There are only two kinds of people in life.
Those who are waiting for life to get better,
And those who appreciate every moment as a gift.
I remember when I was in school,
I couldn't wait for my studies and exams to be over and to start a real job.
I remember when I was single,
I couldn't wait to be in a relationship.
And then as a couple,
We really look forward to having children.
And now sometimes as parents,
We can't wait for our children to get older so they can look after themselves.
It feels like so many of us are constantly looking forward to the future,
Or yearning for better days gone by.
Now a person that we would call awakened or enlightened is someone who knows how to think like a spiritual guru.
For them,
Everything is always perfect.
Every situation from life to death is a blessing.
Every situation is a reason to be thankful.
And they realize that every moment is filled with gifts from life.
And these gifts are borrowed and eventually need to be given back.
Have you ever noticed how your mindset is quite different when you go on holiday?
When we're on holiday,
We know that this isn't going to last.
So every experience,
We learn to cherish it.
We appreciate it knowing that it's going to come to an end.
But for some reason,
We fail to see our life in that way.
In life,
We think that everything is ours.
We think we are the owners of everything.
We say things like,
This is my body,
This is my house,
This is my family.
But if we think about it,
Nothing is really ours.
We didn't make this body,
And our home has probably been lived by someone before,
And someone will live in it after we go.
And even our children eventually will grow up and lead their own lives.
And as long as we think that everything is mine,
Then we start planning for wanting more.
The mind starts focusing on all the things that is missing and never truly appreciating all the things that it already has.
Think about it.
Did you wake up in a warm bed this morning?
Did you wake up in a beautiful home,
Filled with comfortable things?
Did you wake up in a healthy body?
Did you go to your fridge and see it filled with food?
All of these things are blessings that we completely ignore.
In a verse called the Sukhmani Sahib,
Guru Arjan Dev Ji says,
When you receive ten things,
You hold on to them.
When one thing is missing,
You lose all faith.
But what if that one thing was not given and all things were taken away?
Tell me,
Oh fool,
Then what would you do?
The truth is,
We rarely see life as a gift.
In fact,
We choose to see it as a struggle.
We see our lives as a daily battle,
Fighting to survive,
Fighting to achieve new things.
But deep down,
We feel that life should be blissful.
We just don't know how to achieve it.
The solution is that our attitude to life needs to change.
Focus on what you have and not on what you don't have.
Take every moment to appreciate the blessings that are all around you.
From a life of constantly expecting more,
Become present and be aware of all the gifts that surround you.
Whenever you start feeling down about what's missing in life,
Take a moment to change your perspective.
Think about a camera.
When it's too close,
The image is fuzzy.
To get a clear picture,
You have to zoom out.
And in the same way,
When we're too focused on the problem,
Take a moment to step back and look at your life as a whole.
Take nothing for granted,
Not even your breath.
Treat each moment as precious,
Because you never know how many more you have.
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