I have the tendency to get down. Down about a lot of things, both personal and even things out of my control. We all make mistakes, we all see terrible things happen, we all experience loss. When these moments happen, it is hard to realize that these are snippets in life. They are inevitable parts of life that are meant to teach us lessons and learn more about ourselves and others. There is a greater journey for all of us and bumps are meant to happen. Fall down in order to stand up taller. In the moment, that is hard to accept. No one wants to see or hear of pain. No one wants to experience that fleeting feeling of failure. I certainly don’t.
My problem is that I get lost in those moments. I become defeated by the moment and forget the BIG PICTURE.
What is the bigger picture? For me, the bigger picture is living life. The day to day living that builds me as a person and builds my experience in life. It is full and needs to be full of both the ups and downs. I have downs but I also have ups – that is difficult for me to remember. I get overcome by that thought of failing myself and others, of being less than perfect, and of comparing myself to what I should be. I do one thing wrong and the whole day is a bust. I have one negative thought and my mind becomes flooded with self doubt. I make ripples into waves and those waves into storms.
I am not sure why this weekend, maybe it was my various phone calls or lots of time alone, but I reflected on this thought ‘flaw’ I seem to fall victim to often. And as I was running, feeling the movement of my body, it hit me. A small smile. Yes, a simple little smile. Then I started looking around me and finding more reasons to smile. The massive dog that literally looked like a grown man. The little girl calling me pretty as she walked by. How could I not smile?
I am calling this my Little Smiles Project. Getting down can happen, but for a moment. There are times when you need to self reflect. But there is no need to soak in that pool of depression for longer than is necessary. I realized I have lots of little smiles that I can remember in moments like this. The list evolves, changes and grows daily. This list will be added to each day in a journal I will keep with me. The list will get longer because each day I will and can find the little random things that make me smile. That make me realize that the Bigger Picture is living a life worth living, not just surviving to get through the moment. So what are today’s little smiles…
- The same two old men that I run past on one of my routes who always comment on my brown eyes and fast legs.
- The dogs and their owners up at the crazy time of the morning – owners in their pj’s with dogs ready to take on the world.
- My cup of coffee each morning as I read blogs. One of my favorite times of day I look forward to.
- A mom who makes me laugh daily with our phone calls, providing me company as I walk to the metro each morning.
- A dad who will never cease to send me scratch cards at least once a month. A card I received yesterday and won nothing on, yet again.
- A dog back home with a picture that smiles back at me on my phone daily.
- Metro rides that always provide some sort of entertainment whether it be a singing bearded man or mouthing singing financial banker.
You know the best part, I could go on. I encourage you to make your own little smiles! I think you may surprise yourself. 
Questions: What brings you back to the moment? What are some of your little smiles?
Little smiles today – sunshine, sweet texts from my husband, and the perfect cup off coffee. Love this post!
Those are wonderful little smiles
This is such a great post,Alex! I definitely need to remember this as well,there is so much to smile about in life and I have the feeling I simply don’t notice it at all.
Today,it’s been great to take a walk with my Jazzie in the sun and explore new places together with him. I love living rurally for this reason,nature’s so beautiful!
Oh man I miss my doggy walks for that reason. Glad you found some smiles!
I just like the idea of adding a little light in even the dark times.
I love this! One of my little smiles is how happy my dog is to see me and how he follows me everywhere I go
Oh the life of a dog, I love how animals totally follow their owners.
This is so awesome Alex. What a great idea! There was a girl at the yoga studio I used to go to who handed me this card after class one day that had a quote on it that had to do with the little moments in life. She said she gave it to me, because she was trying to find the light in each day in a different person and wanted to acknowledge it. I was her “light” that day, because I high fived her during tree pose during class, haha. Through some snooping, I found out she had a blog about it, which was too cool that I was mentioned on it! I think her project idea was wonderful; yours sounds quite similar
Whoa that is seriously amazing! i freaking love that and it is exactly what I am talking about here. Hope you found a little smile today!
My little smiles today are knowing that I am getting better/faster at my daily jobs here at work, getting to change my life plan as I please (except for the next two years which is grad school… but after… who know?!), and practicing Spanish in my car on my drive home, giggling at how silly I sound when trying out the female… and male… accents and knowing that people can see me laughing alone in my car…
If I saw you mouthing spanish that would so be my little smile for the day. I am glad you are liking your job. Hope you could tell my abrupt stop in texting last night was due to my grandma time bedtime. I am lame.
yeah… except that I didn’t notice because I had gone to bed too… hahaha WINNING!
Aww this post is so sweet! You’re completely right. It’s so important to make sure to enjoy and appreciate the small little awesome parts of life.
It is a reminder I need to keep telling myself!
