Finding Joy In Your Every Day (#theperfectmomentsproject)

For years I have done this little thing called ‘perfect moments’.  As a mom it became and even bigger part of my every day life.

A while ago I had told my bestie about it and she recently told me that she had started it too and that it has changed her whole outlook.

Don’t be thrown off by the name.

This is for you.

You have ‘perfect moments’ in your every day too.

Sure, if you are a mom, you know that the moments of your day are more like a blur of squabbles, crumbs and hugs all held together with that sickly sweet craft glue and glitter that you will be finding for the next seven months of your life.  

Maybe you are married and your moments are a smattering of inside jokes, silences, spats, and smirks all held together with the memory of falling in love with that person who is living it all out alongside you.

There can be a lot of draining and disappointing moments in our days. But really, we need some context. Our lives are full of perfect moments.

Can you see them?

Here are some of my recent ones . . . .

The kids running in the yard with the neighbour. The house is a mess but I’m alone in the kitchen, listening to Beyonce and making some fish tacos. Perfecto.

Dawson is eating all the green berries wherever we go –  but the older two think it’s hilarious. What a memory they will have of why we never had any berries in our gardens for at least one solid summer. I have to buy berries from the store all summer, but still, perfect.

 

Enjoying a drink with my husband on a summer day while the kids wage a water fight that will no doubt end in tears, but hey, perfect in this moment.

 

Or being at the park with my friends, we are lost in some refreshing talks that I needed today and we realize the park is silent. We look up to see the kids huddled at the base of a tree, all working together to construct a home for the squirrels. Perfect.

 

Three kids who have boycotted my dinner and decided to turn the living room into a jungle gym. Conor and I look at each other and cheers to eating alone for the next 79 seconds. Perfect. (Also, paper rock scissors is how we solve everything in our house).

 

 

Walking down the sidewalk to get a juice with Conor while we were on our getaway. He was a little tipsy and was rambling like an excited teenager trying to impress a girl. Like, one of my favourite moments forever.

 

Heading out for Canada Day then the rain comes hurdling in and you run for cover to the nearest umbrella and eat free hotdogs with your bestie and all the kids.

 

Checking in on your kids at the end of the night and seeing their sweet, mushy, quiet faces. Closing their doors and walking through the dark house with socked feet. Climbing into a bed and listening to the hum of the dryer in the basement.

 

Three hungry kids waking up and asking for all the breakfast foods. Because we have cupboards of food. Because we have the energy to cook. Because we are alive and rumbling and health is something we don’t have near enough gratitude for.

Gratitude is necessary for this perspective. And realizing that we are entitled to nothing in this life, but we have so so much.

Here is what I have found about having eyes that search for perfect moments.

At first, they will be small snippets you stumble upon.

Pretty soon this is the filter you view your day through. Not that things don’t ever feel overwhelming, or messy, or painful, or difficult – but there is always hope because somewhere along the way you will stumble across another perfect moment.

And I do mean STUMBLE, you don’t have to manufacture it. I’ve found perfect moments often only happen when I let go of the steering wheel. When I just sit back and watch. Watch the sweet weave throughout the bitter.

Bittersweet is how life is. It is how the world is. We don’t have sweetness 100% of the time, even if we expect it, it doesn’t make it so.  But when we practice finding contentment in our everyday life then we will have a happiness that doesn’t rely on anyone or anything but to be IN this moment with grateful hearts.

Thank you for reading.

I’d love to see your everyday perfect moments. Share them with us on Instagram using #theperfectmomentsproject