It's the Little Things

Is it just me or do you ever seem to go through your days sometimes without anything really remarkable happening? Nothing truly huge has changed in your life, nothing worth writing home about has happened during your week, and you just live day to day in a kind of ordinary manner.

While it can sometimes be a good thing that nothing crazy is going on in your life, it is so important to remember that your life is anything but ordinary. You don’t need something “remarkable” to happen every day in order to be happy and grateful with the life that you have.

Sometime last year, I downloaded this app on my phone called Gratitude 365. The app is nothing special, really—it's basically a calendar where, each day, you can write down some things that you were grateful for that day. You can add a picture to make it look pretty, but that is basically the gist of the app. Now, I went through a period of a couple months where I didn’t touch the app at all. But recently, I began trying to use it every day, and I have been getting so much out of it.

The purpose of the app is not to brag about all of the amazing things that happen to you each day. For me, it has become a way to realize and appreciate all the little things that make my days special. I will give you a few examples of the types of things that I write down in my app:

• I got a cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts today and it was delicious.
• I put in a request to have some of the lights fixed in my classroom, and this morning when I walked into the room, it was noticeably brighter in there!
• I started reading a new book that I absolutely love.

 As you can see, none of those things are out of the ordinary. But without those little reminders that my life is good each day, I have a feeling that I could be quite miserable. As a former teacher of mine used to say constantly, "It's the little things."

So, I challenge you to at least think about three good things in your day, every day, and see how much of a difference it makes in your life. I think you might find that you are quicker to smile, quicker to laugh, and quicker to appreciate the little things.

What are some of the "little things" in your life that you are grateful for each day?