Soul-Fed Mama: Be Mindful Of Your Happy

Be Mindful Of Your Happy, a post in the Soul-Fed Mama series on www.nurturedmama.netOn Sunday my love and I had a rare argument. He took Bean to the park and gave me some room to cool off. I grumbled around the house, did some cleaning, and then, still mad, I did the most decadent thing I could think of to do for myself in the moment: I took a book out the back yard and sat in the sun.After reading a chapter, I noticed I had unwound. I closed my eyes for a minute and leaned back in my chair. I listened to the chickens crooning behind me, the music from someone’s radio a few yards over, and the small birds chirping back and forth in the trees. I was more than unwound, I was happy.At a retreat I attended recently, someone shared a piece of wisdom she had picked up a few years earlier. “Be mindful of your happy,” she said. You don’t need to chase the big things, she explained. The new relationship, the job promotion, the fat savings account. Those things we say, “When I have that, I’ll be happy.” Notice the small moments of happiness, because once you start noticing them, you will find them everywhere. You can be happy now. You don’t have to wait.Start today: When you feel a bubble of happy, or pleasure, or peace, what you are doing?Some small moments of happiness from my weekend:

  • Listening to Bean this morning tell me about when our cat, Sweetie, was a tiny kitten. “I pet her. She so cute!” she said. (Bean was an infant when Sweetie was a kitten, but I love her imagination.)
  • Snuggling into my man’s shoulder in bed last night, a warm rice pack at my back.
  • Walking around the block with Bean, at her pace.
  • The warmth of my boy cat tucked in against my legs while I knit on the couch.
  • Folding laundry, still warm from the drier.
  • Standing at the cutting board making dinner, with Bean on her stool next to me, helping. (“I tink I a good helpa, mama.”)

[Tweet "Happiness is not elusive, but can be found in the nooks and crannies of everyday life. "]Notice those moments full of happiness and invite more of them into your life.What small moment of happiness stands out in your day? Share it in the comments below?

This post is part of the 31-day Soul-Fed Mama series. Find the rest of this series here.