Monday Motivation
Something fun to start your week
This week I have a tip to help us tap into the wonder and awe of life. Here’s what I’ve been doing…
First, I’ll look at something that is near me. For example, as I type this, I’m sitting at a counter with these lovely roses.
Then I’ll start thinking about everything it took for that item to come into existence. In this case, someone had to buy the seeds, find a place to plant the roses, and tend to them as they grew.
But even farther back in time, people had to come up with the idea to sell seeds, and then package those seeds and figure out how to sell them.
Now, let’s think about the glass container that the flowers are sitting in. People had to design the size and shape of that container…
Then they had to manufacture the glass container, which Google tells me involves using gravity to feed gobs of molten glass into a forming machine. I imagine it goes something like this:
And if you look at the glass container, it has a label.
So people had to design and agree upon that label…
And then they had to figure out how to market, sell, and ship the bottle! So much effort went into this simple decoration on the counter.
You can play this game with any item you see. Pick something, then consider everything—and I mean everything—that went into bringing it to this world. All the way back to how the idea was first generated, then all the conversations, meetings, strategies, actions, setbacks, struggles, and triumphs it took to actually bring it into the world.
You can imagine all of it in a broad, general sense. Or you can make up your own little scenes, like I did. Whatever you’re in the mood to do.
This little exercise makes you realize how fortunate we are to be surrounded by all these things that we normally take for granted. Things that make life easier, more comfortable, and more interesting.
I feel so thankful for these things, and so grateful to all the people who brought them into existence.
And then part of me also starts to realize, “Wow, it’s quite weird that we’re all here on this planet, making things. Flower arrangements, pillows, sparkling water, bicycles, you name it.”
The whole thing is pretty incredible.
So try it and see what you think!
Have a great week ahead!
~ Adrienne
Hedger Humor
I suspect if we gave more thought to how and where and what went into the objects we surround ourselves with, we would be more careful with them and more mindful of those who provided it.
I’m thinking about the process to create this cartoon. The thought of which restaurant to go to, the drive to the cafe, the decision over which item to write about (I envision hedger corp having a very intense meeting over this decision), being invigorated by the smell of the food and coffee, the process of typing, sketching and editing your ideas as you eat your meal, and seeing people wonder what interesting project you are working on as you smile triumphantly at your screen when the idea fully comes to life.
It really does make everything much more meaningful when you think of all the effort that goes into creating all the wonderful things that surround us in the world. Thank you for an amazing gratitude exercise.