Life as we know it has changed forever…Yes that day has come, and all too quickly I might add, when my coffee machine has inexplicably stopped working, right in the middle of making me a delicious and much-needed mocha.

I was counting on that mocha to give me inspiration for my next blog when suddenly I realised that it had!

This particular ball started rolling when I saw an invitation from Carmel Boutchard to like her FB page (Symmetry). An article caught my eye (source: http://www.boredpanda.com) because it was about how we ‘Western World dwellers’ find it so easy to whinge about the awful things that have simply ruined our day.

The comments ranged from complaining about having to wake up for the ironing lady who hadn’t arrived to waiting for 15 mins in a salad bar queue only to find they had run out of cous cous!

I loved the complaint about the ignomy of having bought a toaster only to find that it didn’t have a bagel setting while another complained in disgust about the quality of the massage she had just received in Indonesia.

So what do you do when your coffee machine dies?

Well I for one, realise how bloody lucky I am to:

(a) have a coffee machine in the first place

(b) live in a nice home with working electricity that can power a coffee machine

(c) have an income stream that allows me to afford such things

(d) live in a country with an economy that rewards effort

In other words, remember to count your blessings!

Some people have to be the ironing lady because that’s the only work they can get; some people don’t have supermarkets, let alone salad bars or cous cous; some people couldn’t afford a toaster and don’t have electricity; while some people have to give numerous massages to fat, ungrateful holiday-makers just to scrape enough money to keep a roof over their family’s head tonight.

Other dramas I have whinged about recently myself include: having our air-con pack up on a 35 degree day; the pool at our strata complex being out of action for several days; and my car being on its last legs!

So how do we snap out of our First World pity-party?

One of the things my coach got me to do last year was to start a jar of happiness and gratitude. Trust me when I say that it is a very rewarding exercise.

You find an empty, clean jar to keep on your desk and every day, or as often as you remember, write little notes of gratitude for the things in your life that you appreciate or that have made you happy. When you get to the end of the year, you open the jar and read all of the messages you have written to yourself. This simple exercise makes you happier and more appreciative of your life with each note, each day, but reading the whole lot together is a really uplifting treat for your soul.

When I read some of them to my girlfriend, Joanne, she said “My goal is to make sure that there are even more of those notes about me next year”.

Perhaps we should all make it our goal to impact positively and with kindness on the lives of more people we encounter, each and every day.

I’ll leave you with that thought  😀

Until we meet next time – here’s a quick reminder that my latest book is now available for pre-order, ready for release very soon. It’s called ‘If Life’s Worth Doing, It’s Worth Doing Well – Finding Sane Fulfillment in an Insane World’