Appreciate The Small Stuff

Have you ever been to a restaurant on weekend and waited at the counter to get a table? After 15 minutes (although it felt like forever) the waitress finally appear (you have been wondering where has she been all this while) and lead you to your table. It then take another 10 minutes (you feel like time has stop for some reason) for the same waitress to come and take your order. You then thought you can now relax and wait for your wonderful meal. You felt great that your order is recorded and food is on its way. You feel relax and started pleasant conversation with your company. Suddenly the conversation becomes less enthusiastic, you feel less comfortable as you start to wonder why your food is still not here after you have been chatting with your friends for 30 minutes. Your mind starts to fill you in with all sorts of negative hypothetical possibilities like whether your order has been passed on to the kitchen; whether your order has accidentally dropped on the floor or they have run out of food! You feel restless and you don't even want to have any conversation with your pals at all, all you are thinking is where is your food! Eventually the food comes but since you are in such an angry state you can't enjoy the meal at all. For all you know you will be cursing the dining experience for the rest of the evening!

Didn't all of us at some point in our life experience the above episode before? It may occur to some more than others. But if you think about it calmly, it is not the restaurant or the waitress or the chef that made you feel mad. It is YOU yourself that contribute to that bad experience. It is all too common that we tend to focus on the negative side of things that happen to us. That focus is so prevalent and all encompassing that we can't see any good in life. 

If we are to be happy for the rest of our lives we have to change that inherent bad habit. We have to start training our mind to search for good in everything including bad experiences. Yes, even there is good in bad things!!!

This morning after I washed my dishes I placed them on the draining basket. Underneath it is the standard stainless draining tray. I thought what a wonderful and simple idea to drain all the water from the plates and bowls. Just leave them there overnight and let gravity do the work! There was a sudden joy that I felt. It was just a good feeling that things are working the way they should.

There are many more things in life that we can feel grateful for. For example the beautiful stars that paint the sky every night or the sun who doesn't need an alarm clock to 'wake up' every morning. What about the great invention of the car where you can go anywhere by just sitting at the same spot!

It is important to keep training our mind to think in this way. If you want to have fit body you go to the gym. The same principles apply to our mind. If you wish to have a healthy mind you have to train it, exercise it by focusing on the things that can help you achieve your goal and not on negative interpretation that will destroy you.