Our everyday experience
It’s Jan 1 and while many of us are happy to put 2021 behind us, it’s also difficult to generate a lot of hope for the year ahead. What unexpected su,rprises might 2022 bring forth?
We’ve lived our lives celebrating New Years with anticipation and hope, certain that the year ahead will be happy, meaningful, a year of wisdom, a new job, a wedding or some other positive possibility. It’s difficult, however, to feel heightened expectation after 22 months of a pandemic that seems to have no end, at a time when close to a thousand homes were destroyed in a few short hours to a Colorado winter wildfire and swathes of Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee were flattened by tornado.
We’re exhausted, bone weary, ready to get on with life and back to friends and family, movie theaters, parties! Our brain tells us, enough! Our heart yearns for the known and the active and the just plain fun even while scientists are telling us that the current strain is the most contagious. What are we to do?
Enjoy our every day! We can’t let one single day get by without making certain there are moments where we smile within and think, aah, that was good. Our daily experience is no less important than the food we eat to sustain our bodies. And, yes, my body has been a little more generously nourished over the couple of pandemic years, the result of savoring a tasty morsel or two.
But there is so much more to our everyday experience. We live on the extraordinarily beautiful planet Earth under the magnificence of the daytime sun and clouds and the nighttime moon and stars. Trees, flowers, lakes and oceans, the world is gorgeous and populating this amazing scene are animals, people and to get right to it, those who are most important in our lives. Notice the things and the beings that are beautiful in your life, experience that sense of joy at what is most pleasing in your life.
At the same time, remember to be grateful. Whether living a life of health or physical challenge, bounty or thrift, there are always reasons to be thankful. Most remarkable, counting all the things for which we are grateful is healthy! Who’d have thought, but study after study shows the powerful health effects of the daily recounting of all that is good in our lives.
Then there is humor! Laughter lightens our heart, it eases our worries, it brings a smile to our face and sets off pleasant pulses in our brain. It may be as corny as Kansas or as silly as knock knock jokes. Could be you are a punster, could be you aren’t great at telling a funny story but love to listen, whatever makes you laugh is what will contribute to a lark of a moment in your day.
Even the things that are repetitive, the things we do every single day are a source of good moments, but we must practice noticing and acknowledging them. Making your children’s favorite breakfast, a check-in call with a sick friend, even watering a plant and spotting a leaf about to sprout. Many things lift our heart, noticing them and appreciating them each and every day makes the difference.
Here’s to a terrific 2022 for you and yours. May the practice of enjoying each and every day contribute to your well-being throughout the year.
By Polly Jensen | Posted 1.1.2022
In: Attitude, Habits, Happiness