Blessings In The Background
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I woke slowly, opened the blinds, and saw the shimmering reflection on wet streets and the glimmering raindrops that were still clinging to the glass on the living room window, remnants of last night’s sprinkling. It’s the first rain we’ve had in weeks and so little compared to our seasonal average. Still, it is a blessing that came while I slept. Today, I give thanks to the blessings that go on in the background of my life, without my notice, even while I go about my life feeling deprived, as if the world is not enough.
This is from my daily intent writing session for January 4, 2018. For more posts on this topic click the button here or tag below :
Maybe the feeling of not being enough, a disease that so many suffer, is actually a belief about the world applied to oneself. Unhappy with life means unhappy with one’s self, which also implies that happy with life means happy with one’s self. In other words, If I lived my life as if the world was enough, I would more likely feel that way about myself as well. It may not be an equation, but the chances of genuine self-love are better when my relationship with myself is embedded in a bigger relationship with life; when I hold a deep appreciation for the unknown blessings that go on in the background of my life, I also embrace the greater self that lives in the background of my awareness.
Most of us live in a place called "Elsewhere," living out our lives focused on what is missing, what needs fixing, or on a future dream. One way to surrender to the present, to come to terms with life as it is, is to maintain an attitude of gratitude for all the blessings that go on in the background, that you may never see or notice. So much of my continued presence on the planet is an act of utter grace.
What happens when you ask yourself, sincerely, and with genuine curiosity: What blessings are going on in the background of my life?
Whatever may be missing in my life, whatever dreams I have yet to fulfill, may provide impetus for action. The desire to “better" one self and one’s life is laudable, but these visions are only fragments of some utopia in the mind. The word "utopia” comes from the Greek origins: ou = not + topos = place; or, more specifically “common place.” Utopia means “not this place;” or “not the common place." What if I treated my life, as it is, as my dream life? Then, the utopian world would be right here, not elsewhere, but right at my feet, here and now! What if I treated every instance of this life as uncommon, as astonishingly unique and special. Instead of placing myself on the horns of a dilemma, either a utopia or a dystopia, why not live in a beautiful place, a beautopia, a place called life!
© Nick LeForce
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