Learning to Appreciate The Grind - Almost Always Less Is More...

in #life6 years ago

Almost without exception every single one of us has to struggle in life. We know all too well that nothing that we have ever achieved of meaning has been easy, and understand that the way we learned to appreciate its value was because of the sacrifices made.



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One could say its not that intuitive. We want to be happy, we want to live a life of peace, but the way that we understand value and appreciation is with contrast.

Try to think about this for a second, if you had no reference of cold, How could you know what heat means? If you had no reference for colors, if you were blind, How could you tell blue from green? In many ways the experiences we collect work as contrasts to help us understand.

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”
Theodore Roosevelt

As a mental exercise picture yourself right now having everything you want. All your problems taken care of, your debt, everything. Try to reach inside your mind and ask yourself if that sensation of relief, or joy is becoming reality or your tricked perception is just as effective. Can you see what I mean? For a split second your ability to leave your current situation and have that contrast made you smile.

Some might say that appreciating the bad times sounds a little ridiculous. Why would they be called bad if there was anything good about them? But if we accept them, and try to learn from those experiences, not only will we become more effective but hopefully more grateful.

There is a famous quote I constantly like to remember when thinking about this:

“It's part of life to have obstacles. It's about overcoming obstacles; that's the key to happiness.” - Herbie Hancock

I can’t seem to find a single flaw with that line of thinking because I’ve come to accept that there is no such thing as an easy life. Even those who we think have one, have their own struggles to deal with as well.

This is exactly why when I’m feeling a little down, I try to remember this truth I learned so many years ago. I try to think about the fact that everything worth achieving always had a cost to be paid and carry on. Maybe the magic trick here is just learning to appreciate the grind as they say…

Almost always less is more and life is really that simple, we just tend to complicate ourselves.

Hope everyone had a pleasant weekend

@chbartist

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Cool to see you quote Herbie. He's one of my favorite jazz composers and musicians. My favorite quote by him is

A jazz musician is not a jazz musician when he or she is eating dinner or when he or she is with his parents or spouse or neighbors. He’s above all a human being . . . the true artform is being a human being.

And being a human involves the perception of obstacles and the gradual dissipation of them by increased awareness. With no friction, life would be bland and meaningless. With too much activity, life is hell. Finding that balance is so important - and often so elusive.

I love reading your article, we have to learn a lot in this writing. There is no value in the world, thank you

In the hard times is when we must take advantage of the lessons of the past, what you say is worthy of admiration since many are overwhelmed and sometimes the solution comes by a simple reflection, I liked this article very much, thank you for sharing it!

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@ chbartist yes i,m agree with you and you are right struggle is the name of life. But Life is always give you opportunity. aAvoid making the mistake of wasting our time. And time on urgent and unimportant tasks, a person must complete prioritize a daily.I am very much happy to see that others doing the same and this would become the culture on the steem ecosystem.
Thank you for everything you do to improve this already great platform. Much appreciation from me!

Avoid making the mistake of wasting our time

HAHAHA, that is so funny.

I think that @chbartist posts are great for handgun sales. If the NRA get a Steem account they will surely upvote @chbartist.

Organized point of view, the point about life is we should reconsider every single direction taht our mind is going to guide us in major decisions but in daily routines, there is no need doing that. As i always said: MIND IS THE KING...
take a look at my last article too...

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This comment would normally be considered spam. Considering how all these other comments are making me nauseous I will not downvote you.

Well, first of all I just upvoted your comment as you took time reviewing it, regardless of how I agree with you, but I whould be appreciated if you let me know the reason you found my comment like a spam ... 🙏

Before putting a link to your post, you need to contribute more to the post that you are commenting on. For example, make an interesting observation and then follow that up with what you have done in your post. You used an incomplete sentence followed by a link. Many could see that as possible spam. Other people could see this comment and downvote you.

ok, now I understood your point...
I'm very appreciated that you took time and explaining, I do respect it and updated my previews comment.

Mistakes happen and you can't avoid all of them but the thing matters is to learn from mistakes to perform better in future. It is a fact that life is full of experiments and today each and every development humans achieved is by learning from mistakes and by preparing better next time.

