Yesterday was the kind of muggy summer day where getting along with my ten year old was nearly impossible. (smirks, eye-rolls, buhhhhh.) The younger ones were "Bored" or the pool "was too hot." and there was a moment there I could have snapped. Instead, I put my iTunes radio on "Pop Hits" and started dancing to "Can't feel my face" by The Weekend. After embarrassed laughed, one by one, they started dancing too. So did their friends and we had a party. A no-pity-party. Judge me, go ahead....the song is catchy.
My three year old screams "Turn it up mommy! This is fun!" and it was. In the time it takes to bop your head and sing off key to the radio, we were out of the dangers of bummy moods. It got me thinking...
Remember when being happy and having fun was simple?
It didn't depend on external factors of who is going to call, or not call, or work troubles materializing and dissipating, it didn't hang largely in the balance of someone else, or worse, the perception other people had of us.
It was pure. It was simple. It was very present in every moment. One by one.
Things I remember finding pure joy in:
- Eating ice cream and getting sticky filthy
- Playing "Marco, Pollo" and the smell of chlorine all over me.
- Handstands
- Skidding out on a BMX bike ( I was a tom-boy)
- Finding a note in your cubby that said: "I like you"
- Roller skating
- Waking up on a day with no school
- Walking barefoot in grass, sand, mud...etc
- Trampolines
- Conquering mini-fears
All too often it takes a near star-alignment, incredible happenstance, or tragic disaster for us to truly revel in the gifts we have. We forget that we have the innate right to breathe and choose our mind's state. Maybe, just for the sake of drilling down to basics, perhaps only for a few minutes let that idea resonate. Think of two or three "little" things your childhood self found pleasure in. Try and fit a variation of it in today.
It can do wonders, for you and everyone around you.
I double-dog super dare you!