Celebrations Large and Small - Finding Moments of Joy in our Everyday Life

Life is a celebration or it's nothing at all!

Or at least it should be. That is how we should view our time here isn't it? Not as a duty or an obligation or a curse, but as a wondrous celebration of the opportunity to sense and feel and know on a visceral level, what it is to be alive.

Our lives are full of growth, change and possibility. There are many rich layers of learnings, struggles, wins, losses, joys and hardships. Life can be busy and complex and it's easy to forget, when trying to get ahead or when trying to find your special place in this world, to stop and take notice of the many reasons we have to celebrate along the way.

Busy people we are indeed! So busy in fact we somehow manage to cram 24 hours of work into ten, eight hours of sleep into six and two weeks of vacation into a three day weekend. We spend way too much time focusing on the future, worrying about fulfilling our commitments or how we'll appear to others if we don't, that we misappropriate our priorities and spend valuable energy in places that don't really matter in the end. And, in all of this running and worrying and trying to get somewhere other than where we are, we forget to celebrate the small but meaningful joys of everyday life.

It is the celebrations of life that weave together this otherwise choppy existence into a beautiful and seamless masterpiece. It's our celebration's that remind us of how far we have come and just how dear are the people in our lives. It 's our celebrations that invite us to stop and smell the roses, to take notice of the precious moments ticking by so quickly. It's our commitment to celebration that allows us to steak claim to a joyful life, and to meet this claim with eyes and arms and heart wide open.

There are the obvious holidays and benchmark occasions where celebration comes more easily. With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner the air will soon be filled with priceless moments of shared laughter and good cheer. Even if you're not a believer in what Christmas has become, it's still hard to deny the elevated mood and generosity of most people during this time of year. Then there are weddings, birthdays, anniversary's and even funerals where people join together to celebrate the major turning points in ones life. These are all poignant occasions  that shouldn't go unrecognized if even quietly, and only by you. These occasions are markers of time, a compass of sorts to keep us on our chartered course and to help us mark season's of our lives.

But beyond these more obvious benchmark occasions there are so many small things to celebrate as well. There are the seasons - the comings and goings of color, light, warmth and fine feathered friends. There are the small accomplishments we share with our closest friends - the completion of a painting, a poem or an important project at work. There are the many magical moments that keep us in awe - a cactus flower, the first tender pea shoots of spring or the fact that we finally understand the relationship between what we eat and how it is grown!

There is our favorite cup of tea, drunk while sitting on the floor in the one sunny corner of the room in the dead of winter, on what started out as a very cold and soggy day. There is the tilting of the head and inquisitive look on the face of the new puppy you just got when what you really went shopping for was a kitten. There is hot bowls of soup and crusty breads and oven dried prunes from the plums you picked only yesterday.

There are the things you've managed to overcome that only a few years ago had you in despair. There is the laughter at yourself for walking into the room with something really important to say only to realize you've forgotten what it was. There is laughter!  And there are tears, for the people  we love and for those who have come and gone.

There are so many small reasons to celebrate I can't help but wonder why we're not doing it more? Why are we not having these conversations with each other? And why are we not asking this of ourselves?

What is there to celebrate today? What small accomplishment can I take notice of? What simple wonder can I stop and let myself enjoy?

I am of the opinion that life is more of a celebration then it is not. It is my practice to make it so. It is where I choose to put time, my attention and my energy…….in the making of celebrations large and small.

I invite you to do the same!

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."-----Oprah Winfrey