Appreciate that life is made up of moments...
We tend to think of life as the passage of days, weeks, years or decades. The passage of time is not what is important. The small things will be moments that you remember and reflect on later in life. These moments consist of things like:
- Listening to your children giggle.
- A fun evening with your friends.
- The feeling you get when you make your parents proud.
- Doing something kind for a stranger.
- The joy of learning something new.
If you neglect to find happiness in the little things in life, what do you have left? You are left with the daily struggles, the disasters that hit you when you least expect it and overall disappointment. Who has time for that?
Appreciating the little things in life involves focusing our thoughts and attention on what is pleasurable, nurturing and sustaining. The mind is a powerful thing. Focusing attention on the negative, annoying, frustrating and hurtful events only bring you down emotionally.
We need to prioritize gratitude for those everyday things that are easy to take for granted. Adopting this outlook won’t stop negative events from happening, but it may help prevent us from over emphasizing the importance.
What can you do to help appreciate the little things in life??
1. Keep a gratitude journal - take a few minutes each day to list 1-3 things for which you are grateful. Think creatively...this could be little things like a text from a friend, a warm meal, a smile from a stranger, hearing a joke that made you laugh or the unconditional love of a pet.
2. Slow down and savor - enter as fully as you can into each experience. Notice the details and share the experience with others. This helps promote positivity to all of those around you.
3. Celebrate every moment - we are generally good at marking the big moments in our life (birthdays, weddings, graduations and holidays), but we need to take the time to celebrate everyday moments.
Don’t shrug your shoulders and conclude that, “today is just a bad day”. Even a bad experience has a valuable moment wrapped up inside it. You just have you dig a little deeper to discover it.
Take a moment to be thankful for what you have done. The constant barrage to “do more, get more, be more” negates all the things you have accomplished and the person you have become. Never allow yourself to feel deprived, less than or not good enough.
Be the good you want to see in the world. Take time to appreciate the small victories. Value every single day. Be your own best friend.