Simple pleasures & happiness now

This moment is good. Never mind that I have a pile of work, emails, and personal chores that I can’t keep up with. Or the fact that people I care about have serious health challenges right now.  The list goes on and always will.  But this moment is good.

At this moment, there is so much to be thankful for.  I am alive. I have a warm cup of tea on my desk. The leaves on the tree in the backyard are turning yellow and dotting the grass in a symphony of color. Christmas lights are twinkling, and my house is clean. My fridge is full of Thanksgiving leftovers.  My desk is a hot mess of things I love mixed with work projects and so much that makes me smile. This moment is good.

The past may have been a mix of glorious and terrible, but now, in this one moment, in the eternal parade of moments, there is much to appreciate.  The future may be unknown—after all we’re creating it as we speak, but it need not be fearful.  Now, there is always something to appreciate.

A few months ago, when I tripped on my class supplies in the middle of the night and broke a toe right before my class and a family visit, I didn’t even bother getting upset for long. Sitting there on the hall floor, I gave thanks for the fact that I knew what to do, that nothing else was broken, and that I already knew it was going to heal. 

My example is small. A greater one comes from someone I know whose colleague lives and works in a war-torn country where bombs go off in the vicinity nearly every day. Despite that, this man gives thanks for family, friends, and life’s work.  His outlook is amazing. It keeps him going and doing what he loves, and in his case, it keeps him alive. Whatever is or isn’t going on, there is something to appreciate if we look.

Lately, I’ve been reminding myself often what the angels tell us often. We are all so loved. We just have to let it in. We just have to stop focusing obsessively on what isn’t working, didn’t work, might not work, probably won’t work, and bring ourselves back into the glorious place of power, which is this moment, here and now.  What can we feel good about now?

I memorize good feelings when I have them. I can shut my eyes anywhere now and drum up a feeling of being deeply loved. When I stand with my feet in the grass, face to the sun, I take a moment and memorize the feeling. When I appreciate the taste of a good bite of food or sip of coffee, I stop to savor it and remember the feel of it.  When someone is kind or generous I shut my eyes and take a moment to savor this morsel of life.  A bird sings in the backyard tree, and I pause to take in the love she offers so freely.

The more we allow ourselves to truly appreciate the simple pleasures, the more life will present them to us. There is no end to the goodness. When I don’t feel great, I stop myself and recalibrate as soon as possible because I don’t like making things harder than they need to be, and I don’t like “outsourcing” my happiness, as the angels worded it today.

Like all of us, I sometimes forget I’m supposed to feel wonderful. Recently, in the throes of getting caught up over the short break, I started to feel like I’d never get a moment to enjoy the vacation. As I began to spiral into overwhelm, it dawned on me that I just needed to fix my vibration.  I got up, grabbed a cup of tea and a pumpkin spice muffin leftover from the holiday meal, and then went outside. I filled my lungs with the crisp air and took a moment to enjoy the sunshine.  Refueled by this little two-minute break, I could resume my tasks efficiently.

Likewise, when a dear one told me last week that their heart rate had gone down to 40 beats a minute and then back up to something equally dangerous, I took a breath, appreciated the fact we were talking and that they were still on earth and was able to be inspiring to this person rather than burdening them with worry.

As we stop “outsourcing” our happiness to others and the external world, we become more in control of our energy, feelings, and creations.We enjoy it when the world makes life easier, but we don’t get freaked out when it doesn’t.

Here are a few tips to help you find that goodness from within:

1.  Memorize good feelings

As I mentioned above, we can memorize good feelings. We’re all pretty practiced at memorizing bad ones!  We just have to make a little effort to stop, savor, and pay attention to the good in life. The next time you enjoy or appreciate anything, pause. Appreciate it more. Enjoy it more. Pay attention to how you feel in your body and mind right in that moment. See if you can remember that feeling later.

Even if nothing in your life feels great now, imagine. Imagine until you find a feeling you like and then sit with it and notice its effects on your body. How does comfort feel? A warm blanket? A cup of tea? Hugging the dog? I bet you have some good feelings already memorized.  Give it a shot. It has been an invaluable skill for me many times.

The more you practice memorizing feelings, the easier it will be to recall the good ones until you can actually generate feelings of love, joy, abundance, or well-being from within.  

2. Allow yourself to enjoy simple pleasures

Look for the good.  Take a moment to truly appreciate any and all simple pleasures, from sunshine on your face to a cool breeze, a song, a light, or a person being kind to another in line at the store.  Pause for a moment of appreciation.

Savor these morsels of love in the buffet of life. They are anything but insignificant. They are moments of pure magic, tuning into heaven, and certainly, moments that contribute to your own good because they raise your vibe almost instantly.

3. Share a bit of goodness

Especially over the holidays, there is a spirit of giving. You don’t have to give money or stuff. You can share a kind word or a smile. You can let someone who is in a rush get in front of you in traffic. You can do something you love and share with a friend. You can take a few extra moments in prayer. You can appreciate your home and share a bit of love and goodness with the things that bless you every day.

This all may seem small, and in the 3D world it may be, but love is never small in the vibrational reality. It is profound. At the end of your life, you will see these magic moments and the richness you shared within them.

I know it has been a wild year. It has been quite divided here in the US, but eventually, we’ll all realize that unity will never be found through demanding agreement. Unity comes from our willingness to remain undivided from our own hearts. In that alignment with our Source, we can find the unity of love with others. We can move away from those who don’t feel like love. And we can simply do the dance with life, happily flowing around our perceived obstacles without worrying about them blocking our joy, well-being, abundance, or security.

I love this season and wish you all the most simple, beautiful pleasures each day.