Life is busy.  Dealing with the minutia of the day-to-day and with what seems like endless commitments, it’s easy to get caught up in the chase and the “doing, doing, doing.”  As a result, we often forget to slow down long enough to “smell the roses” so to speak and spend time on a few simple things in life that bring us enormous joy.

Indulge in a few “simple pleasures”, as we call them here at RRI.  Simple pleasures are constructive acts of kindness to ourselves or to others that help us to refocus, renew our minds and feel joy about who we are and our state of being.

To qualify as a simple pleasure though, the activity must be constructive.  It must build and uphold your life and not make you feel guilty after doing it.  The goal is find activities that fit easily into your day and that are economically feasible to do daily or weekly if desired.  They don’t have to cost a lot money or any money for that matter.  These are simple activities that bring you joy.

Here are a few examples:

• Exercise or any physical activity
• Your morning coffee/tea
• Quiet time spent alone to read, write or think
• A hot bath with candlelight and a book
• A long warm shower
• A glass of fine wine (Note it says one!)
• A telephone conversation with a family member or someone you love
• Lunch with a friend
• Making a donation of your time or money to a great cause
• Helping someone in need
• Sending a thank you note or a small gift
• Prayer, meditation
• Nature walk
• Gardening
• A family bike ride
• Basketball on the driveway with your kids
• Drawing, sketching or painting
• Ball hockey with your kids in the street
• Looking at old photo albums and home movies
• Organizing a closet or drawer

It’s easy to push these tasks to the bottom of our to-do lists when life gets busy, so here’s a challenge for you for the coming week:  Next time you sit down to create your weekly schedule or to-do list, incorporate one of these (or one of your own) simple pleasures and actually put it in your schedule.

Make an active choice to enjoy life and choose to see the good instead of focusing on the negative.
Remember, it’s a beautiful life!

Make it count.