Hearing my husband snoring in the other room last night was a reminder of how much tiny moments mean. He gets up so early, he's usually off to bed far before me. Never before have I heard (over the volume of the television) his peaceful sleeping, breathing, snoring. It was like a wake-up call. Call to action. Reminder: This is what's important.
Like the sound of the first rain drops on the windowpane. A child leaping into your arms and wrapping her arms so tightly around your neck. Sunshine streaming through your window at daybreak. You can't pay for these moments, can't plan them, and you certainly can't anticipate them. It is in these unexpected moments that we realize it really is the little things. The little things are, in fact, the big things.
Unexpected moments can of course be good or bad. It is not just about relishing your husband sleeping like a baby or the calming sound of rain on your roof. It is also an awareness of your attitude in approaching the negative and the unexpected. Your luggage is lost, your car gets side-swiped while driving, or even worse someone you love is hurt, ill or in dire need. How you approach these moments says everything about your character, about your attitude. In any situation you can always focus on the positive that coexists with negative. Both are always present.
The thing about unexpected times, good or bad, is that they aren't in our plan. We didn't expect to come upon them. So, how do we truly celebrate the good ones and cope with the bad when they are in a sense 'happening to us' without our awareness? I would say for both the answer is the same -- Choose to. Choose in moments of unexpected joy to celebrate it. Choose in moments of sadness, pain and loss to cope, to have hope and to hold onto it.
In our lives we busily hurry around, rushing from one important obligation to another. It is easy to not take in an otherwise mundane joyous moment, or to be so overwhelmed by the difficult moment. But I would encourage you to live in that moment. We all know that life is not a destination, but a journey -- why not live it as such? Relish your journey, enjoy the peaks and hold onto hope in the valleys. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down... neither is a constant. Find reassurance, or perhaps relent of your control in this fact. Find your peace.