I realize one issue with having a phrase like “enjoy & appreciate” is it becomes it’s own thing and it’s easy to ‘forget’ that it’s actually consisting of two distinct things - one is enjoying, the other is appreciating.
What I found helpful lately is, while enjoying, to explicitly appreciate me enjoying / what is happening at the time. The way I’d put it is, if I just enjoy, then when I’m neutral or feeling bad even, it is not so compelling or easy to make the case to get back to feeling good per se. It’s like a ‘take it or leave it’ thing. Or the motivation to keep enjoying is not as much. Buuuut when I start to appreciate the enjoyment, then I realize just how amazing it is to enjoy, in comparison to not enjoying.
So the way I’d put it is the realizing how good of the enjoying, is very important and key, or else it’s easy to forget! Lol.
Enjoy:
take delight or pleasure in (an activity or occasion)
Appreciate:
to value or admire highly
Richard described the difference to me as appreciating is ‘involving more context, kind of stepping back and considering the whole picture & being glad about it’
i always related the enjoyment to the feeling good part (which feels more active and engaging) and the appreciation to taking in this moment of being alive in a more sensorial way (which feels more passive and calm). i’ve noted how my feeling good efforts often (way too often) devolve into all kinds of counterproductive internal activity, and the appreciative part helps me counter that and anchor the enjoyment here and now.
curious to see how everyone else has interpreted this, as the terms are constantly used together and maybe they deserve more specificity.
Something useful here is that Richard is always extremely precise with his word use, and especially if we’re talking about the method itself you’d better believe he was careful to get the right words
Another useful thing is remembering the context that the method is about mimicking the experience of the PCE to the greatest extent possible, so having that view toward the PCE / pure intent, whatever that looks like for you, is the priority regardless
Think of “Appreciate” in the sense of “appreciate” a work of art … it’s an appraisal of the value of the thing, in the full context of everything that went into it. Enjoyment is all the more amazing when appreciating fully what it really means to be able to not only be conscious but also be enjoying such a thing !
huh, that’s a nice way to look at it. in the arts, once you understand something more deeply, you enjoy it even more. i noted that after i took a musical appreciation class in my uni back in the day and developed the taste for classical music further. such understanding amplifies the perception of the thing and takes it to another dimension.
Isn’t it neat that we’re alive? And on top of that we’re conscious that we’re alive, and capable of thought? And on top of that, we can have these experiences of perfection! And then on top of that, this Australian guy figured out how to live that way all the time in the early 90s. And we found out about him! And then on top of that, there are some other people that are also interested in this, and want to discuss it and how to also live that way all the time! Soooooooo neat
