I learned a valuable lesson the other day from my four year old daughter. Let me paint you a picture. It is 90 something degrees outside with no wind, and it feels like 100. I am exhausted, sweating, and I have been standing in line for over 40 minutes with a hundred other people, all of us waiting for a five minute ride. I am ready to jump in a pool or into bed, either would work for me at that moment. I was ready for the day to end.
My patience was running thin. I kept looking ahead of us, thinking, okay, there are about 40 people ahead of us now. If the ride fits 10 people, then we have four more rides to wait through. I kept doing the math as people moved up. I kept thinking about the future, either the ride, or the pool I would get to jump in afterwards, or the bed I would sleep in that night.
As my patience grew thinner and more sweat ran down my forehead, I heard a small voice. I looked down and saw my four year old, just as covered in sweat as I was, singing with a smile on her face. She was singing a song she had made up about bubbles, waving her bubble wand around in the air.
I stopped my future thinking and just watched her for a moment. Her joy was contagious. As people walked by, some stopped to watch her or to play in the bubbles she was spreading around. Others walked past and held on to their angry faces as they sped by. One girl stopped and danced in the bubbles with my daughter.
I thought about how we were all in similar circumstances of heat, exhaustion, waiting, and hunger. Even though our circumstances were the same, some chose to be angry, some chose to look at the future like me, and others chose to be joyful in the moment. No matter the circumstance, we get to choose how we react. We can worry and focus on the circumstance, or we can find the joy in the moment.
I said earlier that I learned this valuable lesson of finding joy in the moment, but I think I am constantly learning it in my 35 years of living. My daughter is a constant reminder to find the song in the moment and dance to it. I hope you find the joy in whatever circumstance you are facing today.
Thank you for reading. If you need help finding the joy in the moment, there is a book I have been reading called Fighting Back with Joy by Margaret Feinberg.
