Today’s reading highlights a message of gratitude and the idea of being content with our present. In her post, How To Feel Content With What You Have, Beard (2017) expands on this idea saying “in order to be content with what you already have, you need to become aware of what you already have.” It’s actively bringing awareness to our reality and situation that encompasses what the focus for today should be.
When we are focused only on the results or wanting more of everything we have, we miss out on the larger picture, the point of everything. Our focus should be on learning and growing. Now, it’s important to keep in mind that being content with what we have is not an excuse to not learn or grow. It is not an excuse to remain stagnant in our lives. Instead, it is a call to acknowledge what we went through to reach the point where we currently are. It is recognizing that we should be grateful for the experiences and opportunities in which we have participated. It is appreciating the richness and importance of our current situation, our present, because the decisions we make now will lead us into our future.
So what’s the first step in becoming aware of what we already have? Breathing. Deep breathing. We inhale and exhale, holding each for a few seconds, clearing out the stress and anxiety that has built up within us. We do this until we feel clear. We do this until we are able to focus without any sort of panic or the urge to be doing something else. We take a moment to breathe and refocus our day, our present. We pay attention to our surroundings, picking out what elicits feelings of thanks and gratitude. If we can list the top five things we are grateful for and why; we are one step closer to figuring it all out.
Midnight Crab Oracle 