I get to serve a lot of people at my chiropractic office and many of them I have seen for many, many years. This is not everyone, but this is a taste of how some of the conversations begin…
Me: “How are you?” Them: “Eh…”
or
Me: “How has your week started?” Them: “It’s ok.”
or
Me: “Has you had a good day?” Them: “Eh…”
or
Me: “Has your week started well?” Them: “Not bad.”
or
Me: “What are your plans for this beautiful evening?” Them: “Not sure.”
I am by no means saying that these are not perfectly acceptable answers to my rather regular questions, it is absolutely ok to say whatever you feel like. The reason I am bringing this up is because some of these people say the same things over and over for YEARS! When I say that, I really mean they have been un-excited about life for as many years as I have known them. It almost
seems like they live Monday through Friday just to get to the weekend. Then when I ask them how their weekend went, they say “Eh, it was ok.” REALLY?!?!?!?! WHAT GIVES???
LIFE IS LIFE. Sometimes there isn’t anything real “exciting” going on, no cool vacation to look forward to, didn’t win the lottery recently, no brand new home to move into, still driving the same old car, no crazy shopping spree to go on…nothing exciting at all. Ever thought for a moment that what happens on a regular daily basis is ENOUGH to get excited about?
Life is absolutely filled to the brim with mundane, routine stuff. As human beings we have to get up in the morning, it is probably a really good idea to eat breakfast and take a shower and most will be get ready for work (either inside the home or outside the home) or school. We will then put ourselves in a vehicle of some sort and transport ourselves somewhere where we will spend the next 8-12 hours (1/3-1/2) of our days doing something to earn a living. During that time we will probably take a break for lunch, maybe find a lunch buddy to chat with and then go back to work or school (even if you are at home raising a family, there is probably a routine you fall into). We will more than likely jump back in a vehicle of some sort and drive ourselves back to the place where we started our day, find a little more food, maybe get some sort of exercise in, brush our teeth and lay down for the night to rest only to get up and do the same thing all over again the next day…and the next day…and the next day. Ugh, just writing that sounds like a drag.
But...LIFE IS LIFE!! What if you started your day with the idea that “gosh it is really good to wake up on the top side of the grass!“? What if that is the attitude you began the day with…an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE for even getting another day to live? What happens if you sat a few extra seconds and decided to actually TASTE and EXPERIENCE your breakfast? What textures are there? What tastes are happening in my mouth? It is so neat that I can eat a bowl of cereal and it becomes muscles, tissues, organs and glands! Then when you are in the shower…how about really feeling and experiencing what it takes to clean your body. How does the water feel? What smells are present? Or just be grateful to have clean, fresh, warm water to bathe in everyday!
If you let it, the drive to work will take on a life of its own…so many things to look at inside and outside of the vehicle. This time of year the leaves are changing and it is beautiful! And suddenly we are grateful for the stop lights and stop signs because they make us pause and have a moment before moving forward and that can become a moment to give thanks for the good ‘ol car that you get to drive everyday. Once at work, instead of dreading all the filing you have to do, the emails you have to return or the annoying people you have to deal with…take a glance out to what is the big picture of what you are doing on a daly basis. Can you count the number of lives you have effected just because you do the work you do? How are you serving others?
The drive home, exercise, stopping in for your chiropractic adjustment, getting dinner, spending some time with your family and then hitting the sack for another night of rest to be able to recharge to do it all again tomorrow…they all take on a new meaning if we become a little more present and show just a smidgen more enthusiasm while doing them. When you are asked “how was your day?” after you spent a day like that, you will actually want to say “IT WAS GREAT! For what it was, it really was great!” Now that doesn’t mean that other people’s day wasn’t 100 times more fun than yours, according to your perception…but in the grand scheme of things, their day doesn’t matter and there is absolutely no reason to try to compare your day to someone else’s day. It is YOUR LIFE and this LIFE full of mundane-ness is going REALLY FREAKIN’ QUICKLY!!! We are here to do this one time and I cannot figure out one good reason to not get excited about the mundane-ness and routine-full-ness…because 90% of what we do on a daily basis is exactly that.
So think about the concept of SUPER EXCITING, ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, REALLY FUN, AWESOME, BREATH-TAKING, PULSE INCREASING, HAIR RAISING, TERRIFICALLY FANTASTIC mundane-ness. It exists. Trust me, I know. The key to it, its a conscious choice you get to make Enjoy yourself, every day of your life…and consider this a triple-dog dare to you to have some fun going through your routine tomorrow…and then let me know how it goes. If you are able to make a small shift, you will notice something about life…that it is REALLY, REALLY GOOD. I would love to hear your stories. 🙂
I put about a quarter of the bag of snack size M&Ms in and filled the rest up with the real food; the apples, clementines and almonds. We also gave out glow-in-the-dark bracelets to help them stay safe that evening and a book mark about health.