Stop Taking Things for Granted and You’ll Live an Amazing Life

Last Updated on November 22, 2022 by The Unbounded Thinker

Recently, I realized that most of us are unhappy because we take things for granted. We are unaware that anything bad can happen at any moment and we might not always have the good things or experiences we are used to.

We forget that the salaries we are used to receiving every month, the parents and friends we see or talk to regularly, the peace we experience in our countries, the amazing health we have can disappear at any moment. We are so used to these factors that we think they should always be there. We forget that at this moment, many are fighting for their lives in hospitals, others in Ukraine and Russia have lost their beloved ones, and many have lost their jobs. We always act as if such things – death, war, disease – won’t happen to us even though they are part of life and can happen to us at any moment. We think what we have or what we experience will always be there, and for this reason, we are seldom thankful.  

You can only be thankful if you live consciously. When you are conscious, you’ll avoid taking things for granted because you’ll realize that whatever you are experiencing could be momentary, and disaster can arrive anytime. You’ll also notice that the many people you take for granted are very important.

For instance, you’ll realize that the delivery guy, the waiter, and your house help are extremely important people who can mess up your life if they choose to. These guys can put poison in your food or drinks, but they don’t (However, some can do so, and they have done it to many people). Besides, you’ll also miss these guys if they decide to stop working. Imagine that delivery guys, cab drivers, waiters, and storekeepers have refused to work. This will be disastrous because these people save our time and make our lives easier in many ways. We are seldom thankful for these guys because we never contemplate their importance.

We must learn to see life as it is: an experience with infinite possibilities. If we embrace this perception of life, we will be thankful daily. We’ll be thankful when the delivery guy successfully delivers what we wanted because we’ll know that something could have happened that could have prevented him from delivering the product. We’ll be thankful on paydays because we’ll realize that many things could have made it impossible for us to receive our salaries. We’ll be thankful for the political state of our nation because we’ll realize that political instability is a highly possible event.

Generally, we’ll forever be thankful and consider ourselves lucky if nothing interferes with our daily routine when we live consciously and stop taking life for granted. We’ll be happy every day and only sad when something horrible happens. And when something terrible happens, we’ll know we are still lucky because such things don’t occur regularly.

Here’s is a quote by Osho to reflect on.

“Existence cares for everybody. Without existence loving us, we cannot exist even for a single moment. It goes on pouring life into us. We are immensely esteemed by existence, although we go on taking it for granted – that’s where our stupidity lies. If we take it for granted there is no gratitude. We think we deserve it. We think it is our right; in fact, we think we are not getting as much as we deserve, hence there is a constant undercurrent of complaint. This is the state of the irreligious man.

The religious man feels gratitude, immense gratitude. Just for sheer being he is grateful. And once you start feeling gratefulness there are a thousand and one things to feel grateful for. And the more you feel grateful, the more gifts go on arriving.”- Osho

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