Over the years, we have become habituated to instantly comparing what we are experiencing with another reference we may have in mind. Benchmarking sometimes may not be a bad idea, but we need to be mindful that we are not losing out on enjoying life in an unfiltered manner. Learning to appreciate people, places, and things for what they are rather than how we think they could have been can change not only our worldview but also our journey of life.

For us to appreciate something, we need to allow ourselves to fully experience it with openness. When we quickly jump to comparing, in an unknowing way we have closed ourselves to an aspect of life that could have enriched us. We cannot appreciate if we quickly become judgmental.

Preferences create differences. A different way of doing things or looking at life need not necessarily be wrong, just different. When the voice in our head is louder than what life is whispering to us, at some level, we stop growing because we stop being open to a different way. We cannot appreciate if we are not willing to listen and be open.

Everything is somebody’s creativity and point of view. We may still differ with it, but let us do so only after we have honestly allowed ourselves to understand, reflect, and determine what we feel about it. Often, our challenge is that we reject before understanding. We cannot appreciate if we are not willing to understand.

Not only are we creatures of habit, but we are also often victims of our own deep-rooted prejudices and narrow-mindedness. The world around us is changing faster than we may have imagined. We cannot appreciate if we are unwilling to change.

Comparison is easy because it allows us to be critical; appreciation is tougher because it challenges us to learn to see things with a different inner lens. Accepting another for what they are rather than what we think they should be builds relationships. We cannot appreciate if we are unwilling to accept.

There will always be others around us doing better than us. Their success should be a source of joy and inspiration, but if we keep comparing our life to theirs, we may end up with inner dissatisfaction and sometimes quiet jealousy. We cannot appreciate if we are not grateful for everything that is in place in our own life.

Just as colours come together to form a beautiful rainbow, trees, even though vastly different, come together to form a beautiful forest, and instruments co-exist to form a melody, we too can discover the beautiful harmony of life if we stop comparing and start appreciating.

(Picture – Mummelsee- Black Forest, Germany)