I was privileged to witness a rather amazing group therapy session the other night. All the members were willing to be vulnerable with one another and myself and it was a beautiful night of risk taking and emotional sharing resulting in validation, safety, and support. To me, it felt like a sacred time and space.
It dawned on me that we hardly recognize these beautiful little moments in our day to day lives. As a culture, it has been my observation that we frequently downplay the beauty of small moments. We claim that they are insignificant and thus lose a lot of the joy that can be experienced in small, everyday things.
For instance, taking a quiet break during your workday where you feel re-connected to the earth when you have your coffee outside; your significant other smiling at you in that way they always do but in that moment feels particularly special; your dog deciding to lay its head on your lap while it takes a nap for an hour; your child giving you a painting they made at school just for you.
These all may seem insignificant, but they are sacred moments we are allowed to treasure and find special. It is okay to celebrate the things that are important to us no matter how mundane we might think they are.
Some other examples might be celebrating your 30 days of sobriety chip at an AA meeting, celebrating getting out of inpatient care of any kind and subsequently honoring the anniversary every year, or even celebrating the day you met a close friend for the first time.
Theses small moments ultimately make up our lives and they are important. It is okay to be vulnerable and share that some event, thing, or person means a lot to us or has impacted us in some way. We need to take the time to combat our shame and honor our values in a way that is meaningful and powerful to us.