The Gifts Of Life

It’s tempting to focus on our challenges and to stress over the things that go wrong in our lives, but it’s important to acknowledge and appreciate that many things go right, as well.

For example, if you are reading this, appreciate the face that you know how to read. That’s not insignificant. Someone took the time to teach you that critically important skill. You put in the effort to learn and practice it, and as a result, a world of ideas and information are available to you.

There are other positive things that we can infer from the fact that you are reading this post. The first is that you can see. Sight is a precious gift that grants us the ability to appreciate our beautiful world in all of its splendor. You also have internet access, something that many people around that world are as yet unable to enjoy. Recognize the fact that you are in a country where internet connection is both widely available and not tightly restricted. Not everyone has such access. 

You are also alive. Count that as a blessing. The world is full of hazards and diseases. You have successfully survived these dangers; your peers have not all been as fortunate.

Consider as well why you were born in the first place. You had to beat numerous odds just to exist. Your parents had to meet, presumably when they weren’t attached to someone else. They had to feel some level of attraction for each other, and they had to get along, at least for a while, at least long enough to create you. Think about the odds against two people coming together at just the right time. Now extrapolate those odds to your parents’ parents, and their parents, and so on. 

The sheer existence of any one person is miraculous. A lot of things had to go right for you to be born and live in this world. Don’t get too upset when things go wrong in this precious life of yours. Life is complex. Among the inconveniences and the disappointments that we experience, a lot of wonderful things happen, things that we often take for granted. The more that you focus on the precious gifts that exist within your life, the less the inconveniences will matter.

Copyright © 2018 Daniel R. South 

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