As a mother, change (specially something as drastic as moving countries) is lived twice. Once internally with all the S* one thinks to ones self... and then a second time through the eyes and minds of the little ones.
This week I have found myself many times trying to give voice and narrative to the feelings that the kids don't know how to express yet, and through this process I also found myself redefining my feelings.
All of this has made me think quite a bit about happiness and how we decide we are happy (or not). I believe a great deal of our happiness stems from accepting and enjoying what we have access to in that very exact moment. It’s about having the flexibility to full-heartedly enjoy (even when you know that there are better options out there).
But the magic is that in that moment, there aren’t better things, there is only what you have and you have the power to make that (insert adjective- delicious, beautiful, peaceful). If you lose the moment thinking about what you’d (ideally) like to have..... its gone. And not only is is gone, but it’s ruined. You kill the possibility of building happiness by not being present, by desiring that you can not have and by not having the capacity to appreciate what you have for what it is giving you at that moment, and for what it means in the context.
Now on a lighter note... I thought about all of this while eating a strawberry ice-cream (in the grand scheme of things a very bad strawberry ice-cream), but it was a hot day, I needed sugar and I also comprehend the difficulties that reside underneath a simple ice-cream and with all of those pieces combined - it was a dam good ice-cream and most importantly I WAS HAPPY.
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