Chapter 2: Appreciate that You are Alive
Why not start with your appreciation journey with the most fundamental thing of all? The fact that you are alive. You are actually alive! You are still breathing and your heart is still pumping blood. No matter what you have been through or how poor your health is, you are still here, ready for another day. If there is something more to be grateful for, I sure do not know what it is.
Being alive technically is not a little thing; rather, it is a pretty big thing. But your survival often feels like a little thing because you take your bodily functions for granted.
Appreciate each day you wake up is a new chance to do better. You woke up this morning and there is a whole new day ahead of you. You can do whatever you want with this new day. You can actually do better than you did yesterday, if you put your mind to it. Just be grateful that you still have a chance.
Appreciate the things that give you sustenance. You have the elements needed to keep your body alive for another day. You have food, and you have clean drinking water. Appreciate those things. Not everyone is as blessed as you. Life may be bad in some ways, but at least you get to taste yummy, nourishing food on your tongue. You do not have to go to bed with your stomach panging in hunger. You also do not have to feel the raspiness of your parched tongue as you trek twenty miles to get water that you may get dysentery from. As you eat and drink water, enjoy the taste and the nourishment that you gain. Let it fill you and sustain you for another day of wonderful life.
Appreciate shelter. The roof over your head may not be perfect for whatever reason, but it is a roof. You are shielded from the blazing sun, the cold wind, and the heavy rain. You have a place to keep your possessions, no matter how few or many things you own.
Appreciate breath. You are able to enjoy the beautiful things in life because you are still breathing. You would not be here if it was not for the constant rhythm of breath that goes in and out, in and out, in and out of your chest, even while you are sleeping. You have been breathing all day and every day of your life so you probably do not even notice your breath most of the time. Your breath is an automatic function that your body performs for you. But with that breath, you keep going. The day that breath stops is the day you no longer can appreciate life and rise up each day to greet new opportunities and possibilities. As you breathe, really feel the rush of air along your throat and the way your chest fills and then collapses. Appreciate every breath as it seeps oxygen into your bloodstream and regulates your body temperature.
From there, you should go on to appreciate the rest of your body as it toils just to keep you alive. Your heart, your brain, your nerves, your liver, your kidneys, your bones, your lymph nodes, and the countless other parts of you are all performing the miraculous task of life as you read this. They have since you were conceived. You do not have to even think about your body to make it work. It just does what it supposed to do. Even in sickness, your body tries to keep going. Even when you are injured, your body tries to heal itself. Your body is a complex organism that runs on its own and actually grew from just one cell. It is nothing short of miraculous that you are even here.
Appreciate the disasters that you have narrowly escaped. Almost all of us have had near-death experiences. Somehow, you are still here. You have survived stupid stunts and accidents and the bad intentions of others. You overcame bacteria and viruses that invaded your body, and you healed from injuries that could have become infected and killed you otherwise. You are here, despite the many threats and dangers made against your life.
Appreciate the people that make your life possible. Your parents, however close to them you may be or may have been, gave you life. Your employer, even if he or she is unbearable, helps keep your lights and your heat on and food in your refrigerator. Even your kids and your spouse, if you have a family of your own, give you the motivation and the purpose you need to go on.
There has been a very long chain of other people who have also made your life possible, though you may not even know them personally. Farmers, truck drivers, AC installers, home builders, doctors, nurses, and countless other people have tirelessly worked and contributed to your life somehow. The way you live now is all because of their efforts. If they had not been there, would you be as comfortable? Would you even be alive? Take a long moment to appreciate the vast network of people responsible for your life as you know it.
Finally, appreciate that today you are alive on this Earth. No one is in your exact position on the Earth right now, looking at the world the way you do. No one is you. You are unique and you have a definite place in the cosmos, however small that place may be. You are lucky to be alive, and you are lucky that this planet is inhabitable. You would not be alive otherwise. Appreciate that Earth is your home, that the atmosphere is breathable, and that you are here today reading this book.