2024 November 19 Recognize the Commonplace

I'm Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website about reimagining your life. Sometimes that means doing things differently than first planned. Our topic for tonight is recognizing the commonplace things that happen in our lives, and it's something that we tend to overlook a lot.

Let’s talk about something simple but transformative: finding ways to make life more satisfying without a lot of effort. Often, it comes down to mindfulness—being present and appreciating what we have instead of envying what we don’t. It’s amazing how much that shift in perspective can improve your daily outlook.

For example, right now, I’m in an area where even basic things like cell service are considered a luxury. When I travel outside the US, it always strikes me how much we take for granted—things that are far less common in other parts of the world. The truth is, when things break or stop working, it’s not a catastrophe in those places; it’s just a part of life. They expect it, and they adapt.

Here, we often react with frustration. If your cell phone connection gets spotty, it’s easy to think, How can this not be working? But in much of the world, reliable service isn’t the norm. For instance, my phone—a Google Pixel—is clearly designed for places with strong, consistent connectivity. It assumes a perfect environment: unlimited bandwidth, and constant service. But that ideal doesn’t match reality in large parts of the Midwest, much less other countries.

Instead of focusing on what’s not working, try flipping the script. Recognize how remarkable it is that it works most of the time. Those moments of inconvenience? They’re just small interruptions in what’s otherwise a pretty amazing system. Adopting that mindset can help you let go of frustration and see the bigger picture of how fortunate we really are. It ties into a lot of the things we're going to talk about tonight. 

Where I am right now, cash is absolutely king. It’s a cash-based society for almost everything except the big transactions. Credit cards? Pretty much useless in most stores. And I don’t mean just at little sidewalk stands—plastic doesn’t fly even in a lot of regular shops. Compare that to the US, where even street vendors are taking cards now. It’s actually rare to find a place where you can’t use one. Here? It’s the opposite—it’s rare if you can.

It’s one of those things we take for granted. You don’t even think about it. But a lot of the world doesn’t have that convenience. Sure, in places like India, there are some phone-based payment systems, but huge areas don’t have anything close to what we’re used to. We get annoyed when things don’t work flawlessly. Like, How dare this super complex system fail me? Meanwhile, for other people, just having that option would be a miracle.

This brings me to something else: banking. I’ve mentioned this before, but here—and even in parts of the US—a lot of people are either underbanked or completely unbanked. In the US, underbanked might mean you have a basic checking account to cash paychecks, but you don’t keep money in it or use it for bills. Unbanked means no bank account at all. Yet, in my job, which is with a medium-sized company, all paychecks are electronic. There’s no other option. You have to have a bank account.

And what about internet access? Many people might have a smartphone or a simple connection, but they can’t fully utilize it. Paying bills, scheduling appointments—these things assume you have reliable internet and know how to navigate online systems. I was scheduling some doctor’s appointments recently, and it hit me how much we rely on technology for even the most basic things. There’s no alternative. It’s: Press this to schedule your appointment, and boom, you’re expected to figure it out on your phone or computer.

We’ve moved past even thinking about these things. It’s just normal now. But not everyone has access, and many are nowhere near having access. So, how do we start appreciating these everyday miracles? That’s where mindfulness comes in.

You can’t be mindful of everything, of course. A lot of life happens on autopilot. But even then, there are moments when it’s worth pausing to reflect. Think about the last amazing thing you did without a second thought. Maybe you placed a mobile order, rushed to the counter, said, I’m number 26, swiped your card, and left. That whole process was incredible!

The data for your order traveled through countless systems, networks, and applications, involving hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure. And if something went wrong? You’d be furious. But what if, instead, you thought, Wow, that’s incredible—it actually worked.

If we recognized the little miracles in our lives, we’d be a lot happier. That’s the point: being aware of the everyday things we take for granted and realizing just how amazing they are.

That’s five minutes back in your day to do something you actually want or need to do. That’s incredible when you think about it. So instead of losing your mind every time you drop a call or lose cell service, how about appreciating the fact that it works 95, 98, maybe even 99 percent of the time? It’s not perfect, sure, but it’s pretty solid.

And this idea extends beyond cell service. People love to criticize big companies—take energy companies, for instance. Yes, they’ve made mistakes, and no, they’re not saints. But the truth is, for decades, we’ve had access to incredibly cheap fuel. Gas prices in the US? People in most other countries wouldn’t believe how low they are. Are there a few places with cheaper gas? Sure, but in most of the world, fuel, diesel, oil—it’s all way more expensive.

That low-cost energy has enabled us to live with a level of freedom and convenience that’s practically unheard of elsewhere. It’s something we barely think about, and yet it’s shaped our entire lifestyle. Instead of railing against the imperfections, maybe we ought to take a step back and recognize what we’ve had.

