What a great virtue to be practicing – Appreciation – sounds simple enough doesn’t it?… But how often do we really stop to ‘smell the roses’? To be authentically appreciative of each moment of each day?

I was certainly appreciating these few days out at Chaffey Dam near Tamworth in New South Wales. I am generally grateful for all I have and all I do in my life. But a simple reminder each month to practice a particular virtue, prevents me from becoming complacent and taking life for granted. Life can be challenging, difficult and complicated… Or it can be an amazing adventure-filled journey… The choice really is our own. Do we compromise our virtues to please others or to fit in (complicate life), or do we strengthen our virtues (put them into practice) to make life a little easier?

After choosing many painful lessons in the past, today I choose the latter. That is not to say that tests won’t come, of course they will – how else will I know if I am passing? But if I consistently apply my newly acquired knowledge into my life, positive change has to happen. And because I allow myself to flow with rather than resist this change, I am open to appreciate whatever comes in front of me. Appreciation of all the contrasts in the world, creates the most magical rainbow canvas of life.

One day an outdoor office by a lake… next day an indoor office in a city (empty Brisbane house under restoration)… Life can be as open or as closed as you wish it to be. Which do you choose… open or closed?… 🙂