Savor the Moments
The nature of living is that we are always changing. For example, let’s focus for a moment on the change of seasons. As with most change, these shifts take time and can be rocky. When the shift is from winter to spring, for example, trees start budding, flowers push up, and then, BAM, a snowstorm. When the shift is from spring to summer, cold and rainy days intermingle with unpleasantly hot, dry days and also warm, breezy days perfect for the beach. Fall can morph into winter with a barrage of both warm, sunny days and dreary, chilly ones.
For the most part, we have no say in when and how the changes occur—all we can do is live it. Yet, if we open to the experience, it becomes less about waiting and more about reveling in what is right now. Click below for activities to help you savor the moments.
Similarly, even as we go through difficult times, our moments can be more than just waiting for those times to be over. Sure, we want the end to hardship, but there is also joy infused into every day that we miss if the hardships are only thing we focus on. This is in no way to dismiss the enormity of the tough times and the reality that they evoke suffering. It takes practice and compassion to allow ourselves to accept whatever is and mindfully also notice the awesomeness that exists around and within us. This way of experiencing the world helps us “to be OK even when things are not OK.”
Below are two more articles that continue to explore this idea that suffering can be balanced at least somewhat if we can also infuse joy into our everyday.
- The Healing Power of Radical Acceptance | Psychology Today
- How can you find joy (or at least peace) during difficult times? – Harvard Health
For help and support in dealing with emotional and behavioral challenges and finding joy in your life, give the Mindful Counseling Center a call to schedule a counseling appointment.
(This article was adapted from our Mindful Life e-newsletter, 3-1-23.)