Cultivating an Appreciative Mood
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How might we cultivate an authentic appreciative mood? Not fully contemplative, that’s different. In appreciative mood you dignify Reality in purpose, you interact and appreciate the interaction, you savor the experience, creating meaning by taking part. An appreciative mood is conducive to intimacy, intimacy with a moment, a situation, a place, a person; an intimacy with their story, with their nature. When you grow intimate with an aspect of Reality, you take stake in their story and their fate, you start feeling a duty of care. It's hard to appreciate Reality when there is no space or when you have no time to appreciate it.
Cultivating an appreciative mood requires cultivating the expression of voice. Not the voice you use to chat but the voice you use to talk about the moment, about how it feels. It's the meta voice, the one that lets you know if the moment is something you would like to take part of — from the perspective of everyone involved. Moments connect people and afford to be appreciated from the perspective of every person involved. Problem is not everyone gets to appreciate. It's difficult to appreciate a moment when the story is not for you. It's difficult to savor it when your presence has no meaning, when you're only "service" or "staff", grinding to make the moment worthwhile for others, with no consideration for you other than money you're paid for the burden you endure.
Cultivating the mood also requires cultivating the deployment of attention. There is a hygiene to be kept. There's so much noise – Look here! There! Everywhere! We've filled it all with noise. The environment is not easy on the mind, you can't make sense. No wonder people withdraw into phone screens, into alternate situations and different worlds. Cultivating an appreciative mood today feels like a luxury – it has become a luxury — to find space, time, moment, situation to appreciate Reality. If you can't afford the calm, you better keep moving. No appreciation for you, only hustle.
✎ Connection to
Key / The Prevention of Misery and Tragedy