How amplifying small moments can transform your wellbeing
How often do you stop and celebrate?
No, really, how often do you just stop and just truly embrace something good?
We’re so achievement-driven that all too often we do something great, and immediately move on to the next task on our endless to-do list.
We give the moment a cursory nod, and then we’re back to seeing where we fall short or what we haven’t managed to get done yet.
I’d like to set you a challenge to celebrate everything.
And I mean EVERYTHING.
Anything, big or small, that passes through your attention during the course of a day.
If it’s good, celebrate it.
No matter how seemingly small.
An example: Never-ending birthday celebrations
My daughter recently celebrated her 17th birthday, and this was a perfect example of celebrating everything.
Of milking the occasion to extract as much joy as possible.
We put the decorations up a week early, and weeks later, they were still there.
We put up everything we had, regardless of how “put together” it looked. The more the merrier!
We turned her birthday from one day into two weeks of fun, incuding:
- going to the local market
- going shopping on her birthday
- having takeaway for her birthday dinner
- buying a cheapy supermarket cake that turned out to be super delicious
- spending a whole weekend with her closest friends
- going to the local botanic gardens for a light show
Any one of those things was not individually a lot of effort, or that expensive, but the accumulation of multiple moments of celebration made it a birthday to remember.
Find reasons to celebrate in the smallest things
Now, I’m not saying you have to make this much of a fuss for every special moment in your day, but we could all do with turning up the “celebration” thermostat to eleven.
Lunch tastes especially good today? Revel in the lingering taste on your taste buds.
Someone compliments your look? Relish in how amazing it feels to look and feel good in your own skin.
Get invited to a special outing with friends? Bask in the pleasure of being valued and liked.
Get 100 reads on your latest post? Enjoy making an impact on the people around you.
It’s not about how impressive it looks to anyone else.
It’s about what makes you feel good.
It’s about “juicing up” the wonderful things that happen every day.
It’s about taking every chance we can get to feel as good as possible.
Don’t confuse celebrating with indulgence
And just to be clear, I’m not talking about using it as an excuse to do something unhelpful or destructive, like:
- eating an entire packet of chocolate biscuits, or
- drinking a bottle of wine before breakfast, or
- spending three hours scrolling on social media as a “reward”
I’m talking about properly stopping, noticing the wonderful thing, and truly basking in the positive nature of the moment.
Celebration is NOT gratitude
And I would argue that this is not a gratitude practice.
They’re closely aligned, but they’re not the same thing.
To me, gratitude is about appreciating the good things that happen to you.
But celebrating is about turning up the volume on the good feelings.
And making any excuse a reason to celebrate…
…folded the washing? Do a happy dance.
…wrote a thank you note? Imagine the recipient’s happy face.
…got a tax refund? Revel in the increase in your bank account.
…just checked out the super-hot candidates for the new James Bond?
Mmmm, mmmmm!
…dog did something funny? Take a photo and share it.
Another example: The silliness of pets
We’ve recently recognised that the primary reason we have a dog is for our entertainment.
Not so we can torment him. That’s not what I mean at all.
It’s so we can take delight in every silly, cute or energetic thing he does.
Why else do we have a dog except to be soothed and lifted up by his presence?
If you have pets, I think you know what I mean.
I’m talking about going totally overboard to the point of silliness.
Seizing every (even slightly) joyful moment and amping it up.
You get more things to celebrate
Because when you celebrate everything, you get more to celebrate.
You might even realise that these things were there all along, but you just hadn’t noticed them before.
Suddenly things to celebrate start popping up out of the woodwork everywhere.
It’s a kind of snowball effect.
And it also takes even less effort than a gratitude practice – no writing anything down, no remembering things to appreciate – just juice it up in the moment!
Feeling good is the key to healing
It also feeds into a little secret I’d like to remind you of – feeling good is the key to healing.
In fact, it’s the answer to everything.
And the more you celebrate, the better you feel.
And don’t fall into the trap of dismissing this idea because it seems too simple or too small.
It really can make all the difference.
So celebrate everything. Starting right now.
And watch your life transform.
A quick recap
- Do you celebrate enough?
- Usually, we’re too busy “getting on” with stuff
- It doesn’t matter how small it seems, or how infrequent
- Milk every reason to celebrate for all you’re worth
- It’s not about indulging as a reward
- It’s all about what truly makes you feel good
- It’s not the same as gratitude (but it’s related)
- You start getting more reasons to celebrate
- Feeling good is the answer to everything
What next?
- Reflect on your willingness to celebrate. Do you dismiss those moments, or move on quickly to something more “serious”?
- Can you give yourself permission to stop for several moments and just soak in the celebration?
- Start watching throughout your days for any excuse to celebrate
- You don’t have to DO anything except notice, focus and amplify the good feelings – turn up the volume
- Notice how, as you practice celebrating everything, you seem to get more things to celebrate
I hope you really can embrace this super simple practice, because it really is incredibly powerful.
Discover how you can feel better, no matter how you’re feeling right now, with my guide to moving up the emotional scale.
May you have a day filled with reasons to celebrate.
Love,
Nicola
