As soon as I typed the title of this article I realised something is wrong. There are no small moments. A moment is a moment! There is this moment and then this, and it continues that way throughout our life.
I guess we tend to call very happy events (such as a holiday, a wedding, a birth) or very sad or shocking events (such as a “major failure”, a betrayal, a death) big moments, while all moments in between are so-called small moments. Big or small, perhaps what classifies a moment as big or small are the emotions we attach to what is happening.
I like feeling uplifted and therefore want to create more joy in my life. Can’t sit and wait for big moments to happen! I have noticed I can maximise the joy in my day by doing the following:
1) Bring awareness to the moment. This means acting less on autopilot and instead making time to experience the moment and noticing how it feels.
2) Open for seeing the good in the moment. We can choose to look for the good in all situations or we can choose to not care and think that things are just trivial. Once we make a habit of looking for the good it seems to pop up everywhere. By the way, the same is true if we choose to focus on what’s not working – that will show up everywhere too. We have the power to decide where we place our attention so better stay alert.
3) Appreciate every moment. There is so much to be grateful for! I believe life happens for us instead of to us. Whenever we experience a challenge we can turn it around and choose to see it as an opportunity for growth.
To conclude, here are a few personal examples of so-called small moments that now bring me joy (so you can see how tiny they are…):
- I am throwing away something in the kitchen and there is a lot of space in the bin
- I wake up before my alarm clock rings
- I am doing some grocery shopping and my dog stands still and quiet next to me
- I open my phone and the time shows a fun number, such as 1234, 1313, 1111, 2222 etc
- I am on time to meet someone
- I put my hand into my basket full of groceries and find my keys right away
- The lift is already at my floor
- I sit down to drink a cup of tea and the tea is so hot I know I can enjoy it for a long time
See what I mean? These are moments I make count. No-one knew about them before now, nothing looks different in my life from the outside, and still these brief moments help enrich my day and bring micro joys throughout my waking hours.
Wishing you well, and joy! Annette X
