‘If You Have a Toilet, You Are Richer Than You Think’
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” (Melody Beattie)
Years ago, I read something that has never left me. If you have a toilet in your home, you are more fortunate than a huge slice of the world. I couldn’t remember the exact figure, so I went and checked it. There are around 8.3 billion of us on the planet today, and more than four in every ten, roughly 3.5 billion people, don’t have access to a safe, private toilet (World Health Organization and UNICEF, 2024). That leaves only about 4.8 billion of us who do. If you have a toilet, you are quietly among the more fortunate half of this planet, even if you are struggling in any way.
Sit with that for a second. The humble toilet, the one we grumble about having to clean, the one we barely give a thought, is a daily luxury that billions of people would consider a dream. And that is only the beginning of the riches most of us are sitting on without ever noticing.
The Wealth We Walk Past Every Day
Think about your ordinary morning. You turned a tap and clean water comes out, and you didn’t have to walk kilometres to collect it. You opened a fridge with food in it, flicked a switch and light turned on. You slept in a bed, under a roof, behind a door that locks. For most of human history, and for a great many people still today, each of those things would be considered true abundance. We simply stopped seeing them that way.
Picture a TV sitting out on the street, waiting for the council to come and take it away. Someone once saw that TV online or in a store, did the research, and couldn’t wait to purchase it, get it out of the box into their home. After a while they stopped seeing its beauty, and started looking for the next big one with more features. And so the cycle starts again.
None of this is about guilt, and it is certainly not about feeling sorry for anyone. It is about opening our eyes. There is so much good already here, woven quietly through an average day, and most of us walk straight past it on our way to worry about what is missing.
When Did We Stop Noticing?
Our minds are brilliant at one thing in particular, getting used to things. The first time we get something new, a home, car, comfort, it lights us up inside. Give it a few weeks and it quietly becomes the new normal, invisible and expected. There is a reason for this wired deep into us, and it runs the show silently within us. It is why we can have so much and still feel like we are lacking. The mind is always scanning for the next thing, rarely pausing on the full cup already in our hands.
This is the difference between living in ‘The Tip’ and living in ‘The Garden.’ ‘The Tip’ fixates on what is wrong and what is missing. ‘The Garden’ notices what is already here and alive. Gratitude is the water that keeps ‘The Garden’ green, and the beautiful part is that it costs nothing and is available in any moment you choose it.
Gratitude Is Not About Looking Down
Being grateful for what you have is not about comparing yourself to those who have less and feeling relieved or feeling sorry for them. That is not gratitude, it is pity dressed up, and it keeps everyone small. Real gratitude lifts us all. When you truly value what you have, you tend to hold it a little more lightly, share it more freely, and treat the people around you with more warmth. Appreciation and generosity grow from the very same soil.
A Small Practice
So here is a gentle experiment for the week. Once a day, pause and name three ordinary things you would genuinely miss if they were gone. The hot shower, cup of tea or coffee. The person who texts to check on you. The toilet at home or at work. You are not pretending life is perfect. You are simply training your eyes and mind to find the good that is already there.
A Question to Sit With
As you move through this week, carry one gentle question with you:
‘What have I been treating as ordinary that is actually a quiet gift?’
The moment you start counting what you have, you begin to realise you were wealthy all along. Not in the way the world likes to measure it, in the way that actually makes your life feel full.
Have a great week,
Michael
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