Old Photographs, Mundane Moments, & Finding Joy

The Mindful Minute

By Pema Sherpa & Brendan Barca

Age-old wisdom for modern living. Each week you'll get 1 quote, 1 reflection and 1 action to help you lead a calmer, clearer, and more conscious life.

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Quote:

“Joy is being willing for things to be as they are." - Charlotte Joko Beck

Reflection:

Have you ever come across an old photo of yourself that captured a mundane moment of you hanging with your friends or sharing a meal with your family? Maybe your hair was a mess or you had an old t-shirt on or you didn't do makeup that morning but the photo still brings about all these warm feelings for you. You can tell just by looking at the smiles on everyone's faces that it was a good time, a moment to be cherished.

The thing is, these beautifully mundane "non"-picture worthy moments are happening to us all the time. We take our kids with us to run an errand. We eat takeout in front of the TV with our partner. We go for a walk through the city alone. When we're in them, we might not consider these moments as being the most joyful of our lives — they're not a vacation or a birthday or a wedding. But joy can be found within these moments if we if we're willing to be with them exactly as they are.

Action:

Today when you find yourself in one of these mundane moments, work on accepting as it is without wishing it was more fun or more exciting or more anything. If you catch yourself starting to yearn for the moment to be more, remind yourself of those old photographs of simple times that you cherish so much now and realize you're living a moment like that right now.

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Have a mindful Wednesday and see you next week!

- Pema & Brendan

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