I have rarely heard people say live the moment but I didn’t realise it until I became a mom. When I was a young adult who entered into the IT industry, I was ambitious and was dreaming of climbing the ladder concerning my career and wanted to be busy everyday, every single minute, and was under the perception that gave me happiness.

When COVID hit, things started to slow down, but work persisted in full swing, since it was working from home, work exceeded more than 9 hours a day. Every day I woke up to my computer and bid good night to my computer before my sleep. I started to realize, that what I thought would give me happiness didn’t give me anything in return, it just gave me a face full of acne due to stress. It took me months to find out what caused my acne.

Now being a mom of a toddler, made me realize I enjoy doing simple things in life. I relish doing things very slowly at their own pace. I find joy in bathing my son though it only takes a few minutes, once we are in the washroom we just play with the soap, talk stories, splash water at each other, drench him in water and we finally get out when he is done playing.

We both enjoy reading stories together. I insist my son choose a book, so he strolls, pulls, and pushes all the books down and chooses the very same book we read yesterday. It’s a thing with a toddler to reread the same story an infinite number of times😆

I adore the way my son listens to my story, with half mouth open, engrossed, gazing at my face to capture every feeling that Mama tells him. My heart blossoms with joy when my son chuckles at my funny reactions, I laugh my stomach out when we do funny scenes together. My heart brims with pride when he does or says something from the story we read.

All these tiny moments fill my life with joy. Being completely involved with my son, I find no time to chew over the outside world. Quitting my job and remaining next to my son made me look into things that matter to me the most rather than worrying about what happened to the document I submitted yesterday. what are the pending items I should complete yet? Hands down to the working moms who effortlessly balance both work and kids.

Every mom is unique, I discovered what matters the most to me. Each person has their way of living the moment. It’s important to find yours, what gives you happiness, peace of mind, and what keeps you alive. Doing what you love makes you live in the moment.

I acknowledged one thing when I was trying to balance my kid and work. I was constantly in a chaotic mode, felt stressed, and couldn’t either be fully present to my son or at my work. I was doubting whatever I did. I was working for the sake of working. I was less connected emotionally with my son. I was only thinking about work when I was with him.

Today I have come to understand that being completely present for him, brings us joy and forces me to live my life prioritizing things.

Things Helped Me to Live in the Moment

Meditation

Meditation strengthened me to be fully present. It helps me to take a moment to relish my entire day and be grateful for the beautiful things that moved me today. I found tranquility in closing my eyes and forgetting the bustling world revolving around me. Of course, I will be disturbed by odd events occurred but I refuse to allow them to take over my peace, instead, I try to figure out what went wrong and how I can handle it.

I am still not a guru or a monk who effortlessly lets go of their worries. I do ponder upon them and keep weighing them, but my beautiful present moments help me overcome them.

Smile and Initiate a Conversation

Despite being an extrovert, I find it difficult to look at the person walking opposite to me and just smile at her/him. It’s not that I don’t want to do it, but what if that person does not smile back at me? At the same time, when I see a person who looks into my eyes and gives me a warm smile, that smile has made my day on various occasions. An infectious smile has a huge impact on the person who spreads and receives it.

Journaling

Journal has always been my second mind, even though my mind has multiple thoughts processing, my journal has the present things to look forward to, which makes me chaotic-free and allows me to process only the present.

Finally, of course, my son, who I have been bragging about all through the post, taught me to live in the moment.

Get out of the busy cycle you are into, do something mindfully, and reap the abundance of joy from it.

Xoxo,

Mita