Slow and Steady Wins the Race

I’m writing this at my kitchen table on a beautiful, perfect, peaceful, glorious day. After getting the kids smoothly off to school, I checked my emails, took a stroller walk with my toddler to get some exercise, and stopped at the library to play trains and pick up books.

 I know what we are having for dinner tonight. I know what my work is for the day. My bathrooms are clean. My closet is organized. My best friend called. I feel good.

 While fixing lunch for myself and my little buddy, I gazed out the kitchen sink window, and thought, “Why can’t every day be like this?”

 And I’m trying to figure out why.

 Why do I feel peaceful today vs. crabby on other days? Why do I feel like I have the best life in the world vs. griping about how much I have to do and feeling like I will never get to it?

 Sometimes I rush so much, or get so behind in the work required to make this house run smoothly, or get so caught up in some project, that although it seems like I’m living a full life (using my talents and doing, doing, doing), I’m really not appreciating anything; not living life fully at all. I’m not appreciating that a day with a walk, a library visit, and a little housework is enough. Sometimes I want so much, or am doing so much, that I end up not living my life, but just going through the motions.  

Really, that’s it.  

 Ask any elderly person about what they regret in life. Do you think they’d say, “I wish I would have accomplished more,” or do you think they’d say, “I wish I would have stopped and enjoyed the little moments more.”

 If you live a life so full that you don’t ever have time to stop and notice beauty, to stop and think, “how beautiful”, then you aren’t living a life at all. A full life? A full life isn’t full of things and people and events. Really living your life fully doesn’t involve rushing and doing and accomplishing. It comes from having moments everyday where you are thankful to be on this earth, simply because it’s wonderful.  

I know there are, have been, and always will be happy people in the most desperate circumstances in this world. That’s all the proof I need that I can be happy every day. Considering my own life circumstance, it makes me sad to think I’d waste a single day not feeling happy.

 Another part of achieving this peaceful, “life is good” feeling every day (for me at least) is using discipline. Starting the day with an intention of how I want my inner self to look.  Staying off the computer as much as possible. Getting outside no matter what the weather. (You can always see beauty outside.) Keeping up with the house. (The way my brain works, when things get messy and disorganized, my heart and head does too.)

So if I know what helps me feel peace and happiness as a mother, then I and I alone have the power to create a spectacular day, every single day. It’s not that hard of a “recipe” to follow. It’s not asking too much. It’s not about what’s going on OUTSIDE of myself, it’s about the power I have WITHIN myself to feel like this everyday–no matter what the day brings.  And for today, the slow and simple things are more than enough to bring me peace and happiness.