Practice Appreciation

Over the summer of my sophomore year, I attended an incredible rationality camp focused on artificial intelligence and reasoning called PAIR. Before the camp started, we had a shared PowerPoint where everyone introduced themselves. As I scrolled through the slides and read other campers' intros, I couldn’t help but notice how unique and talented each of them was: some took gap years to pursue their goals, others excelled at international Olympiads. I couldn’t wait to meet them all! Yet they weren’t the only ones who stood out, a thought that emerged as I stepped into our venue on the first day.

The venue was a thousand-year-old castle, sitting in the middle of nowhere with a church nearby. The walls were made of red-painted bricks, and we could hear lambs bleating as we sat in our common room (or Schelling Room, as we later named it) on the bean bags. Aside from a vast grass field in front, a small hill behind, and a stony road on the side that took more than thirty minutes to reach town, there was nothing else. I looked at my phone, and the signal was almost nonexistent. Why in the world did they choose this venue?

Disclaimer: I’m certain I loved the venue from the bottom of my heart. It was a wonderful place, probably my favorite destination this year. I definitely exaggerated the negative aspects for writing purposes. Anyway, keep reading!

Nevertheless, I focused less on the environment once the other campers started arriving. We had an amazing time sharing our life stories and experiences. I learned fascinating things about mechanistic interpretation, and I’ll never forget how I taught one IMO gold medalist programming and another Physics. Then, someone in our small group mentioned how beautiful they thought the ceiling was. I looked up—indeed, the ceiling was adorned with seemingly infinite carvings, featuring all kinds of intricate patterns and shapes. Wow. However, the others seemed less impressed, as if they had already noticed, and they too began pointing out all the cool things they had encountered so far. I was at a loss for words, why was I even complaining about the internet when there were so many wonderful things I hadn’t noticed? Was it because I had spent all my time in a toxic environment where people only cared about their grades? What have I been doing? Questions and disappointments started to flood my head, but at that moment, something new began to take root in my mind.

It took root quickly, and before I even realized it, I started to focus more on the static and lifeless objects around me, appreciating their beautiful aspects. Just as there’s no such thing as pure perfection, there’s no such thing as pure imperfection! Instead of trapping myself in a negative feedback loop, I began to notice all the wonderful things in my surroundings. For example, I shifted my attention from solely talking to friends to something more, like taking a long walk in nature after dinner. I walked very slowly, completely unaware of the long distance ahead of me, and simply observed the fascinating shapes and colors of different trees. It felt great. After the unexpectedly long walk, I felt as if my chest had become lighter, and I could no longer feel the stress that had accompanied me every single school day.

Hold up, how did my mood suddenly take a 180-degree turn? I was disappointed in myself a second ago, but now I’m blending with my surroundings and letting go of all the stress? What’s next, achieving nirvana? I know this sounds weird, and here I am trying to apply reasoning afterward: From that conversation, the seed in my mind that took root was the ability to appreciate things. When I was walking among those trees and rooftops, I didn’t just marvel at their positive aspects; I also felt an increasing amount of gratitude in my heart. I am grateful that I can be at this great camp. I appreciate the beautiful ceiling above me. I appreciate my friends for understanding me. As I appreciated more, I became more fully present and committed to something greater than myself. Moreover, when I stared at things and felt grateful for the chance to see them, my lips curved upward, lifting my mood as well (this is a psychological fact, too!). The benefits of appreciating things, of course, aren’t confined to this place. When I began to feel grateful and practice appreciation, I not only felt a greater sense of warmth in my heart but also became stronger and more willing to face challenges in the future. The key reason behind this is that instead of being discouraged by negative aspects, I’m now encouraged by positive ones, which cheer me up again. This creates a positive feedback loop, one that never ends. In short, the benefits of practicing appreciation have no boundaries!

I am grateful to you for reading this far, especially given my exceptionally poor writing today, thank you! However, the blog does not end here, and I am going to talk about what I think is arguably the most important thing that comes with appreciation.

Let’s imagine a world where, after some sort of disease, you are the only human alive. The good part is that all the luxuries are still here! Cars, buildings, food—anything physical you want is still here. The only downside is that you have nobody to talk to. Can you live in such a world? The answer is yes, of course, because all the necessities are present. But would you still be grateful for all the good things? For me, the answer is no. The essence of appreciation lies not only in the static nature of things but also in more dynamic features you won’t see. In fact, those things will likely never affect you in your life. I am grateful for having proper clothes to wear because there are people out there who weren’t fortunate enough to have the same opportunity, and those people are the main factors that make me feel grateful. If there were no lack of any kind of resources, there would be no poverty and no need for Universal Basic Income (I’m bringing this up because I’ve been pondering its effectiveness a lot recently, there might be a blog!). It is those people, whom I’ll never meet, who give meaning to these things and make me take great care of what I have, and I wholeheartedly believe that they deserve the same and should also be able to feel grateful. From my point of view, when you truly appreciate the things around you, you will want to bring those aspects to others so that they can also be happy. Appreciation stems from the things you have that others don’t, but it should drive you toward sharing the same with them. Furthermore, the act of increasing others’ happiness itself becomes something to appreciate, and it will spread like wildfire. If more people start practicing appreciation and spreading it to others, then the overall happiness (I wouldn’t go as far as to say the meaning of life) of people will definitely increase relative to oneself.

Finally, how do you practice appreciation? I was inspired by my friends who appreciated the beautiful ceiling, and I hope that this blog can inspire you to try it out as well. I believe a simple way to start is by consciously focusing on the things or people around you that are nice and make you feel warm having them. Whenever you notice something like this, say to yourself, "I appreciate..." or "I am grateful for...". Great books, kind people, or even fresh air to breathe count! This might sound like deceiving yourself at first, but I’m confident that it will turn into a habit that adds pleasure to your life. The more I appreciate, the better I get at appreciating things!

I appreciate you for reading my thoughts!