Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, take a moment to check out your surroundings. Are you in your bedroom, typing away at your desk, or traveling to your next obligation?

Whatever you may have planned for the rest of the day, you may feel a number of ways. The monotony of your job may be getting to you, you may not have much you’re looking forward to, or you may not be excited about any aspect of your day-to-day routine.

It is so easy to become a victim of familiarity. The job you worked so hard to get, the person you spend endless days with, and the simple necessities of life that you have been so lucky to receive may just be normalcy to you now.

You may feel that this life you have sewn together for yourself is threaded with mundane and just a few happy highlights are riddled throughout. This may be all you feel you are capable of. Truly, though, the ordinary can become an extraordinary life if you are grateful.

Take a closer look at where you are. Listen to the background sounds that your ears often block out as white noise. Feel the ruffles of your cozy bed or take in the aroma wafting in from the room next to you.

These little things in life are so easily taken for granted, and we often lose sight of our many blessings.

I believe that the following words are ones everybody should hear for perspective and clarity.

“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” – Marianne Williamson.

Joy is everywhere if you have the right frame of vision and the desire to look. Once we become grateful for the simplistic and thankful for the day-to-day, our lives will turn into something greater than we ever imagined.

The next time you are outside, take a moment to look up and see all the vastness that exists. See how each cloud was uniquely formed, feel the breeze blow on your bare skin, listen to the crickets or the birds, and smell the grass or the pine. These are such simple things, but beauty can be found in them when one chooses to have a grateful heart.

Look away from your phone and look up into what is calming, simplistic, and perfectly created.

Extended screen time will not only cause us to lose periods where we could have had better ourselves and our relationships, but it will also cause us to lose heart. Now is as good of a time as any to start living in the light of what we have been given.

Sometimes, there is no joy. Sickness, hurt, and heartache are real and inevitable for us all. It is so important to grab joy when we can and hold onto it. This could include journaling down the positive moments from your day, meditating on the things you love, or spending quality time with quality people and taking in all of the characteristics they possess.

Whatever you find to be good and right and true in the world: dwell on those things and see how your life transforms.

Continue on with a grateful heart and an open mind and you will find joy in so many aspects of life.