Finding Marvelous In The Mundane

I love listening to Gretchen Rubin's (author of The Happiness Project) podcast with her sister, Happier with Gretchen Rubin.

The latest episode was crowdsourced from her listeners. She asked them to share their life hacks, and this one was my favorite because it's so sweet.

Find the marvelous in the mundane:
“I started to get annoyed when I realized that my husband was not as committed to keeping the condo organized I would have liked him to be. He has this habit of every night before bed instead of taking off his daytime clothes, folding them up, and putting them away, he will just leave them on the floor by his side of the bed. He even folds them up super neatly but won't take five steps of the closet and place them on a shelf. I didn't want to get upset or annoyed every time I saw his clothes on the floor so here's my hack: I started thinking how can I feel grateful for something that right now makes me feel annoyed and I thought of the marvelous mundane. If something terrible happened and he was no longer here I would probably give anything and everything to be able to walk by our bed and see his clothes folded neatly on the floor and just know he was still here with me that we were going to get in bed together that I could talk to him about my day that we could kiss each other good-night and then wake up to have breakfast together. When I look down again at the clothes on the floor I began to see them differently they were. Now they are a reminder that all the trivial and ordinary things I love and treasure about our life together are still here that we still have each other that we are right in the middle of what will have one day become the good old days. What was an annoyance has now become a reminder to practice gratitude.”

I also loved this one:

Don’t be the first to let go of a hug from your child:
When you hug your kids don't be so quick to let go let them let go first. You may be surprised how long to hug will last physical connection is crucial for emotional health.

Listen to the whole episode here: