Friday, Aug. 10, 2012

Got another great fortune in a cookie the other day.  It said: you will conquer obstacles to achieve success.  Got me to thinking….  Do we give enough thanks when things go well?  When, against all odds, things fall into place?  Do we appreciate when we claim little victories?  Or do we take those for granted, spending more time focusing on what didn’t go our way?

I realize the fortune meant the reader to focus on how things were going to pick up for them/me.  Things did pick up.  For that I’m beyond grateful!  And as I’ve given repeated thanks, here, there and to everyone who has supported me, I wonder if I’ve been as diligent with little successes.  Or if, like many others, life caught me up in her swirl, spinning me round and round till, on occasion all that rose to the surface were the negative things—those that had more of a hold on me.  A hold I allowed them to have by focusing on the negative rather than on how I might turn it into something more positive by giving thanks.

Seems like whenever we have a crisis or are pushed to our limits and then things take a more positive turn, we’re quick to give thanks, aware of the stark contrast and how pleasing it is to now be enjoying a respite from our woes rather than floundering in them.  But what about all the smaller accomplishments that occur in our day-to-day existence?  Those things that seem insignificant, but heaped together could bring us to our knees if they don’t go well?  Do we appropriately pause to give thanks for those?  Speaking for myself, I’m guilty of sometimes getting caught up in life’s hectic swirl to the point I gladly cling to the bonuses that come my way, failing to give proper thanks. 

Ironically, it was this fortune and the good things that have come my way since that pointed out this flaw to me.   And for that, I’m grateful, for I can now make amendments to give thanks more often, including for the smaller things.