How I'm Finding Joy in the Everyday
My whole anchor for 2025 is to focus on “Small But Certain Happiness” - something the Japanese author Haruki Murakami coined. I love it because it ties so well with gratitude and counting our blessings, to stop chasing the lofty and abstract idea of happiness because sometimes, we end up to being consumed with the chase and we are left ironically unhappy. The SBCH concept is all about appreciating the simple everyday things that give us bursts of joy.
It’s slowing down and recognizing what makes you happy throughout the day. I am embracing this because I decided that I don’t want to keep chasing my idea of happiness but find my joy within and in what already is.
And this theme is PERFECT for something else I wanted to do this year and that is to find small but certain happiness between me and my kids. I thought I’d share some ideas that I had in case you wanted to do something with yours.
50 Days of Summer
I will take one (or a few) photos every single day during the summer and jot down the exact date and time together with a short description and reflection on why I snapped a photo. And this can be done with a simple click with my phone and a running text in my Notes app. It doesn’t have to be art or whatever. Just a simple document entry.
Documenting them daily helps me to be more observant of who they are and to be attuned to what they love, what makes them sad, what excites them and beyond. I will collect them all and then make a book out of it and it will be something they can thumb through as they grow older - me seeing them as how they are, right at that moment. And hopefully, I can keep doing this every year.
Modification: It doesn’t have to be everyday. It can even be throughout the year and just have that mindful practice of jotting something down for a particular photograph so we don’t forget their fleeting childhood.
Quick Tip: You don’t have to turn it into a book. You can keep them in an album on your phone and add a caption directly on the photo (for iPhone users, you can click on the “ℹ” icon at the bottom and add a caption.) Keeping your photos somewhere and being able to read your reflections from time to time can be something for you to fill your cup as a parent. And developing this thoughtful observational practice can help you see your children in the most beautiful way (just as how I see you and your kids through my lens). It might also be a great way to be creative and express yourself if it's something you're interested in.
A Shared Playlist
I think this is great for those with older kids. A photographer friend of mine from Australia shared that she and her dad would send songs to each other every so often and she puts everything in a playlist that they both can listen to. I love this so much because Ryan has shared his passion for music with the kiddos and Nick especially is at a wonderful age where he is so into music and brings his iPod everywhere. Nick has actually already been doing this with his cousins (our 15 year old niece and 13 year old nephew in the US) and I love that their respective shared playlists are so different and the songs keep them close despite the distance and truly represent their unique relationships and identities. Rye has enthusiastically started this with Nick and it’s just something so tangible and sensorial that even when they are apart, they can go back to these shared songs and remember each other by.
Modification: It can be artwork or writing that means something. I’ve started sharing poetry and quotes or what have you with Nick in our Whatsapp chat and he sends me things he has read too. Or memes.
You can even do this with your partner - remember the mixed tape from our youth? I love that.
Quick Tip: You can make different playlists for every occasion and you can write a litte note with it too! On Spotify, after you create a playlist, you can click on edit and write a note in the Add Description field. Playlists can be for your child’s bus ride home, homework soundtrack, sleepover fun with friends, sentimental ones that focus on your relationship or how your child is growing up. It can be for a specific vacation or beach days. And these playlists should def be collaborative and shared. Not every playlist or song needs to have a meaning. No need to overthink - just songs you love and something you can listen to, together or apart. I bet you decades from now, these playlists will bring waves of nostalgia and joy.
