Owning Happiness

It seems like i'm able to sit in my feelings when they are negative. Stewing. Replaying. Should haves. Would haves. What ifs. But the positive feelings are much more fleeting. Excited about an opportunity? Great, now let the stress creep in. Having a happy moment? Great, now remember how the world is burning. So I'm stopping and taking stock. I am acknowledging my happiness and joy by writing it down. Not only that - i'm actively looking for the moments that make me smile.

Perfect example: Peanut Butter.

The peanut butter fell out on me. I went to the kitchen to decide my breakfast, and when I opened the fridge, expecting to stand there for a while, the peanut butter flung itself at me. Yes - we need to clean out our fridge. Yes, I quickly thought, who put this away? (Probably me). But as I took a second to pick it up, a slight smile "huh, actually, I want peanut butter and apple today." And usually I would just keep moving on. Get out the apple, knife, cutting board. But not today, I picked it up and took two seconds to embrace the smile. Embrace the joy. Awesome! Let's enjoy the fact that it all just came together.

So that's what I'm doing. I'm embracing the joy and allowing myself to sit longer with a smile. To take a full 30 seconds to look at my beautiful flowers, rather than just a glimpse while in between news stories.

It's so easy for us to get caught up in the pain of our current situation. We need to get caught up in the fleeting happiness. It might feel awkward at first. Like the hug that is just 10 seconds too long. Dude...time to back off. But with practice we can all spend some time enjoying the little things in a more meaningful and major way.