Each week I want to address one line from our Family Creed. The first line states “We believe in living deeply, laughing often, and loving always.” The key element to me in this post is that second action–laughing often. Laughter does so much more than just feel good on the inside. It lifts any heaviness in the air, it allows you to reset your attitude, and it’s just plain fun to do.
When you live life full of passion–when you truly “live deeply”, you embrace the moment. Back in college I read Eckhardt Tolle’s The Power of Now. It talked about savoring the moment–truly living in the present and not wallowing in the past, or spending so much time focusing on the future that we forget about today. It’s easy to do, especially with kids…you spend so much time planning…what to cook for dinner, where do kids need to go tomorrow, what work project is due next, what vacations are we going to do and what can we budget to handle next month, etc., etc. Why is it that we only allow ourselves to live deeply and savor the moment when we’re on a scheduled vacation? What if we took a “mini vacation” every day…taking a moment to breathe deeply…and truly live deeply.
So, going back to laughing often. If we are living deeply…with passion and gusto, if we allow ourselves to feel the present moment, we then have a choice. How are those moments going to affect us? When the kids are cranky, the bills are stacked up, and there are 300 emails to answer (maybe this is just me), how can we cope and actually enjoy ourselves? It’s the old cliche- when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Whatever you want to say, the bottom line is, give a little. Figure out how to make yourself laugh. When I have the days where kids basically prevent me from accomplishing anything else, I figure “what the heck- let’s have some fun.” And those are days I choose to laugh. Often. About anything. Even if I have to force it at first, I need to let go and understand that some days you just have to let things slide. Sometimes it’s not worth the battle. Sometimes you have to remember that living deeply isn’t always about cramming everything into every moment…sometimes it’s about letting some stuff slide so you can truly enjoy the things that matter. The things you love. The people you love. The people, that no matter what, you choose to love always. So embrace them, both literally and figuratively. Let go of the nit-picky details, order a pizza, laugh a lot, and go back to the family you love. Always.
