I've shared this post before. Actually, twice. It is one of my favorite posts and it seems you also agree, since it also one of my most commented on. For those of you who have been following my blog for a long time this is a repeat for you, but perhaps it is all worth hearing again. I hope so.
Please enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm a big holiday gal. I love any excuse for celebration and I particularly like a good surprise. Christmas morning, before a single present is opened is probably my favorite moment all year. I also like the ride to the airport before a trip or even a few stolen minutes before my family wakes up. There is something about the potentiality of of those moments that makes my soul sing. Once the paper is off the packages, sun lotion is squeezed or the morning routine is underway I forget the bliss of expectations, mostly unrealized.
You see that is the thing. BEFORE anything happens there is this moment of possibility so pure that even though you have had years and years of mediocre, less then stellar happenings, there is always the hope that perhaps THIS TIME it will be one of the perfect ones. A surprise pulled off that totally blows your mom's mind in the best of ways, a vacation enjoyed so thoroughly that when it is time to go you feel satisfied and wanting no more, or a day of playful seamless joy when you would wish for nothing to change your life even one little bit.
The interesting thing about those MOMENTS BEFORE is that they happen ALL THE TIME. Moments before your husband tracks mud all through the house, moments before a favorite Teddy loses an ear, moments before the sunburn, moments before Jessie opens the exact same present for the second time... moments before are all still pure potential.
"Pure Potential" Image from Hypnosis Institute
Certainly it may seem as if the tide was already turning in a specific direction when your toddler took the top off the bottle of glue but what if, crazily possibly if, it might be ok anyway. Maybe she won't pour it all over your new sweater. Maybe she will carefully place it on the table. Maybe she'lll spend 20 happy minutes making a masterpiece of feathers and cotton balls so you can finish dinner. Maybe the sweater will come clean in the washer when you thought it was dry clean only and you will be freed up to wear it all the time. Maybe the sweater will harden into an irreparable lump suitable for cotton ball and feather sculptures that take 30 minutes and allow mommy to take a whole shower all by herself! Maybe...
As life happens, it is the rare occasion when we allow ourselves to have that Christmas morning kind of thinking. We have limited the amount of grateful anticipation and substitute worry, disappointment or, possibly the worst of all, knowing exactly what will happen. We live lives that are predictable and if we tell the truth are rarely remarkable in our eyes. We've been brought up to think that looking through "rose colored glasses" isn't necessarily a good thing but I'm beginning to think that may be all wrong. What if we could add the slightest shade of pink and add a sense of wonder to our everyday moments. What if we allowed ourselves to be delighted and surprised by all of it?
Maybe, crazily possibly maybe, we can!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Will you allow yourself to be surprised and delighted by "all of it" today?
Next Post: Some new Gratitude!