More value of life with these 11 tips

I saw today a huge big white truck with the text:

Everything is Valuable

At first, I thought: “Rubbish! This is not true!”

But then … well, watch it for yourself:

The real value of life is about how we feel about ourselves. Today you can develop a discipline of observing rather than ignoring, of doing rather than neglecting. Every time you choose action over ease, you will develop more self-confidence and your value of life will increase.

The famous German writer Hermann Hesse said about the value of life:

“Whatever good or bad fortune may come your way, you can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.”

Why is it important to see the value of life?

“Too many people today know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
- Ann Landers

Let’s say that you bought your new dream car. Yeahh!! You are happy! But how do you feel about your car two or three years later? Or should I say one month later? Because due to our hedonic adaptation we very quickly adapt to the new situation and after a month or so we don’t see and don’t feel the difference anymore against the situation before you bought your new car. You are accustomed to driving your car every day.

"Owning the toy is the end of the joy." and "The thrill is in the chase."

This means that the joy of things in your life diminishes very quickly which reduces the value of life. And the pain points and frustrations and annoyances … well, they stay forever.

“If you so choose, even the unexpected setbacks can bring new and positive possibilities.
If you so choose, you can find value and fulfillment in every circumstance.”
- Ralph Marston

So, to increase your value of life, you need to balance all those negative effects against all the positive ones. And while you unconsciously don’t see those positive sides anymore you have to put some conscious effort to see them again and increase the value of life.

Or to quote Michel de Montaigne about his view on the value of life:

“The value of life is not in the length of days, but in the way, we make use of them;
a man may live long yet very little.”

11 ways to increase your value of life

You too can start today with enjoying and appreciating your life even more.Simply use one or more (or all!) of the below ways in which you can increase your value of life:

Value of life Tip #1:

Make use of negative visualization to be happier of what you already have. This is a very powerful technique already used by Roman emperors thousands of years ago.

Value of life Tip #2:

Zoom in on something you are unhappy about and find the hidden gems. If you are willing to find something positive, beautiful, interesting or compelling, then you will find it even between garbage. It is a matter of focused attention on only that specific detail which will bring you joy.

Value of life Tip #3:

Be realistic about the ups and downs of life. After every Summer, you get Autumn and Winter. That’s a fact. It is also a fact that after Winter you get Spring and Summer. Is Winter bad? No! It’s just as it is and it can have very beautiful days.

Value of life Tip #4:

Reframe the negative outcome. To begin to see the positive side of things it helps if you can loosen up on the negative side of things. You do this by reframing the negative aspects into something positive or at least something less negative.

Value of life Tip #5:

Acknowledge the fact that you are a human being and that you make mistakes. In fact, you should make mistakes because they are your best chance to learn something new.

“We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about.”
- Joseph Campbell

Value of life Tip #6:

Become a super learner. In this day and age, the best competitive advantage you have in any workplace is to learn faster than your competition does. So, become a super learner by making as many mistakes as fast as possible, so that you can learn as quick as possible.

Value of life Tip #7:

Start a daily habit of writing Morning Pages. If you’d like to know more about this, you search on Youtube for hundreds of people explaining this, so I won’t do that here. But I strongly advise you to start writing each morning your Morning Pages, because it will increase your value of life tremendously, is my experience.

Value of life Tip #8:

Realize that everything is valuable. Although I have never been a fan of former USA President Ronald Reagan, he does have a beautiful inscription on his Memorial site in Simi Valley California:

“I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph and there is a purpose and worth to each and every life.”

So, everything is valuable and everything has a purpose. Chances are that you don’t know the value and purpose of most things in life. But that does not mean that things don’t have a value and a purpose.

If you don't believe in the value of life, then you will never see it. So, you first have to accept the fact that everything good or bad, has value.

Be alert and sensitive to what is happening around you. Let life and all of its subtle messages touch you. Often the most extraordinary opportunities are hidden in plain sight, hidden among seemingly insignificant other events. So, how do you pay attention and don’t miss any opportunity to value your life?

Life can be extremely valuable if you want to.

But then you have to open your eyes and be willing to see the value, even if you don't think it will be there. So, expect value in everything.

So, if you want to increase your value of life, then I suggest that you open yourself to the possibility that everything is valuable. Also, the things you consider now as negative or worthless. By the way when I say “things” then I mean everything. So, every human being, every animal, plant, even the tiniest creatures on the planet and everything else.

“You must look within for value, but must look beyond for perspective.”
- Denis Waitley

Value of life Tip #9:

Realize that you have an obligation to life and nature to see the beauty in everything. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So, if you don’t see the beauty of things, then it is lost in space. You have an obligation to life to witness its beauty. Otherwise, it’s useless. If you do see the beauty of things, you can give life a big gift. My five-year-old son always says “Did you see that Dad? Did you see it?!” referring to something he just did. He needs a spectator of what he does when he plays. Everyone needs a spectator and it might as well be you!

Value of life Tip #10:

Let’s extend the last point even further and acknowledge your gratitude by saying it out loud.

If you have anything nice to say, say it all!

If you feel any gratitude to someone, then there is no reason to hold that feeling for yourself. So, here you have the key to deal with difficult people. Find the beauty in the other person and say it to him or her.

Value of life Tip #11:

Don’t seek! Find! If you are searching your keys, chances are that you don’t see your keys lying in front of you on the table. Instead, if you say to yourself “I know that my keys are here something and I will find them!”, then you will probably find them quicker.So, say to yourself: “I know that there is something valuable in this failure and I’m going to find out what it is!” If you don’t see it, then say to yourself: “Okay, I haven’t looked good enough, because there must be something valuable. So, I will look and find again.”

Illustration of the value of life tips

To illustrate the above value of life tips I’d like to give you a silly illustration. Don’t hang me up on this, it is just to illustrate how this works.

Your computer mouse

Let’s assume that you are not happy with your computer mouse.

How can you still see the value of it?

[note: the numbers correspond with the above value of life tips]

1. Say to yourself: “Luckily my computer mouse is not breaking and the batteries are still working.”
2. “The scroll button of my computer mouse works very fine.”
3. Realize that everything you buy will lose its attraction, so no wonder you don’t like your computer mouse anymore.
4. “I’m glad that my computer mouse is not the most hyper-modern mouse there is because otherwise I would be distracted all the time by all its new features.”
5. “Maybe I should have bought a different mouse when I purchased this mouse, but hey, I’m human! I make mistakes!
   [“Hi, I’m Fred and I make mistakes”
   Group-response: “Hi Fred”]
6. “What have I learned from a requirements perspective from this mouse? What do I have to pay attention to next time when I buy a new mouse?”
7. Complain in your Morning Pages about your mouse and then let it go.
8. Realize that everything has a value and a purpose, so your mouse has too!
9. Be generous and give the universe a gift by valuing your mouse, so that it is not made for nothing. I mean: you have already spent quite some time together now, haven’t you?
10. Say out loud: “I’m happy with my mouse, because …”
11. Say to yourself: “I know that this mouse value, but what is it?”

What if something really sucks?

Well, the point is that even then it can be valuable to you. When I was eight years old, I got a brain tumor and spent three months in the hospital with continuous operations. This has affected my whole life. In a very negative way, but also in a positive way.

I now look back on this event which nearly cost my life as a valuable lesson. But this has taken me many years to realize this.

So, unless you want to destroy your valuable time, then do yourself a favor and even when something really sucks, try to turn this as soon as possible into something positive.

Conclusion

Your value of life and the way you perceive the positive and negative sides have huge impact on your level of happiness. Luckily you now know 11 tips to increase your value of life, so that you can become happier!