Gift-Vision Goggles

Gift-Vision Goggles

What an amazing thing life is. If I am paying attention, I am given gifts beyond measure every day.

I like presents, so I try to pay close attention.

Sometimes my presents are easy; an unexpected kindness, a smile of encouragement, a hug, a little favor, adorableness from the little lives I take care of.

Sometimes my presents take a little unwrapping: a valuable lesson tucked away in someone else’s unpleasant behavior, a reminder to practice patience in slow traffic, an opportunity to pray for the world to relax, deal with it’s uh, stuff, and grow up.

Sometimes they take a whole lot of unwrapping: surviving a heartbreaking grief, for example.

And what it boils down to is that I could spend my whole day and night just appreciating stuff in my life. And that wouldn’t be such a bad life.

Over and over and over it is brought home to me that the quality of my daily life, my hourly life, is based on the attitude I have to it.

When I am devoting my daily practice time to misery, suffering, general ickiness, the gifts the Universe presents often show up as more misery. Poor little Universe, trying to hard to make me happy and only being misunderstood and reviled.

When my daily practice is devoted to experiencing joy and appreciation, I see the gifts, hidden and otherwise, as clearly as if I were wearing Gift-Vision goggles.

Ooo! Gift-Vision Goggles! I wonder if I could get ThinkGeek to carry them?

Gift-Vision Goggles need three things; Why do I choose? Why am I grateful? Why is it so easy? When I practice these three things, I start to see the gifts.

I hear some of you say, as I used to, “But my situation is different. My situation is worse.”

Do you really want to feel like a lost cause? Do you really want to feel like nothing will make it better?  Do you really want to think that your situation is so much worse than everyone else’s, or that your misery is programmed into your genes?

I did.

My Al-Anon group confronted me on my inverse grandiosity. Who did I think I was that I could act like my life was the worst on the planet. The sooner I can get over myself, the better my life can get.

I got over myself. On the one hand, I had stuff. On the other hand, I had resources. I had talented, brilliant, compassionate people who wanted to help me. (Took me eight tries to find my beloved late therapist. Totally worth it.)

Now I live a life that’s about 92% joyful. I live a life full of wonderful gifts. I live a life where I can rejoice with my friends, even when we are sad. Let’s hear it for spiritual evolution! Hoo Rah!

How have I changed from focusing on the poo to appreciating the gift?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 04192013