“I would rather appreciate things I can not have, than to have things I cannot appreciate.”

Elbert Hubbard

On Today’s Monday Motivation, Corry discusses APPRECIATION with Chris Heuertz.

Chris Heuertz has spent his life bearing witness to the possibility of hope among a world that has a legitimate reason to question Divine goodness. Originally from Omaha, he attended university in Kentucky before moving to India, where he volunteered alongside Mother Teresa for three years. While in India, he helped launch South Asia’s first pediatric AIDS care home — creating a safe haven for children impacted by the global pandemic. 

In 2012 Chris helped launch Gravity, a Center for Contemplative Activism. He also published two best-selling and award-winning books: The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth (2017) and The Enneagram of Belonging: A Compassionate Journey of Self-Acceptance (2020). Both books help readers use the Enneagram to move beyond type as a mere caricature and learn how to work with the Enneagram for spiritual growth. 

In addition, Chris hosts the chart-topping podcast Enneagram Mapmakers (https://enneagrammapmakers.podbean.com/), where he facilitates candid and vulnerable conversations that chart the unexplored interior landscape of the ego.

Watch her talk on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

Appreciation is a habit you can develop, and it’s a choice. 

In Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends and Influence People, he talks about how appreciation doesn’t just come naturally, and it is something we must decide to create in our hearts. Think of children when they start talking; they don’t naturally say, “Thank you for feeding me and thank you for changing my diapers.” We teach our children to say “thank you” to show appreciation.

Knowing this, we can let go of the expectation of receiving appreciation from others. I have found myself, in the past, thinking, “He didn’t even say thank you,” or “You’d think she would have appreciated my effort.” With the knowledge that appreciation requires intention, it is perfectly understandable for someone not to acknowledge and appreciate our efforts. After reading Dale Carnegie’s book, I have stopped expecting appreciation from others, and when I receive appreciation, it’s a treat.

Though I do not expect others to be appreciative, I have decided to develop the habit of appreciation for myself. Every day, I write down 10 things I appreciate. This habit causes me to notice more things to appreciate. The rewards for this habit are huge. It has greatly impacted my overall mindset and attitude. It creates more positivity and keeps me out of pity parties.

Just yesterday, I was cleaning my house and started having thoughts and feeling irritated about how I wish I had a bigger, newer home, so we weren’t all crammed in and cluttered. Almost instantly, appreciation rose in me, and I responded by thinking of all the things I appreciated about this house: our small mortgage, less to clean, it’s cute, we have a garden, pretty flowers, we live in a cul-de-sac, it’a near a park, and on and on my appreciation grew. I felt happy.

Appreciation creates joy, happiness, and abundance. When we appreciate what we have, we create room for more to come in. Write down 10 things you appreciate today and make this a daily habit. Watch how easy it is to appreciate more every day.