Finding Happiness and Gratitude in the Small Everyday Things

On a daily basis, I am grateful for the scent of fresh coffee, in the morning!

Gratitude is more of a practice than an action or a feeling.

There are lots of things for which we are grateful, without provocation... from getting a big fat bonus check at work, to the subject of our infatuation agreeing to go on a date with us. These are obvious things, however... you don't have to "practice" anything to experience that gratitude; it happens spontaneously.

The "practice" part comes in when we start to look around us at the myriad small — but positive — things we experience in our lives, every single day.

Of course, because these things happen pretty much all the time, we soon reach a "saturation point" at which we start to just take them for granted, and they go by... unnoticed.

But we actually have so much to be grateful for.

From quite a young age — perhaps as a result of being a teenager in a retirement area — I started observing gratitude for my good health, and it certainly feels like the result has been that I have consistently been in better health than most of my peers.

And so, I am always grateful for that first sip of coffee in the morning... and the beauty of a butterfly that lands on a flower in the garden, or an extraordinary sunset. Or just for the warmth of the sun in spring, as nature slowly comes back to life after lying dormant.

Over the years, it has become very evident to me that there is a strong connection between a practice of gratitude and a general state of happiness.

Makes sense, though, doesn't it?

If everything we are, and everything we do, and everything we think is basically a form of energy, then it only makes sense that when we emit a "grateful vibe" to the world, the world can sense that gratitude and will respond to us in kind.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are lots of things in the world we can moan and groan and complain about, and i'm certainly not trying to pretend that they aren't real!

But we can simply let them be. That is a choice. That they happen might not be a choice, but how we choose to respond, and where we place our focus... that's all on us.

And I would definitely rather not walk around looking under every rock for something bad to complain about! And yet? Some people actually do that!

Just a few days ago, we had a total solar eclipse across parts of North America. I was amazed — and a little saddened — by just how many people got caught up in the whole "fear porn/end of the world/conspiracy" mill and tried to make people fear this rare natural phenomenon.

What is your energy? Where are your thoughts directed?

Without getting into the "woo-woo" end of the equation, the thing is that we tend to get pretty much what we put our thoughts and energy into. If we send love and kindness into the world, we're more likely to find love and kindness. If we send fear and mistrust, we're more likely to find fear and mistrust.

Not suggesting we should exercise common sense before jumping off a cliff... but cliffs aren't inherently evil just because you can hurt yourself if you fall!

Be grateful for the rain! It keeps your garden green!

The primary message here, though, is that we don't have to wait until we win the lottery before we feel gratitude!

There are many small things around us, all the time, to be grateful for... and often we can find happiness in that simple gratitude.

Try it! You might like it!

How about you? Do you follow a gratitude practice? Do you take time to notice the small things in life? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.04.12 01:27 PDT
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