You Can Get Glad in the Same Shoes You Got Mad in!
We live in a culture with very high expectations. There are so many opportunities for us to be disappointed. Something or someone did not live up to our expectations. We generally believe that our expectations are “reasonable”. And even if they are reasonable that doesn’t seem to make much difference. Did you know you can train yourself to experience more peace and happiness by simply deciding to be happy with the little things? Let’s say your husband brings you a cup of coffee. You hate him! He KNOWS you take cream in your coffee! How many times have you told him this? You have been married for how many years and he STILL doesn’t remember? Obviously he doesn’t care about you at all. Or worse, he is deliberately trying to hurt you by letting you know you aren’t worth taking the extra care to fix your coffee like you like it. You do see where I am going with this? You can actually decide to be happy with this tiny (imperfect) gesture from your husband. You can say “Thank you!” And then if you must have cream you can say “My darling, would you mind bringing me some cream? You sweeeeet thang!” Sorry. Got a little carried away.
Grandmother was right. You can get glad in the same shoes you got mad in! There are going to be so many things that are not exactly to our liking throughout our life. You can stop trying to get things and people to live up to your expectations. You can just appreciate whatever there is to appreciate.
If you can’t be glad for the way things are, then you can sometimes be glad for the way they are not. For example, perhaps your marriage is very difficult right now. You can be glad your spouse is not a drug dealer, unless (s)he is one. If so, you can be glad you have food in your refrigerator, unless you don’t. In that case, you can be glad you have a refrigerator.
