Small Moments of Joy

What's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. My name is Brian Martin. I'm a second grade teacher and host of the teaching champions podcast. And this week, I've been really lucky, because I've been able to spend a lot of time with my nephew. And he's three years old. He's a rock star. And I absolutely cherish the time that we've been able to spend together over the last week. And it's amazing to me. That is you spend time among the youngest among us, how they can remind you of some of the most important life lessons. And my nephew and I, we played this game all week long, he takes his shoe box. And inside this shoe box, he looks all around the his playroom, he picks up a toy, and he puts it inside the box. And then he presses an imaginary doorbell says ding dong, and then says, uncle Brian, You've Got Mail, I'll creep over to that shoe box, I peek inside. And I'll look in there and look over him and smile. And then I look back in there, I open up the shoe box. And I shout out loud and glee as I take out the toy that was inside. And my nephew, he lights up and he laughs in that laugh just fills up the whole room. And I'll say thank you. And he'll look at me and he'll say, You're welcome. And then I'll hide the toy in this pretend mailbox. And we'll go through the same process where our in the door bow and tell him he's got now and will laugh. And will repeat this over and over and over again. And we laughed on the first time we did this. We laughed on the 10th time we did this, we laughed on the 100th time we did this. And to be honest, we've left on what I'm pretty sure to be the 798 time that we've done that. But being there with my nephew, lost in the moment, lost in the laughter lost than that 798 time of looking in a shoebox and finding joy in discovering a toy that moments before was lying on the floor. It just reminds me of how complicated we make our days. How in some ways in some shapes and some form, the stress the to do this, the pressures that we face day in and day out, they suck some of the joy out of our day. And we stop having fun. We stop laughing as much, we stopped finding that joy in the little things. And in a lot of ways, it's sad. Because as much as we don't want to admit it, our time here is finite. There are only so many sunrises and sunsets that any of us will be able to see. And there's gonna come a point where we stop finding the wonder, the joy, the fulfillment that's available to us on a daily basis. And instead we fall victim to holding on to the To Do lists, the worry, the stress. And those feelings are always going to be there. But it's important that we realize that the smallest of moments, the moments that if we let down the walls, and we give ourselves permission to enjoy that joy and that wonder even if it's just within the simplest of things. And one thing that I can promise you is that when I hear that dinner and when I'm told I have man and I bend down and I peek inside that old shoe box for the 700 In 99 time, I'm gonna light up. I'm going to laugh and I'm going to thank my nephew for giving me the gift of one of his old toys but also given me a gift that Solon value invaluable. reminding me of the joy that's right in front of us. Embrace the sunrise and sunsets, we'll give them my friends. embrace those small things and get lost in the moment. We've been blessed with another sunrise. Have an awesome day my friend