Last Monday, I posted a 30-Day Gratitude Challenge. If you haven’t seen it yet, look here. I thought I would use some of the questions from the challenge as a starting off point for a few of my posts in November (National Gratitude Month). On November third, the question was “What do I take for granted in my life?”
All of us have things we take for granted. We are always searching for something new, something we don’t have, something that looks better than what we do have. This can make us overlook the good stuff that is already in our lives and leads us to take things for granted. Sometimes the things we take for granted are the everyday things we forget to notice because they’re always there. These are the things we only notice once they’re gone.
It is good for us ( and by good, I also mean healthy and positive) to remember the good things we have and be thankful for them. We have things and people in our lives that others are wishing they had right now. Never forget to count your blessings. It’s hard to have gratitude for things we take for granted.
In answering the day 3 question of the 30 Day Gratitude Challenge, I decided to make a list. I am, by nature, a list maker. It helps me to have my thoughts and ideas written out in front of me. Here is an abbreviated list of things I have taken for granted at some point in my life.
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Good eyesight (never wore glasses until I hit “a certain age”)
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Good health (minus asthma and migraines, I’m really quite healthy)
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A safe home where I am loved and wanted
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Having good health insurance
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Clean water
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Regular meals
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A good education
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The ability to read and write
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Having a closet full of clothes/shoes
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Electricity/Hot and Cold Running Water/ Modern Conveniences
Like I said, it’s an abbreviated list and I am sure there are many more things I could add if I thought hard enough. These are things that I get up and don’t even give a second thought to most of the time. Simply making this short list has given me something to think about. For starters, I have all my basic needs met. That is more than most people walking the planet can say.
In fact, I looked up some wealth comparison websites and apparently being a middle-class american makes you richer than 99% of the planet’s population. One of my daughters once asked me if we were rich. I am so glad I had the presence of mind to answer “yes.” If you compare our family to the world’s population, we are incredibly wealthy. Compared to the rest of the U.S. population, we’re still fairly well-off (a benefit of California’s wages). If you compare us to the people in our state, we’re still doing okay. If you compare us to the people living in the big houses down the street, maybe we look a little shabbier. So maybe wealth is all in how you look at it, at least once you have your basic needs met.
Jealousy comes from counting others blessings instead of our own
We live a world of consumption and competition. It is easy to overlook what we do have while trying to be more and have more. But if we want to have more happiness and contentment in our lives, we need to stop searching outwardly and begin looking inward. Helen Keller said: :Be happy with what you have while working for what you want.” It is okay to set goals and work to improve our lives. But is it an improvement if we aren’t happy? If we’re not happy or grateful for what we have, what makes us think we’ll be happy with more of it?
Can Money Buy Happiness?
There have been multitudes of studies in the past few years on money and happiness. Most have concluded that once our basic needs are met, money doesn’t by a lot more happiness. At least, not long-term happiness. Sure it feels great to get a new car, a new big-screen television, or a bigger house. But the buyers-high we get isn’t the kind of happiness I’m talking about. I’m more interested in sustained happiness or joy. Contentment in our lives. An article titled “5 Ways Money Can Buy Happiness” (Time Magazine) suggests buying moments instead of stuff is better for our happiness overall. Spend money on special times and activities with your kids, your parents, your friends. Two other suggestions are that spending money on others gives us more happiness than when we spend it on ourselves and to buy what we really like, not what is popular. Keeping up with the Jones’ is not a recipe for happiness.
Please take some time to consider what you are taking for granted in your life (if you haven’t already). Perhaps it is holding back some happiness that should be yours.
Thanks for reading and please share!
