Appreciate What We’ve Earned
Our focus this week — Oct 22-28: “Paying Dues”
Today’s MotD: Appreciate What We’ve Earned. We’re encouraged to allow ourselves to appreciate and be grateful for what we’ve gained/earned from paying our dues. We did the work, we put in the time, we paid our dues, we’re allowed to be grateful for what we’ve received.
When I crossed the marathon finished line, after nine months of training and running for over five and a half hours, I allowed myself to be proud or (and grateful for) what I accomplished. Yes, others ran way faster than I did and probably with greater fineness, but for me this was a major achievement and I accomplished it by paying my dues.
When I earned my BS in Computer Science, after three years of taking night classes and doing lab work on weekends, I allowed myself to be proud of (and grateful for) earning my degree. That next weekend I did something I hadn’t allowed myself to do in three years: wake up late on a Sunday morning and take my leisurely time to read the entire Sunday Los Angeles Times newspaper. (40 years ago that was a big deal).
When I ran for County Commissioner, after 10 months of campaigning, going door-to-door, participating in every candidate forum, and acquiring 1,000 signatures in order to be on the ballot (I ran as an independent), I allowed myself to be proud of myself and my positive campaign—even though I lost the election. However, because of my campaign and the recognition I gained from running, I wound up being hired by that same county to design and develop their website—for a much greater salary AND I didn’t have to deal with all the political BS that I would have had I been an elected official—instead, I was a happy employee.
We’re encouraged, therefore, to remember and appreciate any goal or task we put a lot of time and energy into to accomplish. And in the future, instead of just jumping onto the next one, it behooves us to take a moment or two to appreciate what we’ve achieved and to allow ourselves to be proud of ourselves for doing so. Then we can jump onto the next one.
How about you ? Do you allow yourself to appreciate yourself for achieving your goal(s) ? Do you give yourself a moment to be proud of yourself ? Do you allow yourself to grateful for what you’ve earned or received by paying your dues ?
BTW…Here’s the before…the front and back view of today’s puzzle piece and the pretty ceramic box that holds all my numbers from which I randomly choose each day’s puzzle piece number:
Peace & Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
Creating Mandalas 🔆 Awakening Inner Harmony
ABOUT THE 2025 Mandalas of the Day
Throughout the year, I’ll be building one large (48”x48”) Tibetan-styled Mandala one piece at a time…one puzzle piece at a time, that is. The mandala design and the reversed puzzle side were printed on artist-quality watercolor paper. The forward facing puzzle side was printed on a 48”x48” wood panel.
Each day, at random, I’ll be painting in watercolors one of the 365 watercolor puzzle pieces, that by the end of the year will become Archangel Mandala #4. Read more about the Archangel Series. The word/message for each piece will be inspired by Melody Beattie’s book “52 Weeks of Conscious Contact”.
Ultimately, the message of this mandala is about how we are all uniquely part of the one.
Mandala of the Day 