You might think looking at this quote & pic, that I’m referring to the “little things” that our babies pick up. I’m not. I’m referring to what we as teenagers & then adults start to pick up as hints as to what’s really impt.
Who can’t relate to SOME of the following, as we entered into our teenage yrs & early adulthood:
– Seeing a baby like this (my niece btw ) do nothing but just smile, & have it warm our hearts.
-Watching a young child chase after bubbles you blow, & it be the highlight of their day.
– Staring into the eyes of the first person we fall in love w, feeling like the rest of the world just doesn’t matter…& all that does is that gaze of connection as you look into each other’s souls.
And yet we get “older,” & w respect to the things we search for joy in, the list gets longer & more diverse. We get joy out of things like the apartment or house we live in, the nice car we buy, the beautiful jewelry or shoes we find…even the party we put on for a child’s Sweet 16 or Bar/Bat Mitzvah.
Then something in life happens – bc it always inevitably does, bc that’s part of the #5in5 human experience. Life throws us a major challenge or a set of smaller ones, & our enjoyment in the things we can buy or obtain starts to wane. We don’t get the same lift that we did for them in the past. But also, we don’t get the same lift from the small things we used to – like a baby’s smile.
What does this do? It gives us appreciation. It allows us to cherish how impt the small things are. Only now, after going through what we went through, not only are things like a baby chasing after bubbles super special to us…but other everyday ordinary things become special to us.
Things we took for granted like enjoying every bite of a piece of cake, every second in a warm bath, ever moment you get to tell someone you love them. These all become heightened.
And the cool thing is, looking back, the game plan for the small things to lift us was always there. It often takes a challenge for us to realize just how many small things in this world are actually miracles we can appreciate. Life is such a great teacher!