Unlike my husband, my daughter and I are not morning people. We find winter especially tough, when early school mornings feel like starting the day in the middle of the night. To acclimate to the reality of life outside our cozy beds before the sun has started to rise, we prefer a few quiet words and subdued lighting. My husband on the other hand, greets most days with the energy, enthusiasm and noise-levels of an exuberant dog when it hears the word “walkies”.
There was one early morning this winter that was incredibly special and got me thinking about the little upsides to the downsides of life. As my daughter and I left the house to walk down the road to where she catches a lift to school, we noticed how breathtakingly beautiful the sky looked. The sun was just starting to rise and the wispy clouds were lit with so many shades of pink, red, purple, orange and yellow – it was spectacular. There was a slight breeze which was crisp but not cold and leaves carpeted the ground beneath the trees. The atmosphere felt magical in those moments and I realised that if we hadn’t had to get up early on this particular day, we would have missed the whole experience!
An early morning – which I usually consider to be a bad thing – gave me a treasured memory of gratitude and hope. The downsides of life can surprise us like that –we just need to stop and think about them long enough to notice the unexpected little upsides.
Since discovering the power of gratitude I try my best to stop and notice more of these unexpected little upsides. I’ve noticed that the upside to my husband’s noisy approach to starting the day, is that I can’t help but smile, laugh and eventually join in with the fun he’s having. I’ve noticed that the upside of our dog Skye needing to go out every now and then at night, is the adorable way he waddles around our bedroom to get my attention and then growls happily when he manages to wake me up (thus waking everyone else up, which would have been a much smarter way to wake me up in the first place). I’ve noticed that the upside of cooking (which is not one of my favourite tasks of the day, although eating is) is that I have time to listen to an audiobook, podcast or music.
Life can get us down sometimes and leave us feeling very negative, even about the little inconveniences along the way. We try to make ourselves feel better by saying: “Well, it could have been worse…”, but that’s not actually helpful because it doesn’t make us feel truly grateful. Yes, the electricity could have been off for eight hours instead of four, but that doesn’t make you feel any better about the four that you were without it! So next time you’re faced with one of life’s little downsides, why not try to find an unexpected little upside so that you can say: “It may be that this happened, but because of that I got to do that”. It may be that the electricity was off for four hours, but because of that I had a fantastic excuse to order take-aways and relax!
Not all BAD things are ALL bad. Do your best to find the unexpected little upsides when things don’t quite go your way.
Wishing you many unexpected little upsides to the inconveniences of life!
Portal to Change 