Ahhhh, Today was a Great Day!

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself in a downright foul mood! I spent the entire day in my head, which can be a dangerous place to dwell. Too much thinking inevitably turns to worrying, which undoubtedly snowballs into obsessing, and before you know it, you can't stand being around yourself! So by the time bedtime rolled around, I had tired of excessive thinking and had progressed to mind-numbing guilt.

At this particular moment, I decided that I was a crap mom, because I wasted an entire day being distracted by my own stupid thoughts! With each passing moment, I sunk deeper and deeper into this stinking pool of remorse, because try as I might, I couldn't stop my monkey mind! As I held my daughter's little hand, my attention darted back and forth between loving thoughts and compulsive worries. Each time my mind drifted towards unease, I doubled over with a nasty guilt-pang and figuratively slapped myself for squandering even more time! This pathetic shame-game continued until my daughter finally interrupted my thoughts (thank goodness!)

She simply sighed and said, “Ahhhhh, today was a great day! I got to go to the coffee shop and the bank and Grandma’s house. Today was the best day ever!” Those few little sentences completely silenced the noise in my head.

It turned out that while I was busy toiling with my thoughts and wrestling with my monkey-mind, my daughter was actually enjoying her day. She loves the coffee shop with the same enthusiasm as the rest of the women in her life, so she celebrates each trip. The bank is always an adventure, because she gets the pleasure of choosing a mouth-watering lollipop. And she is overjoyed every time she gets to go to Grandma’s house. She enjoyed her time at Grandma’s, even though my Mom decided to jump on the worry-wagon with me, which meant that we spent hours agonizing together! But somehow, my daughter managed to find the goodness in all of this.

Not only did she find contentment in each of these simple acts, she even delighted in the simple thought of these experiences. So while I sitting in her bed riding the guilt-train, she was blissfully recounting our day together.

This day taught me two very important things….

1. My daughter is light-years ahead of me in the mindfulness department.

And…

2. Even when we’re not the perfect parents, our kids can often find something right with what we do.