I recently came across a book that I'd heard of several years ago, The Book of Awesome. That is an appropriate title, because the book really is awesome.
A number of years ago author Neil Pasricha was advancing professionally, and then went through a divorce and experienced the death of a good friend through suicide. He also noticed that most of the news reported in the world was bad news. Pasricha decided that he needed to do something different.
He therefore launched his website, 1000awesomethings.com, in 2008. He began posting one awesome thing a day.
This could be anything, from the smell of fresh cut grass, to a high five from a baby. His blog became immensely popular.
By 2009 he was winning awards, and was approached by literary agents. His subsequent book became an international best seller, and he has gone on to publish several more books.
He has also become a popular public speaker on the topics of positivity and leadership.
Why did this happen? It can be argued that Pasricha knew what he was doing. He had studied business and marketing, set goals and pursued them with persistence.
These are keys to success in any area of life, however.
There is more to the story.
Pasricha struck on a truth that is so often overlooked.
Our world really is awesome.
We become so bogged down with life, with worries, with negative events in the world, that we often forget to open our eyes and see the amazing things around us.
Small children understand what Pasricha is talking about.
They see how amazing every little thing is.
Adults often become impatient watching these little people pick up every small stone and gazing upon it as if it is the most valuable gem in the world.
When we stop to think about it, however, we have to admit that these children are onto something.
Those rocks really are pretty.
If we look at how technology has advanced, we also see how wonderful and amazing our world is. This is comically illustrated in the movie Just Visiting.
Two men from the Middle Ages are transported through time to the 21st century. They turn the electric lights off and on in a house, try to rescue the little people trapped inside a television, and refer to the urinal in a men's washroom as a "magic fountain."
In actual fact, these household conveniences really are awesome.
Just a few hundred years ago, even the most powerful and wealthy people in the world did not have the things that we take for granted every day.
As I read through The Book of Awesome, I found that though I was not particularly thrilled by all of the things the author referred to as awesome, I began to write my own book in my head. Walking from the cold outside into a warm building - awesome! A greeting from a friend - awesome!
A person serving me in a store - awesome! Hot running water - awesome!
Wonderful things and people really are all around us.
We just need to take notice and give thanks. When we do, we find that we even begin to feel, you guessed it, awesome.
