Did you see the smiley in the sky?
Ask 10 people how they are doing, and someone might say: ‘Busy!’
It’s not always easy to keep up with the speed of life these days, and I speak to quite a few people who are just not really enjoying their days and weeks anymore as their lives feel like a never-ending rat race.
So, if life feels like a rat race to you at times, what happened to the time when you enjoyed the simple things in life? How much time do you spend these days just taking a look at life as it is, without judgement, without wanting it to be different? Where is the simple beauty? Do you notice the gorgeous little things that make your heart sing?
What are we missing?
It is my experience that I actually miss some really cool, simple, joyful stuff that just makes me smile, internally as well as externally, if I don’t just stop every once in a while. And you know... just pausing every once in a while to take a conscious breath, to just be and to look around, to pay a little moment of attention to what my body feels like... none of this means that ‘stuff’ doesn’t get done or that I miss that important deadline.
On the contrary. I feel more energised when I’ve taken a minute to stop. I feel more with it after taking a break. I feel more connected after really taking in where I am, and with whom.
Dying, having never lived…
I love what the the Dalai Lama said when he was asked what he thought was the most surprising in this world. He said: “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
And… cheeeeeesse!
On Easter Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised to see this smiley appear in the sky. Some blessed soul put it up there with an aeroplane, and many people in my local area posted about it on their social media. Whoever put that smile up there was the reason that many people enjoyed that moment, either by watching it for real or seeing a social media post about it.
Stop your ‘busy’ every once on a while – you’re worth it. And the people around you (in person or on social media) are worth it too.
What can you do to ‘put a smile in someone’s sky’ today?