Being thankful and appreciative

This post is dedicated to all those people who are too busy in their life and have not given much attention to the family, friends, this beautiful world and life in it.

How a normal week day looks for all of us? I am trying to pen it down and we may all compare:

• Morning Ablutions
• Religious rites
• Breakfast
• Reach office after an hour in traffic, check emails and work for 10-12 hours (or do household chores/ errands)
• Have tea/ coffee, lunch and snacks
• Mental pressure for perfoming well and getting increment/ promotions (it's always there in the subconscious! - Hard-coded)
• Do some miscellaneous activities (Play, gossip or stroll during breaks)
• Spend an hour or 2 hours in traffic before reaching home
• Have dinner and watch some TV/ news
• Doze off

And it's pretty much the same for all week days. We all have more or less same plan for the weekend (movies, games, TV shows/ news, internet, grocery, weekend trips?). Mostly, we get so focused in our lives and spend it like a racing horse with blinkers on. Honestly, how many of us feel jovial about reiterating these activities day in day out?

While all of these are important things to do for survival and earning bread, we should not forget to appreciate the treasures of life which God has given to us. One cannot be just happy by himself. We cannot ignore the environment in which we live. The happiness we get while we are appreciative and thankful to the people (friends, family, relative, society) around us, it's unfathomable. Most of such treasures (also rhyms with pleasures) we can find in our routine life:

• Always be thankful to the Lord for giving another beautiful day full of life
• Pray before you eat and give a warm hug to your mom or wife or any family member for cooking you meals (breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner). Be thankful to them and appreciate everything they cook from the bottom of your heart. It takes a lot of love, time, and patience to cook any food.
• If you cook yourself, be thankful to the Lord for giving your daily bread. Whenever you talk to your family member, tell them that you miss their hand made food.
• Love your mother-father a lot and EXPRESS it. Naturally, we all love our folks but mostly we fail to express it. Basic thing, one is always indebted to one's mother for what she went through in bringing you to this world (it's inexplainable unless one becomes a parent). And to father, for he kept you safe, cared the most and provided means to the family. And to both your mother and father for bringing you up and making you capable of earning bread and butter.
• Make a life-long friends and commit to be with them in thin and thick of life. Be thankful and appreciative of the support they provide, even the smallest ones. I am so thankful to all my colleagues and friends, who actively or passively helped me in my work and life.
• Be kind and greet everyone - be it your neighbours, a newspaper vendor, a grocer, a relative, colleagues, your boss or a peon/ security guard at office.
• Don't forget to breathe in the hustle-bustle of life. Whenever get time, breathe deeply in the open air. I am sure, you'll be thankful to the Lord for the joy you'll get.
• Talk to your family members/ relatives and listen to them. We mostly tend to ignore them, their needs and their expectations.
• Spend no time in talking bad about people. It a sheer loss of time and energy - absolute zero gain!
• Talk through the problems with family or friends. Find a mentor or confidant. Care to share, it will solve many issues.
• Give time to yourself. Have your lonely time and go for a walk.
• Appreciate what you have (things or the living)
• Whenever possible, find time to seek the truth, the power which is running this world. Pursue it. Sooner or later, every one has to invest some time in this area.

Each one of us may find happiness in different things. I am sure some of the above-mentioned are already part of our daily life but it's just a matter of consistency and expression. Some of these constitute our social life. Once we give time to it, our work-social life balance will automatically come. The balance will bring happiness. Both self-happiness and happiness in the environment (family, friends, relative and society) we live. With happiness comes every other thing including contented life.