And then there’s how we treat each other. If someone screws up—maybe they cut you off in traffic or make a dumb mistake—and then they turn around and say, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking, how do we react? Too often these days, even after the apology, people blow up, chew them out, and let them know exactly how stupid they were.

What happened to just taking a breath and saying, You know what? I’ve had those days too. No harm done, glad everything’s okay. Have a good one. Life goes on. Mistakes happen—they’re not always intentional, and most of the time, they’re not personal.

It feels like we’ve forgotten how to be tolerant, how to roll with the small inconveniences and misunderstandings of life. Nobody’s perfect. We all mess up. So why not focus on what’s working, appreciate the good things we have, and extend a little grace to the people around us? Life would feel a whole lot better if we did. Show a little grace, extend a little mercy, and maybe—just maybe—you’ll make the world a better place, one small action at a time. It’s simple but profound. 

When we talk about bigger issues, like politics and national policies not going the way you’d hoped, it’s worth remembering the foundation we’re working within: a constitutional republic. That’s right, it’s not a democracy—never has been. And hopefully, it never will be. A constitutional republic respects the rights of both the winners and the losers. Unfortunately, this principle seems to have been lost in recent years. Too often, the attitude is, We won by a tiny margin, so now we get to do whatever we want. But that’s not how our system is supposed to work.

Victory doesn’t mean it’s time to bulldoze the other side. It’s about tolerance, whether you win or lose. Yes, you keep fighting for what you believe in, but through civil discourse and meaningful discussion—not a winner-take-all mentality. That’s the beauty of the system we have, even as parts of it feel strained today.

When you compare this to other parts of the world, it becomes even more remarkable. Many countries, even those with democratic systems, have begun slipping toward authoritarianism or socialism. Just recently, in a few nations, election losers were rounded up and imprisoned. Think about that.

Here, we have safeguards that ensure peaceful transitions, free elections, and open access to government processes. In some places, even nearby countries, those basic rights are slipping away. For instance, in New York, there are strict laws ensuring that community meetings are accessible and transparent to the public. That’s not something you find everywhere. In many parts of the world, you can’t just walk into a local government office, voice a concern, and expect to be heard.

And yet, here, it’s possible. That access, that transparency—it’s extraordinary when you stop and think about it. But because we’ve lived with it for so long, we often overlook it.

Beyond governance, it’s also about the everyday interactions that reflect honesty, courtesy, and a willingness to help a neighbor. Those small things matter, and they’re not universal. A friend of mine, for example, had his car broken into in California while he was inside a Starbucks for less than three minutes. His belongings were stolen, and it was treated almost like a normal occurrence. That’s not the norm across most of the country, and it’s something we can—and should—work to preserve.

When we let these little things slip—when we stop calling out bad behavior or forget the value of mutual respect—it’s a steep hill to climb back up. So maybe it’s time we start being mindful of what we have. From something as simple as being able to buy coffee safely with a card, to knowing your voice can be heard in local government, we are surrounded by small privileges that make life better.

And here’s the thing—when you focus on those positives, something remarkable happens. Instead of being annoyed about a forgotten wallet or a minor inconvenience, you realize how many things are actually working in your favor.

You can choose to dwell on the negatives, or you can shift your perspective and appreciate what’s good. The decision is entirely yours. But I encourage you to recognize the little things, appreciate the good around you, and acknowledge the common ground we all share.

It’s not about those people or these people—it’s about us. We have so much in common, so much more to celebrate than to divide us. When you start living in that mindset, respecting yourself and others, you might just find that happiness isn’t as far away as you thought.

That's it for the evening. Thank you so much. Your homework (if you want to do it) is to pick a few things that happened to you in the course of your day. Think about them and look for signs of how fortunate and amazing things are. We live in a world of wonderful circumstances that not everybody enjoys. Try to be happy. The first thing to be happy about is I can pick up the cell phone and call you. 

There are so many things that happen in our lives. Each one of them is amazing. The most important thing I want to make a point of is that every time I travel, it always comes back to me that life truly is good. Where we live, in the United States, is not just good. It's just amazingly awesome. It's high time we start recognizing and respecting that. 

Thank you for listening. If you liked what you heard tonight, please Leave a like, hit subscribe. If you have any questions, drop me a note. 

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One of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others. It changes your perspective from looking inside, often in a negative fashion, to looking outside at all the amazing things that are around us, and all the amazing ways in which we can make the world a little bit better. Take a look around you. If you can make a donation, that's wonderful. Even just a little word of kindness can change somebody's life in amazing ways. 

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