Every weekday I wake up at about the same time, put on the same clothes and do the same morning routine. I ride my bike the same route to work, where I do the exact same thing day in and day out. When I get home I go to the gym, make dinner, make my lunch for the next day, shower and do something to unwind. The long and short of it is, each day basically mimics the one before it…..it can get a wee bit repetitive, tiring, lacklustre….mundane perhaps.

There are punctuations of “different” throughout my week; grocery shopping, meeting a friend for a coffee or going for a walk on spring day. The thing is none are all that memorable, at least none of these are thing I seek out as being memorable moments that create life. I have always waited for that next high, the next mountain top, that life altering moment and feeling….the things movies are made of. What I have come to see is that in waiting for these things I pass over what life truly is. It is the mundane, it’s grocery shopping, making dinner, folding laundry, and brushing my teeth. But if I am to go through life fully and robustly I need to truly appreciate every moment for what it’s worth and cement them in my memory. It is these moments and the ability to remember, them that create life.

Never despise the mundane. Embrace it. Unwrap it like a gift. And be one of the rare few who look deeper than just the surface.

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I have only recently come to understand the value of the mundane. It sadly took loosing my entire sense of self…..hitting a place where I needed to completely rebuild myself for me to look at this one component of self, worth and experience of life

I have started the practice of not only being, but also choosing each and every moment. It’s a practice of consciously deciding what is in my life and consciously choosing the how I interact with that person or moment. I can choose whether a moment brings me joy or sadness and whether I am fully present with the activity I am doing. I can passively fold laundry with the distain towards the monotony thus loosing potential joy or I can look deep from other angles, choose to unwrap it like the gift it is and practice finding the joy. I can feel the warmth of the clothes, smell the sunshine on the line dried t-shirts, feel the buttery soft merino wool socks and revel in the quiet stillness of folding laundry. This quiet time can be used as just that, well needed quiet time to reflect and unwind. The grocery line up becomes a place to dream of my next painting or outdoor adventure instead of letting myself become aggravated that it’s cutting into my “me” time.

It is not perfect and everyday, every moment it’s a practice I choose to practice. It has allowed me to not only enjoy a simpler life, but also reconnect with what is important and of value to me. I am more ok with less as I connect to those moments more robustly. Life has found greater simplicity, meaning and stability. When we choose the moment we choose to say yes to life.