Taking Things For Granted
In most places we’ve lived, having deer amble up your drive and then pose for pictures, would be considered at least a little unusual! Here? Ha!
Today I saw Sparky raise his head and look out of the window. I wondered what had his attention. My Son commented, “You’ve seen the deer have you Sparky?” So now I knew! I didn’t bother to get out of my chair to look.
Deer are an every day thing around here. I mean, once you’ve seen one deer you’ve seen them all, right? Several live in our back yard and up to a dozen at a time chomp through any vegetation left worth eating. I can see deer any time. Keeping a check on myself, I noted NOT to take special things for granted. …I still didn’t get out of the chair though, I’m tired today - I just painted a ceiling!
Being intentional about taking an interest in what’s around us and actively engaging with our environment is vital to good mental health isn’t it? Can you imagine getting so used to your surroundings, especially special places we choose to live, that you no longer bother to look out of the window?
Be curious. My most asked question is, “How does that work?” Curiosity may have ‘killed the cat’ but I’ve learned an great deal by being curious and I’m still alive!
Be interested. I took an extra moment yesterday to listen to a passenger on one of my flights tell me about her father. I thought it would be good for the woman to talk since her father had recently died. I intentionally took an interest and found out some very fun things about a man I never knew and now wish I’d met!
Be intentional. Deliberately setting my alarm a couple of hours early so that I can see the Lunar Eclipse recently seemed like a bad idea at the time - sleep was already in short supply - but I’m glad I did! It was spectacular!
Don’t take things for granted. It’s so easy to lose the wonder of it all isn’t it? Life is so much fun and there are so many things to see and learn that being complacent and taking things for granted seems like a really bad idea.
