My first opportunity to consider the challenge was after taking the photo and posting it. I was sat drinking my mandatory morning coffee. I very much appreciate coffee, so it didn’t feel right to make this my first choice. Something that usually goes unappreciated, I pondered. My eyes fell on my mug. I felt the warmth from the mug in my hands. My hands, that’s it I thought.
They have been there serving me for as long as I can remember, before that even. I thanked my hands for all they had done and for the (hopefully) many years of service to come. I chuckled as I thought, if these hands could talk, they have some stories to tell. I am certain your hands would too. The virtual impossibility of these hands being here and holding this coffee struck me. Life is astonishing, the ultimate gift in my view. Are they really my hands, I thought? It was the “my” part that was irking me. In fact, ownership of anything has been on my mind quite a bit.
My hands, like everything else, is made of atoms. Can I own a set of atoms? Do I own the roughly 8 billion, billion, billion atoms that make up my body? The whole notion of ownership seems preposterous when put in that way. As far as I understand it, those atoms will continue to exist long after I no longer do. I was left with a feeling of gratitude for “my” hands and an empty mug.
The other unappreciated things I chose were; my car, which gets very “unappreciated” when it breaks; icy cold water from the fridge; my neighbour and a client who called me out of the blue. I could write much more on each of these, but I do not have the time right now…
I was a little worried that day 1 might be difficult. It was anything but. Once I got the ball rolling, I could have listed at least another 50 or 60. I never knew that there we so many unappreciated people and things in my life. I will try harder to appreciate them.
How did you find day 1 of #MindfulMay?
Be happy, healthy and helpful
Paul
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