When I leave the house or when I drive home, I always try to look at everything around me as if I'm seeing it for the first time.
The very first time.
The Colorado National Monument. The Grand Mesa. The Bookcliffs. The Colorado River. The Gunnison River. The blue sky. Everything and anything that would easily be taken for granted because I see it e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y.
When I walk the dogs, walk to the garden, walk upstairs, walk downstairs, just walk anywhere. I'm always grateful that I can do that.
Now that I have a broken knee and am in a full length leg brace, doing all those walking things isn't so easy.
There is no bending the leg or putting weight on the foot. Yet.
So, there are the little things that have now become big things that are quite difficult to accomplish. In fact, they are a challenge.
Just for fun, try these:
1) Go up and down stairs without bending your left leg or putting weight on it. Yup. That means on your behind unless you can hop up and down them on one leg. FOURTEEN of them to be exact. But who’s counting how many steps there are? I am. That’s who!
2) Get into and out of a shower or bath tub without bending that leg or putting weight on it.
3) Put on and pull off pants. You guessed it. Don't bend that leg or put weight on it. Can you reach that left foot to pull those pants on over it?
4) Sit flat on the floor, get up. With one leg. Why would I be sitting flat on the floor? Because when I get to the top of the stairs, I'm sitting flat on the floor.
The upside is that my core, upper body, arms, and right leg are going to be very strong after six weeks of this. My left leg, not so much. I might possibly be considered a contortionist by the way I pick things up that have fallen on the floor.
Surveys show that most people take for granted something regarding their health, environment, or a special person in their lives. These are huge foundations in our lives and obviously things we do not appreciate until they are 'broken' or 'gone.' It seems to be an innate quality of being human by taking these things for granted.
"Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted." ----Aldous Huxley
What is the moral of this story?
Live in the Moment: Take the time to really notice what is going on this very second. When you do that, it will distance you from dwelling in the past and/or worrying about the future.
Look around you. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell? Is there a coffee cup within reach? How does the coffee taste? What are your hands touching? Is there someone else in the room with you? Is the TV on? Look out the window. Is the sun shining? Is it raining? Can you see the moon? Are there flowers with bees buzzing around them. Are there birds? Is there music playing? How do you feel inside? Is your heart happy or sad? Why is it happy? Why is it sad?
Your mind and senses are free to fully explore, recognize, and appreciate the big and little things that surround you right this very minute. Explore and appreciate what your life is at this very moment. Our lives have all been upended in some way because of COVID. There is something around you right now to be grateful for. What is it?
Are you taking something for granted? Is it your health? Your environment? Someone in your life?
Is it the fact you can walk up and down a flight of stairs instead of going up them on your derriere?
"Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude."
---A.A. Milne
