Gain a new perspective on how to learn to enjoy the small things in life.
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Welcome to the Be Your Best Self Blog by Marsha Abbott.
"The View"
There was this time where I looked at the world just a little bit differently. And I must admit…The View…it was spectacular…
It was a beautiful summer evening. My husband and I decided to host a party at our house, so we invited over a small group of our friends along with their families. It was friends of mine whose children I rarely get to see. In fact, it was the first time these youngsters had ever even been to our house. So for me, it was a special night where I was finally going to get the chance to get to know these lovely children just a little bit better.
What I didn’t expect that night was for one little girl to teach me something very important about life. And even though this party was in my own house, the view around me suddenly changed right before my very eyes…because of her. So, let me tell you about this three-year-old child in order for you to understand why she would have the ability to help us learn…to help us grow into better people…
She is one spunky, little girl. She is outgoing yet bashful all at the same time (how she does that, I will never understand). She loves to learn and takes in everything around her. She is one of those girls who isn’t afraid to beat to her own drum. She knows her limits and her boundaries, despite what outside pressures come her way. She sets her own rules, and I admire that about her.
So, as I was spending time with this little lady on this one particular warm summer night, I was starting to realize what an amazing little girl she truly is. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, she taught me something that ended up rocking my world…
As I was heading out to the garage to feed our two Labrador dogs - one of them black and the other a stark white - this little lady wanted to help me. Now, she has seen many dogs before. In fact, she too has a black Labrador just like we do. But as she looked over at my dogs, her face lit up with pure excitement. She couldn’t believe that a lab could be so “white”. And let me tell you, in those next few moments, you would have thought she won the lottery. She was so excited to see something so neat! She kept saying over and over again, in her cute little voice, that she couldn’t believe we had a white one. She kept saying how much she loved the white one, and she wanted to take it home! Now I have looked at that dog of mine for over 9 years, and not even once did I get that excited about his color.
And then, it was time for the fireworks show my husband had wanted to put on for our company. As those pretty lights lit up the sky, this sweet girl looked up with big, bright eyes and kept jumping up and down at the sight of those beautiful colors. She was so excited to see something so amazing in the sky! You would have thought she was just given the world’s largest ice cream cone as she was that delighted. I have surely seen my fair share of fireworks, and I know, without a doubt, I was never that amazed by them.
As the night moved on, this little girl decided to snuggle up on our couch with my daughter to watch one of her favorite shows, PJ Max. And as my daughter turned on this show, the smile this little three-year-old gave could have lit up the room as she was just that excited! It felt like she just met her favorite movie star. That is how amazed she was to watch her best-loved show. I have my favorite shows too and rarely do I have that big of a smile when I sit down to watch them.
As our party drew to an end that night, and when it was time for this sweet girl and her mom to pack up for home, all I could think about was how thrilled she was to spend time in our house doing things that seem pretty ordinary to me. As I sat back and reflected on all that had happened, I started to think about what it would look like to view the world through this precious child’s eyes.
And that is when the view around me suddenly changed… That is when I realized that this little girl taught me so much about life in our short time together that night. She taught me to look around and really see what surrounds me. Quite often we fall into this trap of seeing most everything around us as ordinary…as boring. We start to take for granted those small things in life.
So let me ask you this -- When is the last time you looked out the window of your house on a fall day and appreciated the beautiful rustic colors? When is the last time you and your significant other pasted by each other in the house and appreciated how great it is to share this life together? How often does the sky catch your eye with its stunningly different shades throughout the day? How often do you look around and see all that you really do have?
If I had to guess your answers to these questions, then I would guess it is this --Not.Often.Enough! And I totally get it…I was right there with you. When we experience moments like this, where we forget to appreciate the small things in life, it sure can create a view that can be awfully boring. And where is the fun in that?
But today, all of this changes…
Because it’s time we learn to take a lesson from this smart three-year-old child. It’s time to finally start living life like she does. Let’s start looking at things through her eyes. Imagine a world where everything around you seemed exciting – the beautiful pictures that hang on your walls, the lovely landscape that lines your house, the stunning fireworks every 4th of July season, the amazing family that floats around you day in and day out, the wonderful breeze that blows through your hair on a hot day, the picture-perfect snow that falls each winter, a warm bath at the end of a long day, and the list goes on and on….
If you can make the choice to see these small things with more excitement, with more enthusiasm…Every.Single.Day…just imagine how different your world can suddenly be. You will finally see it the way I got to see the world on that warm summer night. And I just have to say it…The View, that one particular night…well, it really was something to see…
*For those of you struggling with something in life or have a topic of interest that you want me to talk about in this blog, email me at BeYourBestSelfBlog@gmail.com. Let’s work together to Be Our Best Selves!