… make lemonade!

I have decided that for my own personal growth journey I’m going to make the most of everyday. Appreciating all the small things and not taking anything for granted.

I’ve always disliked that phrase, but I use it now with purpose and understanding. To take something for granted is to not notice or acknowledge every small, or in some cases large, details of, or in your life. It seems like some people just have life handed to them on a silver platter, so to speak, and don’t appear to notice or be grateful. The human perspective can be deceiving, remembering that each person’s journey is their own and everybody alive has a right to live how they choose. But, in saying that, it would be nice all the same to have some of that ‘luck’.

But do we already have it?

We are alive! We wake up everyday! In a comfortable bed! In a safe house! With a sturdy roof! Fresh running water! In the shower, kitchen and toilet! A fridge! With fresh food!

As you, hopefully, get my point. It may seem we are quite lucky after all. Mere possessions or status does not measure a persons worth, they’re humility and gratefulness of those things, does. It’s quite impossible to not take everything for granted. As we continue forwards with our daily lives and go about our day, as normal, we are always thankful. To be alive … to have opportunity … to move forward … to notice?

I have started a gratitude diary this year (a gift, from a friend) and have found it a great comfort far, as I was informed it would be. Yet, I was abit uncertain of its impact, and if I could find something everyday to be grateful for, as I have so little. So far I’ve written every day things … family, friends, chocolate … but I’ve also started to take notice of small things as well. Things I could possibly have been taken for granted or not noticed as much before.

The inspiration for this post came to me from an entry in today’s gratitude journal. A lady, a mother, a stranger, was giving away school uniforms, which all happened to be the right size for my son. I couldn’t believe it. That’s right … she was giving them away. Wow right! I, randomly picked up my phone (while watching Dragon Ball Z with my beautiful son) and there it was.

“Please, if anyone can use them, have them.”

Stressing slightly about the cost of uniforms for my son and everything else that comes with a new school year, this was truly a blessing. And having to ask for any financial help from my sons father (read some of my earlier posts) is basically like wringing blood out of a stone. I was already in full budget mode and focused on this next challenge in my journey.

Then, being granted the opportunity to have these gifts, it just blew me away. Something I know I previously would have been so thankful for and relieved to receive is now completely acknowledged in my journal for me to remember, always. Maybe sometimes we ‘are’ one of the lucky ones and we just don’t notice? Still, what a fantastic way to pay something forward. I plan on doing the same at the end of this year to help someone else out in a tight spot. I also want to go through my house and see if some of the things I no longer need or use that could be used by others. Hopefully helping someone else in the same way it helped me will continue the ‘passing it forward’ idea and inspire others to do the same.

By writing this particular blog, I ask whoever reads it to stop what your doing right now and look around you. What do you see?

Also, think about some thing that happened today. What do you remember, and smile at, when you think of it?

Even in rain, there is growth. Find things to be grateful for everyday. The gift of human kindness was the entry today in my Gratitude Journal. What was yours?