One of the many ironies of life is that the only way for our mind to comprehend what we actually have is to lose it, which means that it is extremely hard to ever appreciate what we have when we have it.
The best way to counteract this fact, is to use the power of visualization to actively imagine your life without something. Think about all of the touch points that an important person or item has in your life, then visualize the absence of said object. Really think about it, and bring in your emotional side. Bring back that imagination that used to be so useful as a child, but now sits latent in the back of your brain since we were somehow taught along the way that we shouldn’t spend time imagining as an adult. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to fully embrace what you lose, and in doing so fully appreciate what you actually have in your life.
[In the interest of honesty I have to say, I’ve never really done this exercise to the extent I mention above, but I’ll give it a shot and report back if it doesn’t work. But we both know it will. 🙂 ]