The ability to cherish is one of the natural qualities of the heart. When the heart is in a healthy state, it is able to cherish unconditionally. When we cherish something, we value it and take it seriously. Being able to cherish is the foundation for gratitude. Learning to cherish is important for cultivating gratitude and hence for building a healthy, complete Xin Ling.
What should we cherish? Everything. For example, life itself, in particular, our own life. This includes all components of life – the body, Qi and especially Jingshen (heart, consciousness, Shen/True Self). We should also cherish everything that has a connection with our lives, including people, other forms of life, and nature. They play an indispensable role in our existence and growth.
We also need to cherish all that we experience in every moment of life. When we have an enjoyable experience, we should cherish it in the moment of experiencing it. When facing a challenging or even difficult experience, especially one we don’t like, we should also cherish it because it is a great opportunity to look at what it is trying to teach us and grow from it. When we fail to cherish a challenging or difficult experience, we miss the opportunity to face and deal with the underlying causes or problems. Invariably the same kind of experience will keep coming back to us. Avoiding and hiding would then become the coping mechanism. Consequently, unhealthy patterns would be strengthened.
Of all the things we should cherish, the opportunity to realize the true value of life is the most important one. This is the opportunity to become a ‘true human’ and manifest our true nature, namely, to live a life of our True Self. This opportunity is given to every person and is the greatest opportunity a human being can possibly have.
I hope you will continue to work on building the ability to cherish and in this way make every moment of life meaningful.
Wishing you a joyful and peaceful full moon!
If you would like to learn more from Yuan Tze about this topic check out our Learn REN XUE website for the Replay of his Learn to Cherish and Find Gratitude online workshop that was six-part of the Living From the Heart workshop series run in 2021.
