Make a string of pearls - one pearl at a time
My friend and co-author, Cathy Greenberg, has taught me many valuable things. Some of those lessons are in our book "What Happy Working Mothers Know" which will be out in September. It is already available for pre-order on amazon.com.
This lesson is not in the book but has been very helpful to me.
For years, people would tell me to "appreciate the moment". I would nod in agreement and then roll my eyes when they weren't looking. Which moment, I would ask myself, should I appreciate? Always multi-tasking, all of my moments contained at least 3 activities. The whole thing sounded a bit trite, like when people advise me to "have a good day".
Cathy's pearl analogy really helped me to put this into practice.
First, we need some definitions. A "moment" is a span of time. It can be 10 seconds or an hour. Most of my moments last between 1 and 10 minutes. "Happy" means when you feel good. It may be relief, pride, appreciation, laughter or just a moment in which you really connected with another person.
Think of happy moments like pearls. They are rare and beautiful. When you find one, you need to appreciate it, look at it, hold it up to the light and admire it. If you found a pearl, you wouldn't complain that the floor was not filled with them. You would hold that pearl in wonder and consider yourself lucky to have found it. Happy moments can be like that too.
Your happy moments can come anywhere at any time. Maybe, when you open your eyes in the morning, you take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the color of the sky. Or your happy moment may come as you tie up your running shoes to go on your morning run. It could come when you hear your baby giggle or when you get a quick moment of praise at work. Whenever or however it comes, take a moment to polish it before you store it in your pouch.
I put words around my happy moments. I will actually say (often outloud) "this is a pearl". In fact, my sons are so used to it that they sometimes identify the pearls for me. As we sit in the kitchen after school laughing about the days events, one of them will say "is this a pearl, mom?" When they do that, I get two pearls for the price of one.
You will find that when you are looking for moments of happiness, they appear more often than you might expect. So open your eyes and your heart and look for the pearls in your life. Try it and let me know how it goes.
This lesson is not in the book but has been very helpful to me.
For years, people would tell me to "appreciate the moment". I would nod in agreement and then roll my eyes when they weren't looking. Which moment, I would ask myself, should I appreciate? Always multi-tasking, all of my moments contained at least 3 activities. The whole thing sounded a bit trite, like when people advise me to "have a good day".
Cathy's pearl analogy really helped me to put this into practice.
First, we need some definitions. A "moment" is a span of time. It can be 10 seconds or an hour. Most of my moments last between 1 and 10 minutes. "Happy" means when you feel good. It may be relief, pride, appreciation, laughter or just a moment in which you really connected with another person.
Think of happy moments like pearls. They are rare and beautiful. When you find one, you need to appreciate it, look at it, hold it up to the light and admire it. If you found a pearl, you wouldn't complain that the floor was not filled with them. You would hold that pearl in wonder and consider yourself lucky to have found it. Happy moments can be like that too.
Your happy moments can come anywhere at any time. Maybe, when you open your eyes in the morning, you take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the color of the sky. Or your happy moment may come as you tie up your running shoes to go on your morning run. It could come when you hear your baby giggle or when you get a quick moment of praise at work. Whenever or however it comes, take a moment to polish it before you store it in your pouch.
I put words around my happy moments. I will actually say (often outloud) "this is a pearl". In fact, my sons are so used to it that they sometimes identify the pearls for me. As we sit in the kitchen after school laughing about the days events, one of them will say "is this a pearl, mom?" When they do that, I get two pearls for the price of one.
You will find that when you are looking for moments of happiness, they appear more often than you might expect. So open your eyes and your heart and look for the pearls in your life. Try it and let me know how it goes.
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