Small Gifts Everywhere (or don’t kick the gremlins)

I have a vivid and active imagination that is often hard at work making sense of the world, both seen and unseen. Sometimes the sense I make of the world is nonsense. And that’s okay with me.

I am 51 years old and yet I still believe in “imaginary” beings – fairies, gnomes and gremlins to be specific. And today I am here to share my gremlin theory.

Often in life, we are given tiny gifts — finding just what we need right when we need it, fleeting moments of beauty, sweet surprises. There are other times when the gremlins hide our keys in the freezer or move the coffee table just a quarter of an inch; just enough for us to stub a toe.

My theory is this — if we get angry when the gremlins mess with us, and if we neglect to notice the small small gifts in life, the gremlins get their feelings hurt. (I mean really, who doesn’t get their feelings hurt when their gifts are underappreciated or even ignored?) And when the gremlins get their feelings hurt they get grumpy and redouble their trickster efforts.

Now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t get mad. I want all of us to be deeply human. Getting upset, angry and mad is part of being human; these are very important tools in our chests of resources. They keep us safe and point out what isn’t right, what could be changed.

But when your book falls between the wall and the bed, in the hardest possible place to reach, when you are all sleepy and ready to dive back into the journeys that are unfolding from those pages . . . when that book falls, that is the work of the gremlins.

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So here’s the most important piece of my gremlin theory . . . When the gremlins play tricks on us, tricks that frustrate us and even make us mad, they are actually giving us small, hard-to-see gifts. 

So, when they do something that frustrates me, I allow myself to be upset but I also take a step back and say thank you; even though I don’t understand how stubbing my toe could be a gift.

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So, when the Gremlins do something that makes you mad, don’t kick them. Instead give them a little scratch behind the ear (if they’re amenable, of course) and say, “thank you, sir. how are your wife and family?”

Because everyone deserves love, even (especially) gremlins. 

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Image courtesy of Shapka Sushami.

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