Wake Me Up: Morning Positivity - Morning Motivation - Living in Admiration | Find Happiness through Appreciation

Episode Date: May 15, 2023

This morning, find a deeper sense of happiness and connectivity with yourself and the world by opening your eyes to everything worth admiring. Want to be more focused? Wish distractions would just melt away? Sign up for the WMU Focus Course! If you're interested in joining, all you need to do is sign up for the course here: https://wakemeuppod.gumroad.com/l/focus. Get ad-free access to the entire WMU catalog + bonus content + 25% discount on WMU courses by joining the WMU Premium Feed. Sign up and start your 7-day free trial at https://wakemeup.supercast.com/. Follow the show on Spotify - Apple Podcasts - Amazon - Podchaser Say hi or request an episode at www.wakemeuppodcast.com/contact. See visual guides for the yoga and stretches in WMU episodes at www.wakemeuppodcast.com/stretches. And find the podcast on Instagram and TikTok. **Only partake in the physical movements suggested in Wake Me Up episodes if you are physically able and in safe surroundings. All movements are done at the individual's own risk. Be safe, and always consult a doctor if you have any questions or concerns.** Have a wonderful day 😃 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wake Me Up is made possible thanks to the generous help of our advertisers and premium supporters. If you'd like to support Wake Me Up, listen ad-free, and get access to the entire catalog plus bonus episodes, then follow the link in the show notes to sign up for Wake Me Up Premium. Now before our episode begins, here's a quick word from our sponsors. Hey there, and welcome to Wake Me Up. I'm your host, Tyler, and I'm so glad that you've chose to be here this morning. In today's episode and throughout the rest of this week, we're going to talk about living in a state of admiration, appreciating at admiring not only yourself, but the world around you. This topic is such a great reminder, because our minds are wired to look for

what's wrong, or what could be a threat to us. Humans are naturally problem solvers, but everything in the world isn't necessarily a problem to be solved. There's a lot of stuff out there that's just great and wonderful and worthy of appreciation as it is. When we remember to look at the world with eyes of admiration, always seeking to find beauty in ordinary things, our whole perspective of life shifts. When we perceive more beauty, we feel more connected, we're more grateful, we think more clearly, and our overall quality of life is so much more enriching. I've really loved making these episodes,

and I'm sure that you're going to enjoy them too. Now before we dive in today, just take a moment to pause. Take a deep breath in. Fill your lungs all the way up. Hold at the top. And then exhale and release. And use this moment of peace and quiet.

to notice something around you or even a part of you that you admire. Doesn't have to be anything grand. Just something you like, something you're glad to see in the world, something you appreciate as it is. Acknowledge your admiration for that thing. And maybe even let it bring a smile to your face. All right, let's take one more deep breath. So inhale, filling up with appreciation and admiration for the world around you.

Hold. And then exhale, release, just let the air fall back out. And if you're still in bed, use this moment to roll over and make your way up and get your day started. The happiest, most successful people aren't that way because they're richer, smarter, stronger, more attractive, insert whatever adjective you want. They are that way because they choose to show up every day and live life in their own way. So choose now to be one of those people

and get your day started with that positive mindset. And feel free to go about your morning routine throughout the rest of this episode, doing whatever it is that you like to do to start your day. And while you do that, I'm going to circle back to this idea of living in admiration. One of the most famous quotes from the artist Vincent Van Gogh comes from a letter he wrote to his brother, Theo. In it, he says, quote, admire as much as you can.

Most people don't admire enough. And Van Gogh was so right about this. Many of us move through the world looking for what's wrong instead of what's right. We only notice when something feels uncomfortable, rather than actively looking for what's beautiful, what feels good. In another great string of words, Van Gogh once said to his sister Anna while they were taking a walk, quote, it is so beautiful here. If one just has a single good eye without too many beams in it.

