Do You Avoid the Mud Puddles?
We are all alive, and each of us has the opportunity to experience all that today has to offer. While everyone has their own unique challenges, the fact that we get to experience each day is reason to celebrate.
When I told a friend I was writing this post, he told me about two people who suddenly died recently. While their circumstances were very different, it was a reminder of how precious life is.
I wonder what they thought about on their last day.
While we don’t believe you should live every day like it’s your last, we do believe you can live each day as if it has something special to offer. No one day is like another, so why not embrace the joy each offers.
With that in mind, how can we make each day special? How can we see the simple joy of living?
One way is to learn from kids. When we see little children playing, they’re live with joy. A mud puddle on a rainy day can captivate their imagination for hours. They are all in with the wonder and fun of splashing around in the mud.
As adults, when we see a mud puddle, we don’t usually think about how much fun it would be to splash the water everywhere as we jump up and down in it. Instead, we likely think about the hassle of cleaning the mud off our clothes and ruining our shoes. One might also wonder what’ they’ would say if ‘they’ caught us acting like silly kids.
This coming year we’d like to challenge everyone to live with more joy. We’re going to try. When we find ourselves frustrated, bored, or stuck, that should set off an alarm bell for us. The alarm will be a wake-up call to remind us of the joy of simply living, and hopefully redirect our thinking in the moment.
I’m sure there will be times when we’ll roll our eyes as we say, “Whatever.” But, we’ll try to remember how much fun and joy we can have when we give ourselves permission to jump and play rather than cautiously avoid all the puddles that show up in our lives.