Slice of Life: Appreciating the Small Moments

Every Tuesday, Ruth and Stacey, host Slice of Life at their blog, Two Writing Teachers. If you want to participate, you can link up at their Slice of Life Story Post on Tuesdays or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. 

For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, go here.

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Part of blogging and participating in weekly challenges is reading and commenting on other people's blogs.  I like this part of the challenge.  Last week, I read Katherine's Slice on finding joy in small moments, which was based upon Franki's Slice about the importance of small moments.  

Franki used her daily Starbucks ritual as an example of a small moment each day. Like Franki, I am a tea drinker.  I am always asking students if they have seen my coffee mug.  I have a cool striped ceramic one and a burgundy one, so those students who have been with me long enough often ask, "Which mug?" Franki's recognition of the small moments in her life and with her students made me cognizant about the small moments with my students.  I loved the Maya Angelou quotation that Franki ended with:

"You must remember, the very first thing a child sees, the first thing they notice when they see you, is you seeing them. They look carefully to see what your face looks like as you lay eyes upon their face. When you see a child, no matter what, remember to fix your face." 

Katherine used her Slice to talk about the moments of joy in her daily life.  Like Katherine, I try to recognize and celebrate small moments every day.  And, like Katherine, it is the secret to my happiness. Spending the days in my school library with students makes me happy. I see many special moments while hanging at the intersection of reader and story. 

I live a mindful life and I celebrate those small moments in my life outside of school as well.  My small moments are expanding from those between me and the people around me, to those between me and the world around me. This year, I challenged myself to take a photograph each day. The practice has made me more observant. I see the way the light falls across the grass or the way a rain drop rolls down a window. This Earth is an amazing place. I could easily walk past these small moments, but I stop, and look, and try to capture them. I wonder which I will remember longer - the photographs or the act of taking the photographs?

I love these words that Katherine used to end her post:

"Don’t wait for the big things to come along to make you happy. Don’t wait for life to be perfect to find happiness. Find joy in the every day, in the small moments. Life is short. Enjoy it."

Let's recreate the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with Franki's Slice! Let's pay these important and joyful moments forward.

Find your small moments, be they: important or joyful; between you and the people around you; or, between you and your environment. The moments are there waiting for you.