Yesterday, my girlfriend and I met some friends of hers who happened to be in town. They kindly brought us a gift: a tin of hot chocolate powder from Harrods. Whoa! How cool is that?
One sip confirmed it: Ahh, yes, this is hot chocolate worthy of a king — and even though I’m missing the final “g” in my name to get all the letters together for that title, today, I have the privilege of enjoying it.
When you receive a gift, especially from someone you’re not too close with, it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees. “I wonder how much this cost. Let me look it up. Should I really have paid for their dinner?” “I prefer tea over hot chocolate.” “This tin doesn’t fit into my kitchen color-wise. Where am I supposed to put it?”
Sometimes, we might even torpedo the generosity for no reason at all. “I’m trying to skip sweets this month.” “The sugar in the powder will mess up my protein-focused diet.” “What if I get bloated from the milk?” Hello! Are you still here? You just received a gift. It was for you, not about you. Why don’t you just enjoy it?
We spend much time wishing for free passes to anything in life, yet when we receive them, we often dismiss them solely because they didn’t happen to be the exact golden ticket that we wanted. Perhaps you can’t have free seats to a Broadway show, but you might get a large sample of popcorn at the candy store the next day.
Instead of hoping for particular gifts and dismissing the wrong ones, we should expect none of them and celebrate every one we receive. That way, we win once instead of losing twice.
When the hot chocolate is free, drink it. Savor life’s gifts when you receive them.
Grab a copy of Nik’s book, 2-Minute Pep Talks.
2-Minute Pep Talks is a collection of 67 jolts of inspiration for more hope, comfort, and love in any situation. With more than two months of daily inspiration across five categories, 2-Minute Pep Talks will make you feel more comfortable in your own skin, remind you to love yourself enough to ask life for what you truly want, and provide you with the world’s scarcest resource: hope. Whether you’re looking for a pick-me-up, new perspectives, or more fuel to accomplish your dreams — if you’re ready to regain that light, passionate, optimistic feeling we all used to possess as children, this book is for you.
AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON!
—
This post was previously published on Niklas Göke’s blog
Subscribe HERE
***
You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
 White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism |
 Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box |
 The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer |
 |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
