Life’s Little Lessons

Well, the saga of the tree continues.

In yesterday’s post I shared how nursing was like taking ornaments off of a Christmas tree. Today I write how my fantastic little tree, that so sweetly sits out on my lawn waiting to be taken to tree heaven, gifted me with another fascinating lesson.

I Did it All By Myself!

Drew (my husband) came home from work, in fact he stepped purposefully and slowly up each wooden step to our living room where the tree used to live. I excitedly ran up the stairs to see the reaction on his face.

Nothing.

He said nothing other than “What happened here? I liked it.” Yet he was on my case when I didn’t want to take it down this past weekend!

I was trying to be helpful, surprising him with doing a tedious chore none of us enjoy.

When Drew was at work, I dismantled the entire tree. I took it outside onto the lawn. I emptied and cleaned the tree stand. I swept up all of the needles and vacuumed  the steps, living room, kitchen and hallway. I even swept off the porch.

I was thrilled with my work. Beyond thrilled. I was so proud of myself- I did it all by myself! Wow. I got the tree out of the stand. All by myself. It didn’t fall on my face. It didn’t get stuck in the door. I did it all by myself!

You Own It

Well later that night I was writing in my gratitude journal. Most nights I will write down what happened, reflect on what I learned and where I feel gratitude for experiences (good or bad) in my day. Even the least productive and worst outcomes can teach us something…

So I was writing about how I was proud of my tree accomplishment and in my next sentence I wrote about how Drew’s reaction stole my thunder.

“A-HA!”

All of a sudden it hit me.

My joy is within. I own it. And no one can take it.

Your Joy is Your Own

Joy is in your heart.

If you accomplish something, feel it. If you succeed, bask in it. Let yourself feel the good. Let yourself feel joy. When you do something well, when you are proud of yourself- that feeling is yours and yours alone.

The minute that you look outside of yourself for pleasure, joy or appreciation that’s the moment that it’s taken from you.

Feel that joy inside and out. It’s yours. You deserve it.

What are you joyful about today? Feel that. Leave a comment if you like, but if you’d rather relish in it all by yourself then do that. Allow yourself joy. Joy is love. You are worth it.