Beyond Sameness

“…and when each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.” ~Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut, in the monotony of an everyday routine.  Most of us have to spend the bulk of our waking hours working at a job that pays our bills or keeps our households coordinated.  Often our work has not fulfilled the dreams we started out with. The need to survive replaces the drive to accomplish earlier aspirations.

I’ve heard it said that poverty is marked by a lack of choices, by sameness.  I find this true for both financial poverty and for poverty of spirit. The same routines and the same options day in and day out can lead to a life of rote actions. Walking through the same motions over and over may cause a heart to grow callous.

We need to intentionally soften our hearts and allow them to feel joy for small goodnesses and beauty that pierce through the ordinary.  Most of us will not win the lottery, invent something or become famous.  Even if we did, we might find that those things alone do not guarantee a rich and vibrant life.

Our escape from sameness does not need to come from any grand, miraculous happening.  It comes from a mind that finds the extraordinary within the ordinary.  It’s in eyes that see the picturesque in the mundane.  It’s in a heart that finds gratitude for small gifts.

So in the midst of the daily grind, take note of the things that make you smile or stir your heart.  Savor those moments.  Dwell on the goodness that can be found rather than the desires that cannot.  Enrich your life with small pleasures and reach beyond sameness.