If you start from SCRATCH then you will work 3 YEARS without MONEY and fame. ONLY preparation to fly.

nice thinking

Just what was on my mind and you've put it here already... Thanks

you are an inspiration for me you posts help me a lot in my day to day life. thank you

Yes, Mr. @chbartist, You are absolutely right because the struggle is the second name of life without struggle we can't enjoy our success effectively. We all have to think about self and do something for us to that we can live happy without exception we have to struggle in our life because if we don't know where we want to go then how can be reach there. I appreciate your effort because You are motivating people through your blog that really a great job that's why I can't stop myself to resteem your post.
Thank you so much for sharing with us :-)

Thank you so @amar15. Success...

@chbartist is doing a great job creating struggle for steemians like you.

Yes, You are absolutely right and I appreciate his effort.
Thank you @mightyblueberry :-)

Hey @chbartist great post. I agree with you on everything here and would like to elaborate on a couple of your points for your readers. I like the question you pose, "Why would they be called bad if there was anything good about them?. A point I would like to make in agreement with you is this, bad and good are subjective concepts. For example, imagine a billionaire losing $10,000. Most likely they wouldn't give it a second thought. It may not be ideal in their mind but they most likely wouldn't look at it as a bad thing. However, if an average man with a wife, two kids, mortgage, car payment, etc. were to lose $10,000 they most likely would perceive it as being devastating. And all because of their particular view on it which changes for everyone. I think its important for both your readers and mine to remember that concepts like good or bad, concepts that are subjective, that aren't the same for everyone, really hold no weight or value other than what we give them. So a major step in changing ones life for the better is simply to monitor what you give weight/importance/value to.

I also wanted to touch on another thing you said which I very much agree with. You mentioned a quote by Herbie Hancock (a great one by the way) and added that you've come to accept that there is no such thing as an easy life. Early in my military career, in order to help persevere certain training I was going through at the time, I knew I needed to tell myself something to keep pushing me through the pain and adversity. So I came up with the mantra (feel free to use this as well) An easy life is an empty life. That mantra kept me going through numerous times in my life as a reminder that there is nothing to learn when travelling the safe road and that everything I had in my life that I loved and cared for was earned through hard work. Anyway, thanks for a great post. You got my upvote and I'll be following you immediately to read more of what you post. Take care and be well.
GG

Your comment is better than this post. I wish you all the best on this platform.

Hello @gorillaguru, Thanks for your words and your great comment. I would like everyone to make comments like yours because this shows the true network interaction and that is the most important thing for mimi. I'll give you 100% of my vote I would like everyone who has written comments and will receive my vote or not, vote in your comment. I wish you the best! You are very Kind Person.

@gorillaguru Thanks for your words and your great comment

What are you, the best? Thank you so much for your kind reply. I couldn't have wrote my comment without a great post like yours so thanks again for that great post. Take care and be well. I look forward to reading more from you
GG

Hello @chbartist, I'm surprised that one of your labels is Venezuela.
I am Venezuelan, and we are in this country struggling to get out of our economic crisis, personal, this has caused us problems and, in turn, the departure of so many families. And then, here I always say yes, we begin to cry, to regret, we do not solve anything.
If we are in a strong crisis, but personally I say it in my family, thank God, we have a house, and some blessings that now benefit us in this crisis that we do not have to pay the rent, nor live on the street, then in each crisis, we must see the strengths, here I grew up, I studied, I formed my family, here, I have until now, my way of generating income plus Steemit, who entered our lives to not enrich us, but managed to solve problems with additional income.
Life is beautiful, it is one and you must bless it and thank it every day.
I like your reading, keep it up, blessings for you.

@chbartist through his excessive vote buying is reducing the rewards pool. That means less opportunity for you to earn on Steem. @chbartist is not being kind, he is being greedy. Do not fall for his spin.

Peace
We have to make tought choices. Listen to your inner voice. No second guess.
Have good day.

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Hello, I am your inner voice '@chbartist is a scammer draining the rewards pool to feed his fame fetish. Time to vote elsewhere, time to vote elsewhere.'

Desejo a todos bem, mas você precisa se concentrar em si mesmo. Você precisa parar de colocar a mão para fora. Todo mundo quer distribuir as mãos. Todo mundo quer coisas de graça. Você tem que colocar no trabalho. Você tem que moer. Você tem que passar pela luta, e você tem que conseguir.

@chbartist

Another great thought from your side. I also think that your bad times help you realise the value of good time.
If someboy has not gone through the bad time he will not respect the time and also will not value that.
People want to have success but its better to remember the cost that we have paid to achieve that.
Nice Post.images.jpg