So I stumbled on this blog from this blog. And I haven’t gotten into a daily reading habit, but I certainly found the prospect of the book interesting. I also love the pictures of people he posts at the end of each post. They always have his book in their hands and share a thought about changes the book has made for them. What a great way to be reminded that folks are out there really reading his books and he’s impacting lives! I also love the idea behind his thinking. Each day is made up of little moments. Small things. I read on there that even the big things like week long vacations to exotic places are made up and made special by the little things…like brilliant sunsets…or the sand in your toes. I fully intend to purchase this book and teach myself to spend more time looking at the little things in my every day that make it awesome! I’ve even thought about incorporating a piece of this into my Thankful Thursday blog.
As an aside…I’ve done a lot of thinking lately about happiness and life in general. Some things that have happened in the past year and a half have made me see things a little more clearly. While others have muddied the waters. Regardless, I feel a strong assuredness that God is teaching me a lesson of humility and patience through the situations I’ve been moving through. Each situation has helped to shape and smooth me into someone new or the same me, just with a new perspective. It’s hard for me to wrap up into one simple idea all the jumbles of thoughts that have come to me lately. I sort of feel like I’m this canister of puzzle pieces. I am taking all my life experiences as of late and mixing it up with all the things out there I’ve heard/read/see/feel about happiness and living life to the fullest. Right now they feel like they are shaken up. But every once in awhile as I get a grasp on what I’m trying to understand or see, I’ll dump a few out and I find a puzzle piece that matches. And so part of the picture that was fuzzy and jumbled, becomes clear.
I think I see that happening now, with this awesome things idea and the idea that happiness is something you cultivate in your own life. B/c a lot of what I read about happiness says that you can find it whenever you want to and it mostly takes work to do so. Happiness doesn’t just happen. It’s in the moments you make. The time you spend. The things you do. So a lot of my thoughts about this whole concept have circled back around to me. To my life. What I’m doing with my every day. How I spend my moments. I know I used to be one of those people who dreaded the morning. It meant another work day. Another busy crazy run around day. It meant a possible traffic jam and the list goes on and on and on. But I’ve learned over the past few months that life is short. Very short and you never know how one phone call can change your world in an instant. I've also learned that rolling with the punches is always better than going against the flow. Having plans is the way I like to live my life. I like to know what's coming next. I like to fill up our time with adventure and fun and family. But it's not required for life to keep moving in any direction. Plans change, life changes. And those changes can be hard and out of your control. But, you can't let that stop you from seeing the amazing things around you. The things that make life worth living...even if life isn't how you planned at that very moment. And this 1000 awesome things idea helped solidify the life lessons I’ve been learning over the past several months. It helped me be better at finding the wonderful moments in the everyday. And I realized in the simple act of changing the way I look at things…I am happier. It actually makes me a lot happier than I ever imagined.
Some of my little moments could include:
That morning drink stop with my hubby and those 2 extra minutes to chat about our drive, our day or joke around, to remind each other to be careful and that say I love you….
That new CD in the CD player or the song lyrics that hit you just right even though you’ve heard the song 100 times.
When I ask Owen for a kiss and he’s finally to an age where he’ll give me one. Those chubby little legs that come toddling and those lips poked out to me melt my heart.
The list could go on and on…my days are filled with these moments. And those make it easier to overlook a crappy morning, a father-in-law suffering from cancer, a sudden death in your family, watching those you love struggle with the loss of a child, or a friend at work loose a mother to a year and half long battle with cancer. I've found that finding them is essential to me being able to keep moving forward in the face of so much crap going on all around me. It helps me see all the wonderful and remember why the heck we are all here to begin with.
I’d love to hear from someone out there reading. How do you spend your moments? The big ones? The little ones? Do you anticipate each wake up as a fresh start? Do you drink in the peaceful moments you spend waiting in traffic? Do you think about the last thing to say to someone before you hang up the phone? Does any of this even make any sense? Or am I just rambling away on my own little tangent that makes no sense to anyone?? Probably some of both…but I’d love to hear from you anyway!
Thanks for reading!
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