During this past week, when I felt that I was missing something, I asked myself, what do I miss about it?

The surprise was, I often came to the awareness that I only missed the idea of it; that when I broke it down, the projection was totally different from reality, and I realized that I didn’t really miss the reality of it.

When I realize that I do sincerely miss something, breaking it down to what I miss about it often helps navigate an alternative path to getting what I need. And when it doesn’t, and even sometimes when it does, I mourn the loss of the thing that I miss.

Allowing myself to feel deeply enough to understand myself (in the same way I want to understand someone I deeply love) fills my hunger to matter and honors the thing that I miss or lost, celebrating the incredible value it held in my life. Allowing myself to delve into my experiences like this heightens my appreciation for what I had, and what I do have.