Melanie.LIVE, Q-057: The Smallest Celebrations

TRANSCRIPTION:

"What is celebration? Been thinking about this for a while because I have a series called “Celebrating ALL I AM”. Part of that comes from the experience where I saw things completely differently about 6 years ago. It’s my life’s work to share what I saw and what I do differently now because of that experience.

Celebration has totally changed for me. I used to think celebration as a win, pass the CPA exam, something that is measurable and tangible by an outside factor. Yes, you do the inside work for it, but it’s celebrated by something outside.

What I have learned now, is the celebration is the feeling that comes inside. The outside celebration is nice, but it’s what is going on inside that really matters. If we spend our lives looking for those big celebrations, and waiting to feel really good about something that we did that was on a massive scale, then we miss the whole point because there are SO many celebrations that are built into each and every day, every hour.

And so my challenge for you today is to think about celebration is a different way. If we instead of thinking about the BIG celebrations and things we plan, and we look at it like “What is the SMALLEST thing that I celebrated today?” What was my smallest celebration? What does that look like? What does that feel like? Because if we can love the small celebrations, then when we have the big ones it is just that much more. So it’s learning how to celebrate the tiniest things that really build the momentum for true joy.

Ok, so what would that look like? What would my smallest celebration look like and feel like today? One example of a tiny celebration today, on a practical level… we have an adorable guinea pig named “Fluffy”, and the look on his face when I brought home fresh lettuce for him was priceless! Made both of us feel really good, that was a win/win.

What are those moments where we feel joy? Those little moments where we feel happiness, something inside us connects with someone else on the smallest level. If we can master celebrating even the teeniest, tiniest things that make us happy, and we focus on those, and we look for a lot of those, and we build on those, then the big ones are kind of a sure thing.

Another example, my youngest daughter got her learners permit today. The DMV felt like forever, until I starting thinking about ‘How lucky am I! That I get to sit her, and I have a beautiful daughter, and she is taking her test, and I am sitting her in anticipation, and I’m looking around at what is going on for me, and seeing everyone else around me, and I started celebrating “their moments of joy”. That was small in itself, but many get annoyed at the DMV, but I took it as an opportunity to ask “what is the celebration… my daughter, celebrating her smile in the moment when she came around the corner. Priceless, that smile was a tiny celebration… she smiles all day long, all year long, but I took the time to really look at her smile and feel it. That was a tiny, tiny, celebration, in a BIG way!

I am encouraging you to look around you and say, what are the tiny celebrations? The things that move your heart, that you pay attention to that makes a difference for you that are really small. Because when we start noticing those, and we build on those, then the big wins are all that much sweeter.

One good example of celebrating the little milestones this time of year would be the little things that we do school. What if we celebrated each and every class that we sent to, each exam, each friend that we meet. What if we slowed down time, and we started celebrating all the little things that are in each hour, how different would life look like? Instead of cramming through the day and waiting for that big year end school’s out (YEA!) which is a wonderful feeling, but we miss out on being present.

The small celebrations are what actually keep us in the moment, what keeps us present. So that is my thought for today, I want you to think about the little things, the smallest things you do to celebrate in your heart that bring joy to others, that make you happy, that connect you to the present moment in the tiniest ways that are the most meaningful of all."

© Melanie Jean Burke. All rights reserved.

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