One of the basic principles of a naked lifestyle is to savor the simple pleasures in life. Abundant and free, they require very little of us other than to take the time to pause and notice them.
I was reminded of this by Deb Joy of Bcelebrated in a recent note she wrote to those of us doing the Year to Live challenge:
“I’ve found the best way to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary is to pay attention… What I noticed was that at all times I was surrounded by beauty. All Times! It was just a matter of noticing it. It was in nature … even in the middle of the city, it was in other people … even in the middle of a disagreement, and it was in the stillness deep inside me … even when it was buried deep beneath my busy thinking.”
On reading this, I took a moment to reflect on my experience of noticing since making the conscious decision to live 2010 fully, and yes, I really have been noticing the smaller things more.
Just the other day I ate the first strawberry of the season. I had been watching it grow and ripen out of my office window for a couple of weeks, and when it seemed so ripe it might burst, I ate it. Perfect. Juicy. Delicious. Warmed from the sun. Impossibly sweet.
And even though it was just one, it was so perfect, I didn’t want or need another. I just savored every little taste of it, taking the smallest bites, ooo-ing and aah-ing the whole time.
“But I don’t live in sunny California like you, Margaret! Here the ground is still frozen solid and the grey of winter is hanging on. My first strawberry is months away!”
Yes, it can be easier to find these little gems when the sun is shining and things are flowing. But even on the darkest day, even when it feels like nothing is going your way, there is beauty and something simple to take pleasure in nearby. All it takes is slowing down to notice it.
Take a look around yourself right now, and I’ll bet that you see at least one thing that is beautiful, that makes you smile, that gives you pleasure, and that brings you back into the present moment.
Simple, naked pleasures like this are everywhere around us. It takes little to no money, time, energy or effort; all it takes is noticing.
Practice this. Practice it often, and notice how the world around you shifts, and how your attitude about yourself and your life starts to move to the positive on a more consistent basis.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Grab the strawberry by the horns and take a bite!” quote=”Grab the strawberry by the horns and take a bite!”]
