Solutions cure injustice while shadow carries you away from the moment and your greatest creativity.

In times like these, you’re fighting fear (feeling it, then stopping before you manufacture more) on multiple fronts. When those in power pull out of the Paris Agreement, with a proud disregard not only for the planet, but for the very fact of life on our planet, you experience intense injustice, a path leading away from your creative power in the moment, into fear and anger. When those same powers are masters of fear and anger, effortlessly inspiring it both in those who support and resist them alike, they’re offering another path away from the moment, into fear and anger. No matter which direction you turn, it can seem like the shadowy chasm is yawning, ready to transform you into a fear factory, where pain is all you’ll see. The entire planet needs your creativity more than ever — both to protect the physical environment, as well as the mind and spirit environment, from the ravages of the fear masters. You’re ready for this.

Seeing into the past, but not the future, it’s easy to find yourSelf believing only the past, turning it over and over in your mind, beating yourSelf up when you could be creating the authentic value that’s yours to give. The current moment is where you live and the future unfolds from here. With faith in the current moment as all that is, and its potential to change the future, life can take a different shape — coming from a place of less fear, with less distractions, and more value creativity, free from the gravitational power of shadow that pulls at you like an addiction.

People contribute to the collective unconscious just like they contribute to the love in the universe. If you contribute shadow, you can both give and get its shrapnel that masquerades as you. Once it’s out there, shadow sticks around until it’s transformed. It’s a purpose and a mission to metabolize all the shadow you can, just like producing all the love you can. Even if the shrapnel still exists in others, you’re metabolizing your little piece of it, which is a contribution to the whole — progress towards freedom.

It’s why you’re a Serendipity Warrior. Onward.

…AND IF you found value here, please click that li’l GREEN HEART to help share it with others you love and respect…even if you’ve yet to meet them. Thank you!

This is Tao of Yummi, Sutra 67.

The Tao of Yummi is a serial conscious cartoon strip about finding your way to the delightful and unexpected through purpose and mindfulness. If you’re living into purpose and mindful in the moment, you’ll open to the infinite love, inspiration and creativity that is already yours.

Infinite love and gratitude, as ever, to Kris Smith, Jake Nelder, Ben Nelder, Amy Nelder, Peter Rutter, Jan Kadrie, Kaleo Sallas, Meika Cooper, Laura Hoffman, Joni Woolard, Korbin von Stentzsch, Malia Henriks, Alex Tanassi, Ben Cooper, Danna Colman, Srinath, Neal Gorenflo, John Heinsen, Glase Lomond, Derek Sivers, Jay Lauf, Max Schorr, Ben Goldhirsh, Casey Caplowe, Oprah Winfrey, Julie M Jensen, and Amy Jo Martin!

Yummi Delish a.k.a. Jeff Nelder

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…talkin' 'bout purpose, mindfulness & Serendipity. We are all essential expressions of the Universe. This is your authentic Self. Welcome friends!

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