Friday, February 6, 2009

Simple Things


Most people who know me, know that simple things make me happy. Amy Grant has a song titled Simple Things. Actually she has an album titled that. Those who know me also know that I truly believe in helping to make other people's lives easier and more fulfilling by doing simple things for them. You do not have to have money in order to be a giving person. I look at it this way: If I received money for a gift for my birthday, Christmas, or special occasion, I never remembered who gave it to me. It was not at all that I don't appreciate it, it just didn't leave that impression in my memory as does a gift someone picked out with me in mind. That is the reason I do not care for putting money in cards. To me it is thoughtless. Remember, this is only my opinion.

Some of the best gifts I have received over the years left a lasting impression on me. Mainly because the person giving the gift really took the time to find something they new I would like. Some of them didn't cost any money at all. I consider all of the things I have learned from the many mentors in my life, the bests gifts I received that were free. Everyday, I look at the new day as a gift. My friends are gifts, my customers are my gifts, my family, my pets, and especially my children. I paid nothing for these and yet they are the best gifts one could get.


I feel that if we treat these gifts as precious as they are, we will receive more. We will also appreicate the simpler things in life. When times are tough these gifts are what get us through. Money does not last forever but our simplest gifts, the lives we touch and the memories we make are what will.

We always end up having some negativity in our lives. In the book The Secret it states that we are magnets. We attract negative if we think negative. The up side is that we will attract positive we we think positive. There are days that I am not so positive. Believe it or not, today is one of them.

I cannot help but to think why some people cannot see, realize, appreciate the simplest things. Sometimes it is doing the simplest thing that makes ones life a little easier. Lately with my store, PartyLite, the kids, the pets, Avon, doing nails and taking care of things around the house I have been feeling very overwhelmed. If there was one thing I would love to not do, it is the house work. I would not stop any of the other things because I absolutely love them. If I could not have to do laundry, if I could not have to clean, if I could stop having to do the dishes and all the other crap....my life would be much easier. Plain and simple, with how busy I am, I totally dislike doing the household chores. HOWEVER, I have to. There is no choice in the matter. My family has to have clothes to wear, dishes to eat off of, a place to put the trash, and so on and so on. I would love to see what would happen if one day I just stopped. I actually already know that answer. Wash would be piled even higher than it is now, the animals would never be fed, dishes would be laying in the sink, the carpet would be completey in need of vacuuming, shoes and coats would be drapped and thrown everywhere, there would be mold in the tub, poop stuck to the inside of the toilet....want me to continue? Sorry to get so graphic LOL!

We all have things in life that we do not want to do, whether it be go to a crappy job, take care of someone who is needy, clean, change poopy diapers, whatever. However, if we didnt do these things, life would be harder, not as fulfilling, and quite messy. We all have to do things we don't want to do, but we do them anyway.

Don't even get me started on excuses. In my lifetime I think I have heard every one in the book. I have no time for them. What it comes down to is that ya just didn't want to do whatever it was, plain and simple. My friend Heather and I are so much alike that we vent a lot to each other about this subject. She is upset that people these days do not have the work ethic that her and I do. Her and I agree totally when it comes down to excuses are just ways to say, "I didn't want to do it, or I just don't care to do it." The best excuse is, "I forgot." In the book The Secret one of the main quotes that sticks out in my mind is 'Remember to remember." I believe this is said not only to benefit yourself but to benefit others. We all lose things, we all forget things once in a while. I firmly believe that it is the things we dislike to do or do not really care about that we forget. You must be careful, because you never know who you are hurting by forgetting something. It may not be important to you, but it may be to someone else.

In closing.....

Remember that it is the simple things that take little effort that can brighten someone's day. It is doing a small task that will be a huge help to someone else. It is the gifts from the heart that mean more than from the wallet. And be thankful and grateful for all that you have. Does that seem simple enough? It does to me.