By Manisha Jain:
Monday mornings. Whoever made them? I am not a morning person. At all! I am usually very grumpy when it comes to mornings. Especially early mornings. But this particular morning, I found myself humming to this really energetic song which kept playing in my mind all throughout the day.
I am sure we all have experienced this. The way a particular song decides to get stuck in our minds and won’t stop playing and every time you open your mouth to sing, that’s what comes out. The irritating, and sometimes embarrassing part is, when some really sick song chooses to stick to you and won’t leave you alone. It sometimes leaves me wanting to bang my head on the wall. Kind of hoping the song will jump out of the head with all the banging.
Anyway, this song actually served as a catalyst in keeping my spirits high throughout the day and I just realized how much these little things help to make one feel good about the self. Even though I had no particular reason to be very happy with life, (it wasn’t doing much to please me), I woke up with a smile, had a spring in my step all day, felt the urge to dress up (I usually just pull up a pair of jeans and any shirt that comes in view) and greeted everyone with a smile. I usually avoid eye contact. I have always felt a little awkward around people. But on that day, I could actually feel happiness, and people around me also seemed happier. What is funny is that nothing big had actually happened to make me feel this way. I still had a lot of desperate wishes and pestering worries. It’s just that one thing kind of lead to the other and it made my day complete. And that’s when I realised, how happiness comes to you if you step out of your daily mundane life, look around a little, and try to enjoy and appreciate the subtleties of life.
This would probably sound as a stupid, normal, day-to-day happening to you and you probably are wondering why are you even bothering to read about some random girl’s extremely normal experience. But I actually learnt a valuable lesson from this. I learnt how we can find positivity in small things. I know life is never too kind, and there never goes a day when everything is perfect. But I just realised that the best way to live happily, and healthily, is to find pleasure in these subtle nuances of life. It can be anything from a happy song, your favourite person, an unexpected display of love from someone you treasure, a random text message, to a bite of your favourite chocolate.
These things happen to us everyday. But we are so caught up in life and moaning over the difficulties it brings upon us, that we manage to conveniently miss these little beautiful things. I strongly believe that if one just tries to appreciate these small things and revel in their beauty, it makes life, and dealing with those very difficulties, much easier. I feel we waste a good part of our very short lives worrying over really small issues, which don’t even mean anything to us after a few months. But then, those precious moments are lost. Forever.
I feel one should just do any little activity one feels inclined towards whenever he/she feels overburdened and feels life is not being very easy. A movie, a good meal, a chat with someone you can relate with, a cup of coffee, a walk, a good read, a game of your favourite sport… it surely helps us to take our mind off the disappointments of life, and when you open your eyes to what kind of pleasures life has to offer, the disappointments seem too trivial to worry over. And even if not, they at least equip you with the energy to deal with it, and ultimately get over it. We just need to look around. Everything around us is there because of a reason it has to serve in our lives. All we have to do is discover them.
Image courtesy: zagher
i second it…
sharing common practices
Little things give a lot of happiness. I’ll suggest the readers to also get this book called ‘Froth on the Cappucino’ by Meave Haran. It’ll be a little girly but has the best ways to live life in a satisfied way.
Cheers to the small things which give surmountable amount of pleasures!
Little Piece of chocolate sure does make my day
. How true Manisha.. This thought process is everywhere but alive nowhere it seems.. lovely read.
Very inspiring piece of writing, I surely learnt something good after reading this. Thank You.
Nicely wrtitten. It’s the little things, little things that makes our day! happiness and sorrow is all around what we chose to focus on makes us jolly or sad.
This article is so well-written, and what you say, Manisha Jain, is very true! The smallest things can make us feel good about ourselves, the things around us and the people we interact with. These things range from movies, songs and TV programmes to a new necklace or a favourite meal.
The positivity and the simplicity of the article is quite infectious. One can easily relate to the mentioned little things need to be done in order to be happy and elated throughout the day. Indeed a refreshing piece!
You have put it in an amazingly simple way. Everyone can relate to what you have said. Truly wonderful. You should be writing more of such articles and posting them online for others to read. I guess everyone will feel the same way you feel. Atleast I do and so do the others who have commented here.
such a lovely article. It sure made my morning much better. Loved the style of writing and the though process. Please write more often and keep inspiring the readers.
Great article, I loved how I could just fly through it to experience the same spring in the step you’re talking about. You’re so very right about missing the little things in life, tucked away in the folds of each passing second, that we more often than not overlook the very salve we have been looking for to soothe the wounds that we sustain just by living everyday. Because you put down the joys of simplicity like no one else ever has, I’ll cherish this and look forward for more! Cheers!
Dont find many articles these days that capture the reader with the subtlety and the simplicity of this article. Very true about how we hop, skip and jump over these little packets of joy and ruin our everyday life. Ill go so much to say she has explained with simplicity what most people write books about ! Great job and keep writing !