Great post, Alex! I have totally felt this way before (but not in a dramatic way for a few months). I feel like good things happen all around me and I try to be aware of them – like my freelance writing or a nice clerk at the grocery store. As always, my BF making me dinner makes me smile (or when he cleans when I don’t tell him to!)
I love getting little smiles from those around me. Sounds like a great bf
aww I LOVE this!! I really need to make lists like this more often just of things that brighten my day when things don’t seem to be going as planned. My little smiles for the day = my PT telling me how all this time he’s been picking specific exercises to help my muscles adapt to the altitude in Colorado better so I’ll get WAY faster out there, wearing a cute outfit instead of running clothes, and my dog walking out of his bed like a drunk person this morning he was still half asleep I think hahaaa
Holy shiz that PT sounds amazing. How awesome is it that he did that? Oh dogs, always make us laugh.
My little smile is my dad took my car to the car wash and filled it with gas as a surprise (he had it because he also took it to get new tires for me)– was super nice of him. Also, I saw my dog on my lunch break and he always makes me happy!
Those are great little smiles. What an awesome dad!
What an awesome post!
I always carry around a notepad that has positive affirmations on it, and that makes me smile during the day.
Today made me smile, between the coffee stops, and talks with friends and family.
I love that idea, I have affirmations posted all around my apartment.
When my dog is so happy to see me that his tail looks like it’s going to wag off.
Text messages that let you know that someone is thinking of you.
SO TRUE I love text messages like that. Make my day!
Aw, this is an adorable post Alex! I love picking out smile moments when I’m having a bad day – because there’s always something to smile about! My little smile is when my puppy wakes me up in the morning
That is a great little smile, I love puppy licks in the morning.
YESSSSSS!!!! I love this idea ! I smile every day from the crazy antics of “my two good boys” and, as a bonus today, I got responses from 2 of my externship requests
yay!!!! I am so glad you got those responses. that is awesome. i need some billy smiles badly. about to go kill my microwave that won’t work and pan that has disappeared. i’m hungry
Great post!! We all need to focus on our little smiles! My hubby always makes me smile!
I am glad you have someone in your life on a daily basis that does that for you!
I recently learned a tool for bringing myself back into the moment before I get swept away in self-doubt and negative self-talk. I wear a rubber band on my wrist and whenever I’m going there, I snap the rubber band. It snaps me out of it and allows me to talk myself down, rationally and calmly.
I wear bracelets on my wrists given to me by friends for the same reason. just looking at them grounds me and reminds me of the moment I am in.
coffee and puppies- the BEST smiles ever
I so have to agree there.
It’s so important to take joy in the little things! Some of mine for today are: getting through a tough workout, going to the bathroom as soon as I woke up (yuck I know), the first sip of my iced coffee, and not having to rush while getting ready in the morning!
First sip of iced coffee, how freaking true. I love your honesty, I mean who doesn’t like a good flush out!
LOVE this! Sometimes it’s the little smiles that make your day
My little smiles are when people are extra nice at work, coming home to my dog, and getting sweet texts from my boyfriend 
Sweet texts or even tweets from anyone seriously brightens my day.
What a beautiful post! Sometimes we forget how important it is to relish the small things in life and enjoy those moments that do simply just make us smile!
For me, being in fresh air, amidst nature makes me happy. Whether it is the walk from the train to work, where I stop to enjoy the flowers or my morning bowl of oats and tea which grounds my day… Otherwise my nights on the couch in pjs where I just would not want to be anywhere else in the world! All these moments are worthy of that single, powerful smile
Ah, my nights do the same for me. So rejuvenating.
“For me, the bigger picture is living life. The day to day living that builds me as a person and builds my experience in life. It is full and needs to be full of both the ups and downs.”
THIS is what brings me back to centre — or a very common realization that all we have is our one life. At the end of it, I want to look back and see I’ve lived. So at the end of the year, what did I do that made me grow and made me happy? At the end of the month, what experiences did I create for myself? The week? The day?
I couldn’t agree more, I am glad you see it that way too. I love the way you put it. I feel like your truly embrace that idea of what experiences you create for yourself each day.
Lovin this post Alex, as I do all of yours
It is soo important to take a step back sometimes and like you said, “look at the big picture” of the situation and realize that wait, everything is not as terrible/bad/stressful/etc as we always tend to think it is. Thanks for the reminder here!
I am glad you got that out of it, I need this reminder a lot so it was super helpful for me.
Lovely post – it’s so easy to dwell on all of life’s mishaps while forgetting about all of the stuff that makes you smile on a daily basis. It’s so important to reflect on the positive – thanks for the reminder!
I need this reminder a lot, glad you got something out of it.