Remembering that life itself is the win
“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones.”
—Richard Dawkins
The Default Win We Forget
If you’re reading this, you’ve already won.
You’ve already beaten the cosmic odds to exist as a conscious, breathing human being on this improbable planet.
Out of all the stardust and lifeless rock scattered across the universe, you get a ticket to ride. You get to taste, to feel, to wonder, to choose. You’ve been given the jackpot of jackpots: human life.
And yet—most days we don’t feel like winners.
We feel stressed, distracted, dissatisfied, even cheated. Bills pile up. Deadlines loom. Expectations weigh heavy.
We look at what’s missing rather than what’s present.
We forget that before any of those pressures existed, we’d already received the greatest prize there is: the chance to live at all.
Why Baseline Gratitude Matters
Baseline gratitude is the kind of gratitude that doesn’t depend on circumstances.
It’s not about being thankful for a good grade, a kind word, or a raise at work—though those things are nice. It’s about remembering that even before those things, before achievements or failures, before comparison or striving, we are already standing on an unimaginably lucky foundation: we exist.
Think about it: the default state of the universe is nonexistence. Rocks don’t care. Stars don’t savor. Trees don’t ask themselves whether they’re making the most of their day. But you—you get to wake up inside a human mind. You get to be aware. You get to appreciate.
That’s not nothing. That’s everything.
The Trap of Forgetting
But we don’t usually live this way. Why?
Because familiarity dulls us. Richard Dawkins called it the “anesthetic of soporific familiarity.” Life becomes ordinary, not miraculous. Existence becomes expected, not astonishing.
We slip into autopilot. We scroll. We complain. We build expectations so high that we forget the baseline gift underneath it all.
And when life doesn’t meet our expectations—when things are difficult, slow, or disappointing—we feel as though the whole point of being alive has failed us.
But the point hasn’t failed. We’ve just lost sight of it.
We’ve forgotten that being here at all is already the win.
Mortality as a Teacher
One of the quickest ways to recover baseline gratitude is to remember mortality. Not in a morbid way, but in a clarifying way.
You are going to die. So am I.
That truth sounds heavy, but in fact, it lightens. Because every moment between now and that end is surplus, bonus time, gravy.
The awareness that life is temporary reveals life as precious.
If you knew you had only an hour left, would you argue about your inbox? Would you curse traffic? Or would you look at the sky, call someone you love, notice the miracle of your breath?
Mortality awareness teaches us that gratitude for existence itself is always available—always waiting at the baseline, beneath whatever difficulties pile on top.
Practicing Baseline Gratitude
How do we remember the jackpot when we forget? Here are a few simple ways:
- Morning reset: Before reaching for your phone, say to yourself: I woke up. I’m alive. That’s a win.
- Graveyard walk: Take a literal or metaphorical walk among the reminders of mortality. Let them sharpen your awareness of being here now.
- Micro-moments: Notice something so small it usually escapes your attention—the sensation of warm water on your skin, the color of light on a wall, the sound of your own breath. Treat it as evidence of your good fortune.
- Baseline mantra: Whisper to yourself, “Compared to not existing, this is a gift.”
These aren’t about denying hardship or pretending life is always easy. They’re about building a habit of remembering the foundation beneath it all.
Why It Matters
When you live with baseline gratitude, something shifts. You stop demanding that life justify itself every minute. You stop holding your existence hostage to whether or not your expectations get met. You start from the recognition that just being alive is already miraculous.
And from there, every other win—every friendship, every taste, every laugh, every small step forward—is not owed to you. It’s a bonus. It’s a win.
Final Thought
Imagine someone handed you a priceless diamond—then you complained because it had a smudge. That’s what happens when we forget baseline gratitude.
Life itself is the diamond. The smudges, scratches, and imperfections are real—but they don’t erase the jewel in your hand.
So let’s remember. We’ve already won.
For more like this, visit the broader project at life-savor.com, or explore the Life Savor book itself.
To learn more about Life Savor’s philosophy,
read Life Savor: Treasuring Our Gift of Life by Erik Victor Reed.