And if one does have that eye, then it's beautiful everywhere. What I love about this is that it shows. the mind of an artist is awake to the fullest potential of beauty that can be captured around them. Unfortunately, that's not how everyone's brain is wired. If the brain were set up to constantly be searching for where the beauty is, life would feel pretty different. But our brains are wired to be protecting us against threats, harms, and stressors. And that makes it easy to get stuck in a filter of discomfort, noticing what needs to be fixed, changed, or avoided. Deciding to see the world through a filter of admiration can change the entire experience of

life. Like Van Gogh said, admire as much as you can. And if you do, you'll quickly see that admiration is intertwined with gratitude. It helps to balance emotions by guiding you back to the present moment as well. It's pretty hard to not be present when you're watching a sunset or when you're searching for the best flower in the bunch. Creating moments of admiration can serve as a powerful mindfulness practice that gifts you with more pleasure and joy. And the amount of admiration you can feel for this world

is completely unlimited. It's the same for ourselves too. Looking at ourselves with admiration is so nurturing. and necessary. As much as we're constantly working to better ourselves and strengthen our weaknesses, we've got to remember to admire those parts too. Admiration is fuel for the mind. And artists live in this state of mind. That's why I love these Van Gogh quotes so much. They show how artists are always searching for anything that can be captured in a beautiful way or shown in a beautiful light. they see how the most painful parts of the human experience are also beautiful,

how wilting flowers and gray skies can be made into a masterpiece. And that isn't to say that admiration is a blanket that will cover up all of your suffering. In fact, we know that Van Gogh was one of the most emotionally tormented artists of all time. The key was that his art, his admiration for life, was his medicine. Artists are the alchemists of this world, and seeing it through the eyes of admiration is how they notice and create all of that beauty. Imagine if you chose to live, think, and see, always with admiration, in the same way that Van Gogh described. Even on your hardest days, when the world feels void of beauty and happiness, imagine just trying to find a hidden gym. When you look closer and open your eyes wider, you'll realize that it isn't hidden at all.

The world never stops being beautiful. Your experience of it determines its beauty. Beauty, remember, is in the eye of the beholder. So how much beauty are you noticing? How often do you remember to look for it? I'd be willing to bet that we could correlate someone's happiness. to how they answer these questions. One thing that can make it more interesting and engaging

is you can choose to look for beauty as if it's a game, a challenge, or a mindfulness practice. Choosing to admire the world as you move through it will make you so much more connected to everyone and everything around you. So each day, try to find a piece of life that inspires you. Find things that draw you in to feelings of curiosity and love, simply because they look and feel good. This practice is simple.

It doesn't require any money, and it doesn't take a long time to connect to. The magic of it is that it's in our very nature to be curious, to explore this world with eyes that seek to admire, and with hearts that crave to create meaning from what we see. Even the simplest leaf on a tree has thousands, millions of things to admire. The fact that it converts energy, its form and evolution, its growth, its ability to offer cooling shade. All of these are things you can admire in something as simple and ever-present as a leaf.

And the potential for these moments is endless. You can fill your life with moments of admiration if you're, choose. My friend, the level of depth that you go to in this life is up to you. How often and how deeply you notice the beauty of this world is also up to you. The amount and frequency of pleasure that you feel from living in a state of admiration is completely in your power. So as you enter this brand new day, fill yourself up with the life force that will hope that will hope you you become more awake to and appreciative of everything that's around you. There is so much to admire in this world, so much that can be discovered and loved.

So choose to go through life with open eyes and a curious heart. Don't let all of the beauty in this world and this life go by without taking a moment to admire it. Well, that's all for now. Thanks so much for tuning in today. I'll be back tomorrow with this week's meditation on this exact same theme, and it's a really wonderful one that's going to make you feel great about yourself and the things going on around you in life. I really hope to see you there.

I know you're going to enjoy it. Until then, go out, find something to admire today, and I'm sure if you do, that you will have an absolutely fantastic day. Since you're a listener of Wake Me Up, I know you recognize how important it is to stay focused. It's the only way we can achieve our long-term goals in life. And that's why I wanted to let you know about a meditation and mindfulness-based course I made that will help improve your focus. It's a really simple but powerful training series for those of you who find yourself distracted

or just want to deepen your meditation practice. The course has 14 meditations and a workshop in which we dive deep into the ideas around focus and how to improve it in our lives. If you're interested, I'd love to see you in the course. You can find a link to sign up in the show notes.