"It is quite possible to leave your home for a walk in the early morning air and return a different person -- beguiled, enchanted."
-Mary Ellen Chase
To take an excerpt from the book The Magic, I believe this describes why we should be grateful for even the smallest of things every day:
As the great scientist Newton said, "When I look at the solar system, I see the Earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance."
Those words made me think more and more about the bigger picture. It's not an accident that there's a protective atmosphere surrounding us, and that beyond it there's no air or oxygen. It's not an accident that the trees give off oxygen so that our atmosphere is continually replenished. It's not an accident that our solar system is perfectly placed, and that if it were anywhere else in the galaxy we would most likely be devastated by cosmic radiation. There are thousands of parameters and ratios that support life on Earth; all of them are on a knife-edge, and their fine-tuning is so critical that a fraction of a difference in any of these parameters and ratios would make life unlivable on planet Earth.
It is for all these amazing reasons that we should think about small things that we usually take for granted, and be grateful for them. Like the air be breathe, the trees, the sunshine.
Today's challenge is for you to take some time to think about the small things that our Earth provides you with every day and to say "thank you" for them. Some things may be the air, the sunlight, the stars, the trees, soft grass, water, etc.
Your checklist for today:
1. Make your gratitude list of 10 things you are grateful for today and why.
2. Think about some of the things that the Earth provides you with that are essential for your survival and say thank you for each of them.
3. Before bed tonight, pick up your gratitude object and think about all the good tings that happened to you today. Think of the best thing that happened today and say Thank you!