The cycle of gratitude, thankfulness, and appreciation.

@amitkokiladitya Thanks. That's a nice insight. "What we see in our dreams is something we feel in our life." Yes, I do have that feeling, and my dream was confirming it to me, so it was a nice dream to have.

@innertalks yes...a soothing dream indeed which are only a few lucky ones get in this world of stress

@innertalks I can understand. What we see in our dreams is something we feel in our life. And having a feeling of gratitude towards mom is indeed the best feeling to have

@innertalks You're right. We need to learn to appreciate everything around us- even the negative things that happen to us.

@Jenaisle Yes, that is much harder to do though, but if we can see the speck of gold, in the large boulder that falls on our back, we might get some rich insight from our doing that too. We can see the positives in the negatives, if we still look for them there.

Yes, sometimes, we take things for granted, and just assume that we deserve them, or that they will go on forever. When something happens, like our mother dying, we realise, then, all the things that we forgot to thank her for, or to show her another gratitude for, either. We did not appreciate enough to appreciate that we should have given her more appreciation. Yes, appreciating small things is a big step to seeing and appreciating that small things are usually connected to larger things too.

@innertalks Exactly. My Mom, was just the opposite. I had a friend years ago, who had such a good mother, and she wasn't very nice to her. I would think, if you had my mom, how you could appreciate the mom she has. A lot of things we see afterwards. Consider yourself blessed above measure. For many years are shed of us, who was not as blessed as you. You will never know.

@innertalks Your posts, are so good. Its gives me thought, about how different we are yet so connected. I remember you wrote once about lending money. I thought the people that didn't pay you back suffered a greater loss. I am sure they needed money again, but because they handled it so badly, they lost more than you.

Yes, thanks, my mother has been gone now for not yet two years, and it is good that I still see her in my dreams sometimes too. I really should have appreciated what I had more while she was still alive, but I guess we all try to do what we can, when we can, at the time.

Well, can we be a baby, an adult, and an old person, all at the same time too? Perhaps, our soul can do so, but in our minds, it does seem to be a progressive path, or journey that we are taking. We can express all three, only, after, we have learnt from the first two steps. There are not too many of us, who are born on the third step, already.

You make a good point there. When we are appreciative, and thankful, gratitude naturally bubbles out of us then too. Sometimes, a shy person, will still hold back though, and needs to make the right choice to show their gratitude, rather than thinking that, "Surely, they will know already how I feel, without me showing it any more."

@innertalks well said. Thank you.

Yes, but some people do not like to be commanded, so we need to gain an awareness to be able to appreciate, and then we will feel willing to more obey that command. I think that Saint Paul, in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, wrote that more as an advice, rather than as a direct command though, too. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses:16-18. "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

@innertalks yes i think people dont like to be commanded specially if they dont have personal relationship to God they cant understand well the command..

@Overflowing I agree, and that's why it's good if we can become more sensitive and aware, and so follow this command more naturally, as a part of our own love for others too.

Thanks, Ken, I often like to think these things out on a logical basis, once I get an insight, about these things. This insight came from a dream, where my Mother, had made a lunch for me, to eat, while I was at a work conference, in my dream. I was, in the dream, walking along a footpath, eating the fruit bun, that she had packed in for me too. I was thinking to myself, that my mother had always done this for me, ever since I was at kindergarten, through to even when I was at work, and still living at home. I realised that probably I had not appreciated this loving act enough, which led me to not really ever thanking her for it, because I just took it for granted, and so from there, I never did show her any gratitude for this selfless act, that she performed for me, for around thirty years, or so.

@innertalks I was not appreciative by showing concern for my grandma and was rather curt at times. But then, after having learned from my hurts from my behavior to her, I was more mindful when it came to my mother - siva

@Shiva49 It's really good if we can observe our own behaviour, and try to better it the next time around. It shows a certain character strength, which more of us could benefit from having, and I am sure of that.

Thanks, siva. That's a great way to view life, and to float along more lightly in our lives. Yes, in many ways, there is nothing ever essential missing from our lives. All is provided, as we need it. At least those who believe in God, can be contented to accept this truth, if that is what it is, and I suspect that it might be so, sometimes, but of course, being human, at other times, I do doubt this too.

@Shiva49 God might have a sweet tooth for the right icing, creatively applied though, so we should always endeavor to value add, as you often say here to me.

@innertalks I believe every basic need is met and what we value add is only the icing on the cake. We are unhappy with what we have and also with what we don't have! It all boils down to our attitude and the choices we make - siva