Sometimes when good things happen for us, though we may experience feelings of elation, they seem brief. As if we are unconsciously bracing for an inevitable negative experience to take it away. We feel almost guilty for allowing ourselves, what feels like, a fleeting moment of joy. We find it easier to give praise to others, but challenging to receive praise ourselves.
Why not sit and bask in our delight just a little longer? Make a ‘big deal’ about it even? The Universe agrees whether we decide to allow ourselves to experience joy or not. That means that if we are always looking for a negative association to the positive experience, then one will appear. This doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge that one may exist, it is simply to intentionally focus on the positive impact.
We are so quick to judge ourselves when we make mistakes or have negative experiences. That judgement usually stems from comparing what we think it should look like to what actually manifests. For example, someone gave you a gift that they knew you’d absolutely love; It isn’t that you don’t love it, it’s just that there is this other thing that you would have preferred.
In your comparison of not having the ‘other thing’ you don’t appreciate or celebrate the gift for what it signifies. You forget that to receive an intentional gift from someone means that it began in that person’s mind as an idea, a consideration for you; One they acted on to acquire and deliver the gift. In your immediate focus on the thing you didn’t get, you lost focus on the thing you did.
"Comparison is a thief of joy." ~ President Theodore Roosevelt
By celebrating our wins, we take the focus away from others, or what a situation lacks, and put it back on ourselves, and our abundance. We are able to be present for our journey toward the outcome. We get to notice all the little milestones along the way that confirm we are doing the right thing and on the right path.
Celebrating our wins, especially when we consider them minor, intentionally cultivates and encourages joy. We are always on the lookout for the ‘big’ thing to happen, like winning the lottery, thinking that finally we can be happy. While somewhere in our subconscious we don’t actually believe we could win. If we did, we wouldn’t make statements like, “I hope I win the jackpot.” There wouldn’t be room for doubt, you’d already know.
Instead celebrate going for a walk when you promise yourself you would. Celebrate passing up on a sweet treat because you are monitoring your sugar intake. Celebrate releasing fear around buying something you truly wanted. Celebrate allowing yourself to leave your to-do list until you are actually ready to do them. Celebrate standing up for yourself even if in the moment it was scary. These milestones count every bit as much and are the reason you eventually reach your goal. If you don’t celebrate the journey, you actually loose encouragement to continue.
Eventually those minor wins compound into massive ones. We inevitably get where we are going. We wouldn’t want to arrive and look back in wonder as to why we didn’t enjoy the journey a little more. Instead of rushing ahead thinking that joy and happiness exist at some later time. Let’s not live our lives in the future, instead bring our focus back to here and now, and live moment to moment, one day at a time.
As always, courage is required. The journey is the destination, and each milestone is worth celebrating. What accomplishment are you proud of yourself for? How can you spend more time celebrating it?
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