What are we taking for granted and what is its impact on how we choose to live our lives?

What are we taking for granted and what is its impact on how we choose to live our lives?

Manual breathing is the term for the switch from unconscious, automatic breathing to the moment we are very consciously having to breath and enact the process of breathing. The chances are that by reading this and thinking about breathing you may be manually breathing. 

I remember having a particularly persistent cold that made the ability to breath through my nose feel like a complete impossibility. Instead of the sympathy I had hoped for when moaning about my blocked nasal passages to a friend, they simply pointed out what a great reminder it is of how wonderful it feels to breathe, uninhibited and mucus-free, through your nose. 

It is not just breathing that can feel automatic and it is one of the many things we take for granted. Not only can we take things for granted we can also take for granted the quality of those things, in this case breathing clearly. 

Beyond breathing, what else do we take for granted? 

What is the impact of the things we take for granted? 

Ironically, manual breathing is a very similar process to mindful breathing and meditation practices. Indeed one aim of meditation and mindful breathing is to focus on the present moment, which is likely something else we can so often and easily take for granted. 

And what is the impact when we take the present for granted? 

What about the experiences we take for granted too?

In a conversation about what to do when running a coaching business feels too difficult, myself and my colleague both realised we had each run businesses before. In failing to realise this we were taking for granted the experiences we have that we can use in running a coaching business. 

More broadly, what are the experiences we take for granted that sometimes equip us for things we dream of but do not dare to try? 

What are we taking for granted that would inspire or astound others? 

This blog has written before about the value and importance of really knowing our strengths to be able to fully harness them. 

What are the qualities and strengths we have that we are taking for granted and in taking for granted failing to more fully utilise them in our lives? 

What means we take these things for granted? 

What can we learn about ourselves from what we take for granted? 

What does what we take for granted say about where we are placing our attention?

What does what we take for granted say about how we see ourselves? 

How does this compare to how we would like to be and where we would like to place our attention? 

For example, it can be easy for me to take my past successes for granted and in doing so I can undervalue myself, lower my aspirations for myself, and equally not put myself forward for opportunities when those successes would remind me I am equipped to try. 

In taking those past successes for granted, I am also protecting myself from going beyond my comfort zone. 

So while we can be taking things for granted, where may we be choosing to take them for granted? 

What would the impact be if we chose not to take them for granted? 

What are we missing when we take ourselves, our experiences, our skills and strengths for granted? 

What life do we deny ourselves in taking parts of us for granted? 

Even in the smallest things we take for granted, what are the reminders we are missing out on? 

Coming back to the breath, what do we gain from taking it for granted a little less often? 

For me, now, noticing the breaths I take for granted I am reminded that we are astounding in the myriad of functions we perform totally unconsciously to sustain ourselves, a reminder of the almost impossibility of life and the possibility that suggests.

What do we need to remind us of the things we take for granted

Particularly popular in the Middle Ages, often found in art but also in objects kept in the house, momento mori are symbols and reminders of our mortality; the Latin literally translates to ‘remember you must die’. 

Like momento mori, what are the things that will remind us of all the qualities we take for granted and in doing so make them more present in our lives and the world? 

Perhaps momento mori, may even be one of those reminders, for what would it be to remember that we are finite and that each moment we take parts of us for granted is another moment that is lost and an opportunity to harness whatever we take for granted gone. 

It all comes down to one simple question: what are we missing? 

What are we missing in our lives because we take it for granted?

What does our life miss out on for us not acting on the qualities and strengths and experiences we take for granted?

What does the world miss out on when we take ourselves for granted? 

What is possible if we all took fewer things for granted? 

What do we need to remind us of the many, many qualities we have that do not deserve to be taken for granted?