RE: How My Cute Little Niece Norah Taught me to Say WOW to Life (TIP: Learn How You Can do Too!)
Wow, what a touching story, livenowandwow! 💗 I agree that children really notice the wonder of the universe much better than us adults. As adults, we are so acutely aware of time and the schedule. For example, We need to be there at 9 pm, let's get going! or Hurry up, we're going to be late! I feel like I'm always in a rush to make it to the next thing on the schedule and missing out being in the moment.
But my kids are just the opposite of that, they'll stop to look at the ants going into the different tunnels and wonder where those tunnels lead to, they get so excited when the frozen food arrives in the mail because they get to do experiments with the left over dry ice. They just spent half an hour in the bathtub yesterday making "water babies" with elongated balloons. They really know how to have fun and be in the moment.
Like your post says, I think adults can be much happier if they can remember how to be kids again - at the least the part about being in the moment. Your post is inspiring me to slow down and take more time to enjoy each moment. Thanks for sharing your story!👍
Glad you enjoyed it @sizzlingmonkeys!
Your kids sound like they got the hang of it, lol: water babies with elongated balloons? Haha, now that's creative!
Reminds me of the other day, when I went on a morning hike. As I walked up the mountain, I was all in my head. Thinking a lot about what I wanted to do, what I had to do, etc. And then I came across this funny furry fluffy little fella:
This must be one of the funniest creatures I have ever come across. It was just walking slowly, in no particular direction. And I followed it, keeping my distance as not to disturb him. And only when that moment was over and I continued my hike, I realized that I had been fully present in that moment. Cause here's the irony: the moment you're thinking &"Wow, I'm so present, in the moment!" you're not anymore. You lost it.
You are right, as adults we ARE really aware of time and schedule. Add to that the stress of having to pay the bills, are our loved ones going to be safe, etc. And you can see how easy it is to miss the beautiful little things that happen around us all the time. We just need to lift the veil and be willing to see it.
And that takes time. But each time we're snapped out of whatever we're stressing out about is a learning moment. One day it's your kids being mesmerized by ants, the next day the above post I wrote, tomorrow it will be something else. But each of those moments serve as a reminder of where we want to go, and is another building block for the way we want to live our life.
Hope you will be able to find more moments in which you can slow down!
Exactly! I have a lot of internal dialogue too. I sometimes use this app called "HeartRate+ Coherence" to clear my mind. It's basically an app that helps guide your breathing. It has a little ball that goes up and down to show when to inhale, when to hold, and when to exhale (you can adjust the settings so the breathing feels natural to you). I'm not particularly good at meditating, but somehow when I use this app and try to follow the little ball with my breathing, I can't think of anything else.
BTW, what is that furry little creature? It reminds me of a fuzzy caterpillar, but from the picture, I can't tell the size of the creature.
That's funny, a while back I used a similar Android app called Paced Breathing. It was very relaxing, the first couple of times I used it I would actually doze off or even fall asleep. I have a new phone now, and have not installed it yet. Thanks for the reminder!
I have no idea what kind of creature it is. But it's about the size of a caterpillar. A couple of inches. I just had my phone right above it when I took the photo 😉
Probably a caterpillar then! I should probably use my app to relax more too.