Joining in Week 11 for Debra’s 52 Weeks To Simplfy Your Life challenge…
“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness” – The Dalai Lama
I wasn’t quite sure how to tackle this week’s challenge on gratitude and kindness. I didn’t want to necessarily talk about what I’m grateful for because a list just touches the surface. I wanted to dig deeper and reflect on my journey so far, on the learnings of thanksgivings.
I know that over the years, I’ve established one rule that places me back to the roots of gratitude – it’s always about the small things.
In my late 20’s to early 30’s, I was hung up on my career and living the high life in the fast-paced city of Tokyo. The chase to do well, to even outperform others, was always top of the agenda. Without realising it, I was starting up some very selfish, self-centred habits. Yet, there was always a lingering dissatisfaction with life. Being so fixated on climbing that corporate ladder, I found myself unhappy with other, far more important, aspects of life – family, friendship, love, health and a sense of spirituality.
It was a painful, unrelenting circle. The more I aimed for those unrealistic upper echelons of company ranks, the less important it was for me to properly align the important life fundamentals. The days would be spent working harder, but never being truly grateful or giving gratitude for much else other than a nice, big, fat pay cheque.
Needless to say, I didn’t like myself very much.
A myriad of life-changing experiences and heartaches have taught me that being grateful starts with the little things. I’ve discovered that the big ticket items are too apparent. Of course they’re all still important and they’re all included in a prayer of thanks at night.
But recently, I’ve started to look for little nuggets of gold. And the more of them I find, the more appear.
Finding a car spot in a chaotic shopping mall during the Christmas rush; Having skin prick test results show that your little boy is one tiny step closer to growing out of his egg and nut allergies; A 9 month pregnant friend who’s told that she no longer has placenta previa; I’m learning to embrace the tender moments with a quick “Amen”.
Being grateful for the small stuff helps an average day become memorable.
Of course, there will be future trials and hardships that will make the search for gold even harder. I just need to remember that it only needs to start with something small.
Jen says
So true Grace! Some time ago I had a really dreadful week where everything went wrong, and they were BIG things. Crashed the car, loved ones passed away, storm damage to house, etc etc. But what we remember more was another week only shortly after, which the kids and I decided was our luckiest week ever. And we still remember the “three luckies”, even though it was a few years ago. The first was we won third prize in the Tee-ball fundraising Easter raffle and got a big basket of chocolate. Lucky! Next, we spotted a small lizard running through the carpark at Woolworths, and while we were catching it in an icecream bucket (aka back seat vomit bucket) to rescue it from being run over, Joe found a $2 coin on the ground. Lucky! Finally, Meg opened a chocolate frog and found 2 chocolate frogs in the one packet. That was the luckiest thing ever! The kids still talk about that one. In fact whenever someone in the family is feeling low and like things are going wrong, we always say, “What about that time when Meg found two chocolate frogs in one packet? Our family is so lucky. Good things always happen to us!”
Paula says
So very true! And if we were really honest, its quite often the small everyday things that bring us the most happiness!!! I love your idea of finding nuggets of gold!! I think i might go uncover some gold myself!!!! 🙂
kirri says
You’re my golden girl Gracie.
I’m so grateful to have met you and to have been given the chance to further our beautiful friendship….
Also in wonder of continuing to observe your commitment to your own growth and personal truth.
kirri recently posted..How can we get out there, mix it up and reclaim our moxie?
ava says
Love this. What a nice way to start my would be very busy week. To remember the small things and be grateful. Glad to have found you Grace-ie!
Love,
Ava
ava recently posted..10 Things Women
Bridget says
You are very wise, my friend. Very wise.
Bridget recently posted..Monday Listicles
Alicia says
This is such a wonderful story, about what really matters in life, I really enjoyed reading this, thank you for sharing your story with us, if only more people thought like you xx
Alicia recently posted..Kindness
Lyndal says
You have definitely hit the nail on the head with your beautifully written post! Thank you for sharing, it is so easy to forget , and indeed take for granted the small things.
Lyndal recently posted..So I landed on my feet
Tam says
This is lovely. How funny that the thing you think you should be most grateful for (i.e. the big fat paycheck) is really making you more ungrateful. It is the small things, the lovely things, the easily passed over things that really make this life wonderful.
Tam recently posted..Paying it forward {SYL}
Deb @ Bright & Precious says
Oh I love this, Grace. THIS is the kind of gratitude post I love – the realistic kind! I love your description of finding nuggets… that’s exactly what it is. It has to start with the small things. Just beautiful, Grace, beautiful. xx
Deb @ Bright & Precious recently posted..The Ordinary Infused With Wonder