Sunday, July 10, 2011

Everyday is a GIFT...even in the "first-world".

Living a life full of EXTRAS is beautiful.

"Extras" are sometimes the things that make life easy...
like a car..when you know what it is like to WALK.
OR
the washing machine...when you know what it is like to wash clothes IN A BUCKET.
OR
Sometimes it is the freezer...because THAT means we don't have to CARRY our ice miles from the store.

I love those kinds of "extras" ...those are the "third-world" problems that are solved by living in the "first-world".

The other day my friend Heather posted a HILARIOUS video that describes EXACTLY what I am talking about when I say, "first-world" extras....Here it is:

(Before you watch this video...turn off the music player on the right column.)



I mean REALLy...this is
HOW
WE
LIVE...
Angry at the computer for taking too long...when it has been 7 seconds ALREADY.
Mad when the pantry is TOO FULL to fit the stuff we JUST BOUGHT....UUUGGHHH.
Bothered when the water they bring us at the RESTRAUNT...tastes "funny" because it isn't bottled....WAAAAA!!!
Irritated because we have to GO TO WORK....BLAH!

We are spoiled in ALL kinds of ways.
We live in a world FULL of FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS.
We live in a place where we are "blissfully unaware"..which basically makes us UNAPPRECIATIVE and UNGRATEFUL.
We forget how lucky we are ...on a daily.
We manage to CONVINCE ourselves that LIFE for us is HARD.
BUT...It is NOT.
We are BLESSED...one reason being because we live in the FIRST-WORLD.
And we have to OPPORTUNITY to be IGNORANT to "third-world" problems.
We have to ABILITY to LOOK AWAY when we feel uncomfortable...
We change the channel when we want to be distracted.
It is THAT easy.
And we forget how UNIMAGINABLY BLESSED we really are.

Sometimes the secret to being TRULY HAPPY is realizing that..
Things could be so much worse.
Sometimes being happy is just that....BEING happy.
LIVING happily.
Being JOYFUL.
Living INTENTIONALY.
With the knowledge that our life is a GIFT.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting, I needed to hear that today. I try and remember how fortunate and lucky I am but I get stuck sometimes on what we don't have. And we have so much....too much?

Love your thoughtful posts that mean something :)

Dad said...

love always

Mary-May said...

It's the truth isn't it? The sick, sad truth!

My partner and I have left behind the city life and moved to live on 10,000 acres in the middle of no where. We love it!

But...

I feel like such a spoilt brat recently! I get annoyed because the hot water takes forever to heat up... SOME DON'T HAVE HOT WATER!

Our here the internet sometimes works and sometimes it just doesn't... IS IT A NEED OR A WANT???

We only have one car because we have downsized our lifestyle, he goes to work and I stay home. I'm only in the very early stages of pregnancy but boy were the emotions running high when he got home from work 5 minutes late and I wanted to go into town which is 30 minutes away so I could be ice cream. ANOTHER WANT THAT I DO NOT NEED!!!

One thing I am just adoring living out here... No mobile reception! Life without a mobile is grand.

You said everything I have been feeling recently. Xx