If you never stop to appreciate where you are and what you have you aren’t living in the present.
Focusing on what you’ve lost, what you want, or what you think you should have means you’re living in either the past or the future. Thus, are you living life? Or, are you just mourning the past or waiting for something that may or may not happen?
It is said that we move towards what we focus on. Thus if we focus on what we are grateful for we generally focus on contentment and fulfilment.
Conversely, focusing on the negative, what we don’t have or worrying about what may happen in the future, delivers the opposite.
Build time into your day, preferably first thing in the morning, to think about the things that you are grateful for. Follow this up at the end of the day thinking about the amazing things that happened during the day. These need not be huge events or achievements, just small, simple acts of gratitude or kindness.
The simple process of spending a short amount of time each day appreciating what you have and being grateful provides a huge positive boost to your mood.