Small Things

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Usually the small things we encounter in life can affect us in a big way. Things like the weather; whether it is too dark, too bright, too hot, too cold, too wet ~ you name it, there is always something about it that makes us pause and wish things were different. Wishing you could get out there when the sun is shining; wishing you didn’t have to get out through the poring rain...

And there are more of those small things that we allow to mark our days.
Like the long line at the supermarket register. The driver who obviously has no clue where he or she is going and who is consequently holding up traffic. A grumpy person in the drugstore. Grabbing the perfect parking place only to find that you can only get out of the car by stepping in a huge puddle. A seasonal vendor who is taking up the entire sidewalk to sell his wares...
The list can go on and on.

Each of those things ~ when observed from a factual perspective ~ is too small to even start talking about; let alone allow us to be bothered about them. And yet, more often than not they do bother us. These small things can make the difference between a ‘good day’ and a ‘bad day’.

The interesting thing is that we also have a tendency to string them together. For instance; while the weather isn’t exactly perfect that day, there is no problem at all until you miss the bus going downtown and have to wait another 12 minutes for the next bus to arrive. When it finally arrives 5 minutes late ~ chances are that a day that started as a regular rainy Autumn day is well on its way to becoming a ‘bad day’. And seeing young children gaining great pleasure from jumping in the middle of the puddles in the park, doesn’t make it any better...
By now, grumpiness has set in.

Do you recognize that? I can be well on my way to total grumpiness before I realize that I am letting my mood ~ and therefore my day ~ be affected by small things that in all reality aren’t worth spending that much time and energy on. Mostly because I have no way of changing them.

They are all small things that are outside of myself, that I in no way can influence...

What I can change is how I react to them.
I can choose to not permit them to affect me. I can choose to not become grumpy because of them. I can choose to smile and join in the pleasure of the kids jumping in the puddles...

Especially when it is about the small things in life we can choose to shrug them off and purposely find a way to see that day as a ‘good day’.
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