Contentment

I am a bit irritated right now. I had a HUGE post with five pictures and long narrative just Poof out of blogland Friday nite! ARGH! Oh well. Life goes on, and life is not blogging right??

So - today I move on to Contentment. Have probably touched on it before. Seems to be a theme in my head lately though. This quote caught my attention and made me think about it again.

Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.

How much of lives do we spend walking around, looking at our surrounds, family, friends, job - whatever it may be, and take a mental inventory of what is not the way we would like it to be. The furniture isn't new and perfect. The house a wee small. Your boss not as supportive as you would like. You don't have the car of your dreams, the house of your dreams, the children of your dreams. I know I am far more guilty of it that I care to admit.

How often do we actually sit back and look around and say, Wow, we've got it pretty good. We have a great house, that keeps us dry and warm. The frig is full. I have happy healthy children, a job ot earn money to pay for the things we have, a car to get to work, and a healthy body to move and take me places. How often do you sit in someone's home, that you think is simply warm and beautiful, only to have them sit there and tell you all that is not perfect about it and things they are going to change some day?

Seeing the proverbial forest through the trees. We take so much energy complaining about the trees that are not growing quite the way we intended or wish they would grow, that we miss the wonderful forest we are actually living in. No matter how perfect someone else's forest may appear from the outside, I can garuntee that they also have their share of crooked trees that sit and look at. Stop comparing. It only makes your own trees look worse!

So my invitation for you this holiday season is to step outside of your trees, and take a minute to stand and gaze over your forest, and note all that is good in it. The blessing you have I am sure will outnumber the crooked trees. For just one month, and hopefully longer, appreciate even the imperfect in your life. It may be quite liberating.