Humble advice: Don’t graduate from being a student of life. Keep your eyes and heart open, curiosity alive because it will keep you alive. Here are some reminders to use every sense you’ve been equipped with to feel everything fully, to appreciate the little things, to live like you mean it.

November is the official season of gratitude in my corner of the world, but again: every season is “a means of adding fullness to life,” or so it could be.

Is it not okay to want what we already have?

Where in your life do you already have what you’re longing for? What’s already working? How can you celebrate your very aliveness in this moment? That celebration creates the conditions for more celebratory feelings. Feelings are magnetic.

It’s not that appreciating the little things cuts you off from dreaming big — appreciation nourishes what you want to grow more of.

Take these reminders for November (or any time of year, wherever you are in the world). Consider them tokens of my own appreciation for you being here, doing life with me. Allow yourself to drink in the beauty you see, hear, taste, touch, and feel. Let yourself live through the senses, through the mind, through the heart: full power.

Breathe with your steps. Walk lightly on the earth. Feel the wind against your skin. Hold your gaze a moment longer. Do these very basic things. It’ll bring fresh air into the stale corners of your mind. It’ll bring the most basic blessing of all: life.

Appreciate the Little Things: All the Nooks and Nuances of Your Life

1. Sense the magic in your gratitude for that which has yet to be revealed.

At the very least, I am grateful for the mornings. Sometimes, the most. This is because the morning is a beginning of something that has yet to unfold. And, at their core, beginnings are magic.

Trade your expectation for appreciation and the world changes instantly. - Tony Robbins

2. Bring a grateful spirit to what you do; you’ll receive something more valuable than rubies.

Something I remind myself when I feel like a slave to my ego, a product of the numbers, wonderfully engaged in meaningful work yet weary with wondering about the end result.

3. Love whenever you can, however you can, as much as you can. It’s how you live.

Loving is remarkably similar to living — maybe, two lines in the same poem.

“Joy is a marriage with the cosmos… Joy is the love that lasts, no matter what.” - Danielle LaPorte

4. Pay attention to what feels like freedom.

These things heal. They nourish. They remove layers of doubt. They coax the blossoming of your soul.

5. Play because life is meant to be celebrated, too.

We must know the value of work and play and disregard neither. We must know when to act and when to rest, and notice when our soul is crying for laughter and lightness.

The everyday, ordinary moments form the heart of life. They matter, especially when you treat them like they do.

Read this next: my new book, Morning Affirmations! It’s full of down-to-earth wisdom that’ll inspire you to greet the day with a grateful heart (for real).

Tell me:

What are you appreciating in this moment?

Tell me in the comments. I read every single one, and I’d love to know!

With love,

Jen