More like Stimpy!

His face lights up. His eyes squint a little. His cheeks plump up. His little dimples appear. It's one of my favorite sights to see: my son Edward laughing.

It dawned on me yesterday while playing with Edward how easy it is for him to become joyful.  He will smile and giggle if I find all of the pieces to a toy that he sees every day. Or when he gets in his bed at night, he will smile and giggle (I think) because of how comfortable he is. If I hand him 5 M&M's, he will become joyful. Hiding, singing, running, jumping and so many other things bring him joy. 

I thought to myself (after noticing this) how much more it takes for me to experience that same kind of joy that Edward experiences. Other than the obvious events of getting married and having Edward, it takes things like getting Alabama football tickets, winning $1,000 on a slot machine, or getting a box of Krispy Kreme donuts to bring me loads of joy. Heck, as much as I love Krispy Kreme, when I get that box in the drive thru, I still don't even giggle like Edward does.

Why do we not experience joy like children?

Is it because nothing is new to us anymore? Or that we become cynical as we age? Do we spend our lives focusing on bigger events/moments that bring us joy and leave the smaller ones unnoticed?

Look at Ren. Not full of joy at all. Perhaps you know someone like Ren. Experiences very little joy in their lives and finds the negative in most situations. Let's be more like Stimpy! Finding joy throughout our day. Looking for things to be excited about. Putting ourselves in places, around people, and doing things we love. Stopping focusing so much on future things/events that will bring us immense joy, but rather focusing on the present ones. EnJOYing our children's giggles, our oven baked cookies, a good convo with our man, our new sitcom episode, our workout, feeding our family, flowers blooming, birds flying or music playing. Whatever it may be, let's EnJOY life a little more!