"Enjoy the little things.  One day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

     This has been one of my favorite quotes for many years now.  I look back at the things I really miss about  past times and almost always, it's not the grand gestures or big events.  It's the little ones that meant something bigger, or represented a feeling unique to that time and only that time.  It's the chocolate chip pancakes my mom made on snow days.  The feeling that each day was an eternity and all it took was some extra sleep and some sugar and some time playing outside... nothing on either side of that day to even think about.  It's the times sitting on the porch in college talking for hours, never realizing how fast those hours were going.  It's the feeling of anticipation in the air or having a co-worker who brings you a Starbucks unexpectedly here and there just when you really need it.  

     

     This year, more than ever before, I've heard many people talking about a goal to appreciate the little things more.  It means to pay more attention to the things going right, those blessings that we take for granted simply because we're used to them, or they're small, or they aren't always stepping stones to achievement.  Maybe it's because we're getting older and realizing that we can't control everything, but we can choose how we focus our attention.  Maybe it's the chaos and fast pace of life, leaving many people not able to take the time to process or to savor a good experience.  Maybe it's feeling like it doesn't measure up if it's not a perfect experience.  I know I've been very guilty of this in the past, and I want to focus more of my attention on the good in my life-- those small blessings that make me smile, make me think, or enlarge my trust in the world.  

    Today on Facebook, I happened to see the idea on Shawn Killinger's QVC page to start a jar of good things that happen in 2013.  It's very simple.

1.  Decorate jar according to your taste.

2.  Fill it with small papers describing the good things that happen over the year.

3.  At the end of the year (or when needed), read the slips of paper and enjoy. 

*Optional- use up scrapbook paper and punch the scraps into a cute shape....use with your pictures in a photo album after the year is over.