The Romance of Days

There is such romance in every day life. You always hear talk of it being "the little things", but how do we recognize those little things  when we have gotten into the habit of living them without feeling them?

I am not going to try and tell you all of the ways to change this, I will share some of the ways I experience and feel my life more now than I used to. Would I like to feel even more? You bet'cha! Am I taking each day as it comes and letting myself practice? You bet'cha!

Here in lies one of the first keys for me to actually see and feel "the little things" - feeling the joy and romance of life just a wee bit more in the ordinary moments of my day... practice.

Letting go of my all or nothing thinking has helped enormously. My habit in the past was to give up or get frustrated when I wasn't perfect at accomplishing what I wanted to right away. If I couldn't recognize all of "the little things" and feel them, or at least a large portion, then why bother - and what was wrong with me anyway? This kept me stuck in a pattern of frustration and self judgement.

I have come to realize that recognizing "the little things" means taking little steps of practice. It means the consistent practice of being present. Of stopping to inhale, to know the present by knowing that it will be here only a moment. This practice then allows us to come back to our own awareness of our feelings and the romance of days.

I would love to be even more proficient at this recognition and feeling of the little moments of life, but for now I am content knowing that my practice is adding up, and as it adds up I actually feel the romance and joy of my life that much more. Little steps, little things... BIG JOY!