# Appreciation and the Remaining Work By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2022-11-24 Whenever I am sick, I long for healthy days. I wish I had appreciated the healthy days more because I am miserable when I'm sick (just ask my wife). Eventually, when my health returns I appreciate the healthy days more than before. But, I lose this appreciation over time, and the cycle repeats. Based on my experience and the number of books on the topic, appreciation is a challenging discipline for humans. Therefore, traditions like Thanksgiving along with philosophical and religious beliefs have emerged that focus on appreciation and it's many benefits. From the intellectual and culture focus on appreciation, appreciation appears to not be a natural part of our programming. In some ways, this makes sense as it's easy for appreciation to result in contentment and contentment to lead to death. There are many stories of individuals who have lived a long life, decide they are content and pass away. If we were naturally content, humanity likely wouldn't be as far along as it is. Why push when things are good? Contentment rarely breeds innovation, and appreciation could extinguish the drive for a better and continued existence. However, we've also progressed well beyond the days of surviving in the savannah. Appreciating what you have does not mean you'll be eaten by a lion because you've become content and not on guard. Thus, appreciation and gratitude have many more mental and physical benefits than in the past. However, a challenge for humanity today is being appreciative while not being content with the [[Status Quo|[[status q]]uo]]. As we have seen, appreciation can be a slippery slope to contentment and death. The journey and fight are not over, despite things being objectively better than ever. The odds of you meeting a violent death is lower than it's ever been in recorded history. We should appreciate this, but people are still physically, mentally, and existentially suffering. Thanks to modern science and industrialism, we've tackled some of the largest physical forms of suffering. There is still a long way to go here, but physical suffering is no longer the primary issue that requires deep exploration. We have enough food to feed the world, but we fail to share the wealth. We know the levers to reduce poverty, but we can't find the inner strength to pull them. The blueprints to improve society, work, and the human condition already exists, but [[fear]], institutional ignorance, and selfishness blind us. We need to explore the suffering within ourselves and others to move further. We can't let appreciation get in the way of progress. Appreciate the good times we find ourselves in, but do not become content. Give thanks, and let's get to the work. #### Related Items [[The Human Condition]] [[Appreciation]] [[Contentment]] [[Poverty]] [[Politics]] [[Existential]] [[Philosophy]] [[Gratitude]] [[Progress]]