‘If You Have a Toilet, You Are Richer Than You Think’

If you have a toilet at home, you are richer than you think.

Many years ago, I read this, and I finally went and checked the real number. Of the roughly 8.3 billion of us on the planet, more than four in every ten, around 3.5 billion people, do not have a safe, private toilet. Only about 4.8 billion of us do. If you have one, you are quietly among the more fortunate half of the planet. The humble toilet we grumble about cleaning is a daily luxury billions don’t have.

This morning you turned a tap and clean water came out. You opened a fridge with food in it. You flicked a switch and light appeared. Slept in a bed, under a roof, behind a door that locks. For most of human history that was pure abundance. We simply stopped seeing it.

This is not about guilt, and it is not about feeling sorry for anyone. Real gratitude is not looking down at those who have less and feeling relieved. It is opening your eyes to how much good is already woven through an ordinary day and letting that warm you.

Our minds get used to everything. The new quickly becomes invisible, and we keep chasing what is missing while the full cup sits right in our hands. Gratitude is simply choosing to notice the cup.

So today, name three ordinary things you would truly miss if they were gone. The hot shower. The cup of tea. The toilet down the hall. You are not pretending life is perfect. You are training your eyes and mind to find the good.

What have you been treating as ordinary that is actually a quiet gift?