Wellness Wednesday: Notice the Small Things
On cups of coffee and the sound of birds in the morning
In life, most of us focus on the big things. We want a fancy car, stunning spouse and rock-hard abs. We lose ourselves in our pursuit of the seemingly great and noble pleasures the world has to offer. Ironically, in our quest for the fanciful, we forget about the small, modest pleasures of everyday life.
The warmth of a cup of coffee goes unnoticed because we’re far too busy thinking about that promotion we’re working towards. We ignore the pleasant melody of birdsong early in the morning as we rush to make it to the office on time. We become indifferent to the comforting warmth of our bedsheets, complaining about our inability to sleep.
In essence, we become less mindful and more stressful. Less in tune with our surroundings and more wrapped up in our own thoughts and emotions.
One of the simplest wellness tricks we can all start using immediately is to make an effort to notice those simple pleasures more often rather than stressing about the big stuff. In all their humility, they can bring us tremendous amounts of joy. Here are a few to get you started:
House plants
The smell of new books
Kisses
Summer nights
Blueberry muffins
A hot bath
Coffee
Sunday mornings
Being by the sea
Grandmothers
Unexpected acts of kindness
Candles
Your favorite shirt
Laughing until you cry
Perfectly-toasted bread
As you go about your daily business, remind yourself to notice a few of these simple pleasures. Perhaps you’ll enjoy making a separate list of your own.
And, the next time you find yourself feeling stressed or anxious, root your awareness in those comforting joys, disconnecting from your thoughts and reconnecting with reality.
Wellness Wednesdays: Creativity isn’t all about working hard. To continue producing meaningful content and moving forward, we have to look after ourselves. We have to keep our mind and body sharp. That’s what Wellness Wednesday is all about.
Photo by Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash