Taking things for granted is wrong (#698)

if there is one thing I know for sure it is this. I have joy and happiness within me. All I have to do to get it out is stop taking things for granted. When I do not have any expectations, my life is full of appreciation for things that help me in my life. Before, when I did take things for granted, I found that I was angry and made some of those around me feel inadequate. The cumulative effect of me expecting things in my life, on those who cared for me, began to disintegrate our relationships. I was blinded to the fact that my expectations on others was selfish. Even worse was the fact that I did not portray the same respect back to them I expected from them. I really was a selfish ego-driven demigod in my own mind. After having lost some relationships it began to occur to me that no one worth having in my life wants to be in a one-sided relationship. At times we need to receive and at times we need to give. It is just how we are. My own specialness began to deteriorate in front of me when I saw how callous my actions were and what effect they had on others. I have always been a good and kind person but somehow, someway I got lost to who I was and became something unrecognizable to those who really knew me. I have since found my way beck to me and since then I have come to practice one really simple thought, do not take anything for granted. All of life is a gift and nothing is deserved more by one over another without putting in the effort to achieve it. I have also learned the tremendous power of humility. It is almost a reverence that I live my life by now, doing for the sake of doing because it helps in my giving and through giving I also receive something of far more worthy in value, my joy and happiness.