The Little Things

“The simple pleasures of life give us lasting satisfaction.”
― Avijeet Das

My morning cup of coffee and orange juice. How alert and strong my mind and body feel when I step off the elliptical machine after a work-out. The woman making my sandwich calling me “sweetheart.” Perusing my favorite store without buying anything. Everything Christmas. An unexpected gift. An uplifting song coming on the radio.

Life is full of simple, understated pleasures and moments. Pleasures so small that you might miss them if you’re not paying attention. However, I’ve found (and many wise men and women similarly agree) that life is lived not in the big moments, but the little ones. Big moments of joy are wonderful: the birth of a child, a promotion, a wedding, but think about how frequently these occur in any given person’s life. Those moments are extraordinary and by definition don’t take place every day.

An extraordinary moment I am pining and longing for is finding my husband. I’ve been in love before and know just how incredible it is and want that in my life again. However, I can’t sit around waiting for my life to begin (to be fair I’ve watched A LOT of Disney princesses do just that!) once I meet him. I’ve got to enjoy my life as much as I can while I’m single which means savoring the small, everyday pleasures.

Many of us live with the mentality that we are waiting on something or someone for our lives to begin. I’ll be happy when I meet someone, have a child, get a promotion, buy a house, etc. The bitter truth is that none of these things will give us permanent and lasting happiness. Sure, you’ll be temporarily over the moon with bliss, but that feeling will dissipate. You’ll then set your sights on the next great thing that will make you happy.

Life is too short to let the small pleasures at our fingertips everyday pass us by as we expect the big blessings. God wants us to live full of joy and gratitude everyday, not just during major life events.

I can’t think of any better time of the year to focus on the little pleasures than Christmas. Who doesn’t love Christmas- the decorations, the cheer, the music, family, food, presents. It really is the most wonderful time of the year. However, Christmas is just one day of the year or 1/365 of a person’s life. That’s a tiny fraction. If you decided to only enjoy yourself at Christmas, you’d miss out on the majority of your life. And sure, the rest of the year isn’t quite as magical as Christmas, but it certainly is worth living and savoring. Just because it isn’t grandiose and big like Christmas doesn’t make it any less meaningful.

What am I saying? Enjoy the little things. Savor everyday pleasures. Hope for the big events, but don’t let them be the sole source of your happiness. Joy is found in that warm blueberry muffin, the stranger holding open the door, or watching a funny movie.

Life is too short and precious to miss the wonderful blessings right at our fingertips.