contemplation on appreciation

contemplation on appreciation 

estefaaano_writes 

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Have you ever noticed how the present moment becomes precious only when it turns into an irretrievable past? How the ordinary becomes extraordinary only in retrospect? The daily moments, like how sunlight falls across your desk at the same time each day become precious only when they're relegated to memory?

Life speaks to us in the present, but we often listen with ears tuned to the future; eyes fixed on the past. We walk through our days surrounded by small miracles. 

Appreciation is not sentiment. It is the art of seeing abundance in the ordinary, of finding infinity in routine moments. 

The tragedy isn't in losing things. Loss is the shadow that gives shape to love, the inevitable companion that makes possession possible at all. An inevitable companion to living. Real tragedy lies in having something wonderful without recognizing its wonder until it becomes a ghost of what was. We often hold our blessings like sand, too loosely to appreciate their weight, only to mourn each grain that slips through our fingers.

Moments carry the dual possibility of permanence and farewell. The wisdom lies in treating both with equal reverence. You photograph weddings and graduations, capture the obvious milestones, yet your phone holds no record of the ordinary Tuesday when everything was still whole. The last time you took for granted what you would later spend years trying to remember with perfect clarity.

Time has a peculiar way of transforming mundane into meaning. Gratitude isn't politeness or positive thinking, but an attitude. A practice of present-moment alchemy, transforming the ordinary into elements while we can still hold it. It requires a conscious shift in perception, a deliberate choice to see magic in mundane. 

Maybe the greatest irony is that we often spend our days yearning for what we don't have, while taking for granted the very things we'd miss most if they disappeared. 

The present moment does not announce itself. It does not wait for your attention or permission. The present moment is a gift that unwraps itself continuously, the tragedy is how often we forget to look inside the box until it's no longer ours to open. Today, this hour, this minute, these are not just units of time passing, but opportunities to recognize the wealth we already possess.

The deepest regrets will not stem from what you dared to do but from what you failed to notice, failed to cherish, failed to celebrate while it lived within the reach of your grateful hands.

You are holding life's greatest treasures right now. The question that will haunt or heal you is whether you looked down at your hands in time to recognize their worth, whether you loved what you had while you had it, whether you knew yourself to be rich while you still were.

— life's greatest treasures are often the ones we're currently holding, if only we'd look down at our hands and recognize their worth.  ☁️