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At a time when the world seems divided on so many things, how bout we all come together and find common ground. And what better place to start than our widely shared love for the Oreo Cookie. It’s hard to disagree. The Oreo Cookie is one fantastic cookie! It is, in fact, the world’s most popular cookie. More than 40 billion produced, sold, and consumed each year. And while the Oreo may be of questionable nutritional value, there is a certain comfort and for many of us fond memories in the good times we associate with eating an Oreo.
Have you ever come home after a long day or even a long week, reached into your pantry or fridge and enjoyed a little treat that helps take your mind off of everything? Or better yet, that makes you appreciate the little things we work for that bring us joy? With all that’s going on in the world and in our own lives, sometimes it’s truly the smallest things that bring the biggest smiles to our face.
I was recently traveling for business and had an intense couple of days when I came across a pack of Oreos while checking out of the grocery store. It’d been a while since I had one of the world’s most famous cookies but as soon as I saw them, they immediately brightened my mood. And so, I bought them, brought them home, poured myself a glass of milk and proceeded to dunk a few one-by-one as is protocol. The flood of memories that immediately came to mind was incredible. But what was even more incredible was how quickly taking a moment to appreciate something as small as an Oreo cookie and a glass of milk could change my whole state of mind.
The truth is most of us don’t take time every day to enjoy the small things in life when they happen. We tend to only do it once they’ve happened, myself included. The famed writer Kurt Vonnegut once said, “Enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.” When we choose to glance over the little things in the moment, we’re also missing out on enjoying experiences that actually take up the majority of our lives. Now, enjoying an Oreo isn’t a ‘big thing’ in comparison to life’s truly big events like a graduation or a marriage, but in difficult moments, appreciating something as simple as our favorite cookie can remind us of how important the little things are in our lives. Or better yet, it can give us renewed appreciation for the things we tend to take for granted.
A friend once shared with me that sadness often comes from being stuck in the past, anxiety comes from too much concern for the future, but peace can be found by living in the present. So, if we’ve had a tough day, week, or even month, the best we can do is to take pause along with an Oreo and a glass of milk and remind ourselves there’s always something to be grateful for. This reminds me of another quote by the author and speaker David Steindl-Rast from one of his recent TED talks.
“We have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful: for having good weather, to have slept well last night, to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat. . . There’s opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful; that’s what life is.”
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