The little pleasures in life… Sometimes we are so caught up in, who knows what, that we forget about them.
This morning I was sitting in the living room, waiting to take my boyfriend’s daughter to school, thinking to myself, well what can I do right now? I have about 30 minutes, let me be productive. I thought, maybe a podcast, read some of my book, or perhaps make a list. (I love lists, especially brain dumps!) And then it hit me. Or looked at me to be more precise. Why not cuddle with the dogs? Pet them, love on them, just be in the sheer joy of being with them. So I did. And it just made the feeling of my morning meditation expand that much more. To just be in the vibration of love. Ahhh, peaceful, renewing, everything we are always looking for.
So why did I feel like I needed to fill the time with something productive? Default setting. I was hard-wired to make the most of every moment. I grew up thinking people that were close to me were unproductive when they just chilled out and my father added to that by having to fill every minute. (We will never know, but I’m pretty sure he had ADD, not that we realized it at the time, lol.) Fast forward many years and I have intentionally tried to live my life as chilled out and relaxed as possible. Taking as many small moments and little pleasures as possible. And funny enough, I’ve had spouses and close friends comment on how little I’m doing. Ha! Makes me laugh because I see how stressed they are and how low my blood pressure is.
For many years I suffered from massive anxiety. I’d freak myself out just with my worry thoughts and what if’s. Then one day I decided to flip the scripts on my what if’s and go down the path of positive what if’s. Life has never been the same. And to be honest, it wasn’t easy to retrain my brain, but it was totally worth it. I digress. I surrounded myself with some very distracted people in my life. And I soon realized, through my constant irritation with them, that I was attracting them because I was distracted myself. You see, I realized that worry and guilt, and anxiety were actually ways to distract me from the present moment. (Thanks to many years of studying mindfulness.)
The breakthrough was when I dated a guy who would literally stop in the middle of a little pleasure moment in life to document it for FB. He did this all the time. But this time, instead of yelling at him, which took me right out of my moment of joy, I just said F it, let him miss it, I’m staying here. And as I contemplated it over the following days, I started to see how I was distracting myself and actually missing out on a lot of little pleasures. Every time I became irritated, worried, stressed, etc. I was missing my own moments of joy. Now don’t get me wrong, I scheduled in moments to take part in the little pleasures in life, but I wasn’t letting them happen organically. A good example would be if I was running late, but there was a beautiful rainbow. I’d notice it, comment to myself, and hurry on my way. But I’m already late. What is pausing for a minute and taking in nature’s beauty going to hurt? It will really only enhance my day and my experience.
We are surrounded by life’s little pleasures. In petting a dog, laughing with a friend, watching a bird, and the list goes on. These little things are what make up the joy of our life. The more we give time over to them, the more we are living a joy-filled life. The more joy we cultivate, the more we emit and the more we attract. It only gets better. If you haven’t been allowing yourself time to enjoy the little pleasures of life, then schedule some time in. Once you’ve got a rhythm with this, then allow yourself to be in the moment when you catch yourself pausing to do so. It will take a couple of times of you brushing it off, but before you know it, you will be in the flow of your own joyous mini moments of life’s pleasures.
Much love,
Liza Jane Wolf
www.lizajanewolf.com
