I hear it all the time. From little elderly ladies, to television series and movies, to daytime news. It’s the simple things in life that should be important. Why then do we continue to not see or live this?

To preface a little, about me and a little bit of my story (just to set the stage), I was raised by parents who grew up in the 40’s and 50’s, whose parents also lived through the Great Depression and 2 World Wars. So to say we were raised to understand the concept of living life day by day and to appreciate the simple things in life is an understatement.

In our current time, it is very easy for us to get caught up in our day to day life and not pay attention to the little things that are around us. We underestimate the people and relationships in our lives, and sometimes “refuse” to elevate their importance over the physical things we own or have. With the tv, computers, phones and social media always in our faces, we tend to get sidetracked from things in our lives, blinding the important experiences that happen to us each day, which help us to think, grow and become better human beings. We lose track of time. Yes, I did say refuse instead of don’t, and I will explain why.

While Hollywood and television continue to show us things that stress the importance of living life through our experiences, they in turn tell us to focus your attention on programs that are irrelevant and narcissistic. I don’t know about you but I have a hard enough time keeping up with my own family and job to worry about keeping up with someone else’s crazy family life.

News channels are also focused on the schizophrenic theme of back and forth stories that the only thing we end up hearing is the negativity, rather than what is truly important.

And I don’t even think I need to get into social media. I think we all know how much of a dissenting vacuum they really are.

These distractions in our lives prevent us from knowing and understanding so much about ourselves and others. They create a facade of what others feel we should focus on, and do not allow us to see the bigger picture in every situation… what is most important in our personal lives.

When we are led to encounter others in our day to day experiences, these are set forth for a particular reason. For experiences, learning, or for a larger purpose, when we are blinded by distractions, we are not allowed to experience these moments.

For example; how many times have we been driving in our vehicle and have another driver do something dangerous or inconsiderate? Have we had students or coworkers who are angry, mean, distant or different than we are comfortable with? How many times have we got upset or shouted out loud at the other driver from your car as if they can hear you… or got mad at someone or simply ignored or talked badly about them to make ourselves feel better or more comfortable?

I mentioned earlier why I used the word “refuse” when speaking about elevating the important things in our lives. Simply put, we “ALWAYS” have a choice. We can always take responsibility for what we think and how we choose to act. If we “choose” to take a couple seconds to stop and focus on what is more important, rather than our narcissism or distractions, we might see another picture.

That this angry person may have just lost a son to drug abuse, or maybe they are late for work because they are caring for an elderly parent or sick child and didn’t sleep last night. Maybe they are in a job that they are so unhappy in, but they cannot afford to leave or change careers because they are supporting a family or are overwhelmed with bills. Or maybe their family life is bad and they have no way to change it.

I believe all of us, if we stop making excuses for our distractions, if we stop allowing these distractions to rule our lives and continue to get in the way, we can make a choice to see the good, the positive and yes, the simple things in life that actually matter more than anything else.