In the midst of our busy and high-pressure lives, we can lose perspective from time to time. When I felt overwhelmed with work and other responsibilities, I often lost sight of what was important until I discovered the power of a few, simple habits in enriching and clarifying my life. I hope that by sharing what has helped me maintain balance and overcome difficulties that you will see a positive change in your life as well.

1. Prioritize Health and Well-Being: First and foremost, your health and well-being should take priority over all other aspects of life. Granted, we all have to do things that we would rather not do. Nothing is worth our long-term health and well-being. In order to appreciate the world in which we live, we must be in good health and spirit. How does one achieve this? Commonly, it is believed that success, money, and power will result in health and well-being, but the opposite is the case. Besides, what is the value of success, money, and power if we are miserable? Health and well-being are such general concepts, but can be thought to encompass mental health, physical health, and satisfaction in one’s life (not about one’s life, which is an entirely different concept). In this way, we are primed to appreciate the beauty around us.

2. Be a Voracious Reader: I have found one effect of reading to be the ability to engage deeply with the world and how I think about the world. Great writers have the curious ability to put into words what we have struggled to piece together about our experiences. If I am reading a poem about winter, for instance, I think: “That’s exactly what it’s like!” Yet, I never thought of it in that exact way. As a result, I now see winter with more layers of meaning. Don’t limit yourself to one type of writing, however. Read broadly. Read literature, contemporary fiction, textbooks, newspapers, poetry, etc. Read things that interest you, but also pick up a book that you would never read as to expand your perspective.

3. Appreciate Small Moments: Look at the texture of the walls. Watch the tree’s branches swaying with tufts of red leaves in the wind. Listen to the sound of cars whooshing by and the sound of a friend speaking nearby. See the depth of the color that surrounds you and fascinate yourself with the shapes of the objects around you. Get to know the world around yourself without passing judgment. Beauty is found in a non-judgmental, observing manner. Thinking “That’s an ugly shade of purple!” or “What a terrible noise!” prompts one to discard all beauty in their surroundings. One retreats back into their mind thinking that a better situation will come about, rather than taking life moment by moment as it is.

4. Live In The Present: Of course we must plan for the future and learn from the past, but we must free ourselves of the division of the selves that is time. When we feel fearful or upset, are we living in the present? What is happening to us right now? Where are our minds? Ask yourself what is happening right now. Anchor yourself to the moment. Understand that our lives can only be lived in the present, and that we should not be fearful of the past or the future. The past does not necessarily define our future selves. The future cannot be known. What we think to be the future is based on expectations; therefore, our expectations of the future can be partially correct or incorrect, but never complete. All we really know is the present, and appreciating our present selves and circumstances is all we can do.

5. Know Yourself: Take time each day to reflect on your thoughts without fear, judgment, or condemnation. Simply observe and take note of your thought processes. I think we all have a fear of seeing ourselves as we actually are. In order to appreciate ourselves, we must seek to understand ourselves without labelling anything as right or wrong. Look at yourself and ask if there is a conflict between who you are and who you want to be. Why is there incongruity? Why must you be different from who you are? Do you wish to be different from who you are, or does your society, friends, family, or ideology? Whether you accept the burden of those expectations is up to you. Whether you accept and love yourself is a decision for you to make. Knowing oneself is a life-time journey, but we can all strive to come closer to the truth that is the beauty of who we are.

6. Sleep: Oftentimes we hear people brag about how they only slept for 6, 4, 2 hours last night as a testament to their work ethic. Achieving better sleep in both quality and quantity is essential to our livelihoods, however. Our minds and bodies seem to drag through the day without it, and there are serious long-term mental and physical health risks to bad sleep habits. However, good sleep cannot be substituted by caffeine. I have found that good sleep enhances my cognitive abilities and improves my mood, benefits that are widely-accepted by scientists for the general populace. With better sleep, we can view the world in more color, as opposed to the dullness imposed by the lack thereof.
7. Appreciation of Yourself, Your Life, and Others: For just a few minutes each day, ask yourself what you appreciate about yourself. Give yourself credit where credit is due. Think about the small things in life that you cherish most. Just think of a few things that brighten up your life. Take some time to consider how others have positively impacted your life. They probably don’t hear words of appreciation too often, especially from themselves. Let people know how much they mean to you, or how you have taken notice of their positive attributes. I used to feel embarrassed about honestly telling people what I like about them. And things that actually matter in the grand scheme of things (e.g. not just that you like their outfit). In this way, I have been able to develop much deeper connections with people, which completely alters my perspective of them.

As one of my favorite philosophers, J. Krishnamurti, put it, “There is beauty only when your heart and mind know what love is. Without love and that sense of beauty there is no virtue, and you know very well that, do what you will, improve society, feed the poor, you will only be creating more mischief, for without love there is only ugliness and poverty in your own heart and mind.”