December, as each year ends, and January, as another year starts, bring out a lot of talk about goals and plans, and hopes, dreams, and aspirations, for hearth and home, for work, for family life, for spirit, for health, for, well, everything. This has started me thinking, not about major life changing goals, although that would probably be a good idea, too, but about simpler things.

Such as….

I want to pay more attention to the pleasant small things in my life. I tend to rush around or run on autopilot a lot. I run through chores while dwelling on the next thing I need to do or maybe thinking of some larger issue. That’s a good thing sometimes; I need to work that way through some of my morning routine, to get a lot done at home before leaving for work; I’d rather it go quickly as opposed to having to wake up earlier (I rise at 6am as it is). And it helps make morning chores more palatable, at least for me. I know there’s honor in honest work, really, I do, but that doesn’t mean I want to dwell over cleaning out cat bowls and litter pans, or even brushing teeth.

But I don’t need to ignore things around me all the time. I know I don’t really do that — who can? — but sometimes it feels that way.

So here’s to some of the glossed over pleasures…things that I want to notice and then stop a moment to savor…

The aroma of a freshly opened package of tea
The first sip from a steaming mug of tea
Juliet’s soft purr and her sweet furry belly
Channel surfing on the radio and catching an old favorite
Figuring out the catch/theme in the crossword puzzle
The delightful taste of a bit of dark chocolate
The satisfaction of a good hair day
The warmth of the sun on my hands
The ahhh of reading a good book
The beauty of a particularly clear night with a low moon
The song and the excitement of birds piping in the bushes just outside my window
Breezes in the spring and summer

And one more thing: noticing the myriad of other wonderful bits of life I haven’t listed.

What are the sweet little things in your life? There’s likely more than you realize.