a moment of content

I hope that y'all don't mind my reflections every now and then. But life often awes me and brings me to my knees, and for that I am grateful. If anything, I have a sincere hope that my thoughts only spark something within you to dive deeper into our path of true happiness. ANYWHO! Shall we?

The past few weeks have been lovely in the sense that life has slowed down a little. There's been a nice break from work, and naturally with that everyday pace has felt just a touch more breathable. 

A general theme in my life the past 7 years (roughly) has been how can I find true contentment? How can I truly be happy with what I have in this present moment. My general tendency is to want more, compare myself with others, act off of impulses, etc. 

As I sat around our house surrounded with my close friends and family, filled to the brim with yummy food, I thought--this is it. It really can't get any better. Anything else is just the icing on the cake. (And although I DO love icing, it's not always necessary!) 

This thought isn't an unfamiliar one, especially now. I mean, isn't this one of our biggest lessons of this year? Not to take things and people for granted? And as always, it's always easier said than done. So, how do we find this contentment and the ability to truly be in the moment? I'm no expert, but here are a few things that have worked every now and then for me. 

• The biggest reminder I give myself is that it's all part of the evolution of ourself. This is the path we are walking. It's all good if we're not here moment-to-moment. 
• ​The breath is the biggest tool we have been given in this body. Bringing awareness to my breath reminds me of the present moment. Pay full attention to the breath. If a thought comes to my mind (which it will!), thank it and let it pass. The more I can bring awareness to my current breath, the easier it is to truly be in the moment. 
• My gratitude journal. Most mornings (again, not perfect!), I list out 3 very specific things that I'm grateful for. This may be cliche, but to realize that you have everything you could need does help! 
• A grounding belief. I hold firm to my grounding belief that in the grand scheme of things, the inconveniences that I experience, the frustrations, complaints, etc. don't matter in the grand scheme of things. Every morning I get to wake up and live this amazing life, doing things that I love doing, sharing them with y'all! When I'm able to come back to this belief, my problems don't seem very big, and truly they feel manageable. I feel very grateful to be in that space. 
• We have no choice but to evolve. As humans, we are on a path of evolution towards our best self, whether we want to or not. Life really only can get better from where we are. We just have to have the right perspective to get us there. 

These are the thoughts that came to me over the past few days. Maybe it will spark something in you, maybe it will just get you thinking for a moment or two. But for whatever it's worth, this is what ends up in my head! 

Thank you for allowing me this little space in the ethers to share my own humanistic evolution with all of you. 

Much love to you all!
​-n