We expect to be healthy. We expect to be happy to to lead a life full of love and joy, with minimal hardship. We expect to be rich. We expect for babies not to die and for all of us to have long lives, liked we are owed this by God or by the universe.
Of course with any good conversation that provokes life and thought, I spent some time reflecting today. I spent some time pondering about the things that I expect to have in my life, and I sat down and made a list.
I expect:
To not get any severe sickness because I take great care of myself
To find a partner in life and not be alone
To have children of my own and not have any complications getting
pregnant
To have my parents until they reach a very old age- I'm thinking 95
To always make enough money to not only pay my bills, but to have
some left over to save
To be able to continue to travel the way that I have in my 20's
To age gracefully
To have healthy kids who also get married and have kids, thus making
me a grandmother
For love to last
To be successful in my endeavors and to be a published author
To have clear skin
To never be in a car accident and to always be able to walk
To have a nice, comfortable home and be able to own a car
To always be free and have the ability to choose how I lead my life.
And the list went on.
It was sobering this morning to look at all of the things that I expect for my life. We live in a society where we all just have so much that we can't think of life another way. And these expectations of mine were somewhat basic. I don't expect to ever own a mansion, to have a jet, to have a cook or to have all of my children attend Harvard. But ingrained in me is the desire for and expectation to have comfort.
I want to walk the line of hopeful expectation for things in life, balanced with a daily abundant sense of gratitude and understanding for all that I do have in my life. I once heard one of my mentors say:
"Do you understand just how rich you are? If you were blind, what would you pay for your eyesight and the ability to see the sun as it sets? To be able to look at your own face in the mirror or see the face of your child?"
That was really the first time that I began to even think about how rich I already am. So, I challenge you to do the same. Life becomes so daily. And it is hard. Work is difficult, paying bills- especially in the past few years- is stressful, relationships can be tough sometimes. But we are so very rich, each one of us. When you practice gratitude and have a thankful heart for each day, you will inspire others to do the same.
This is all very true and something I have learned in my own travels, as I'm sure you have as well. Americans that never leave their hometown, and especially the country, have no idea how 'good' we have it here. Even a lot of those in 'poverty' in this country would be considered 'wealthy' in other cultures, tribes, or countries. I will always remember when we used to deliver groceries at Christmas-times in XO, we would go to these houses and knock on doors to hand a family a bag of groceries, and almost 7 times out of 10, there would be a 40-50 inch screen flatscreen in their living room. My point here is not to be judgmental and say whether they should or shouldn't have a huge tv in their home but these were people that most of our country would consider them poor and they lived in lower economic areas of the town. I would love to see the reaction of people from Kenya, Cambodia, Taiwan, parts of China or the Phillipines, etc etc if they were to see what we consider 'poor' in America.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder of how 'rich' and how blessed we are here. It's very true. Even a bad day is still a pretty good day! Hope you are well. I will be in Manhattan and Brooklyn this week if you are around....would love to see you and catch up!