A few years back, my dad treated me to a gorgeous Italian meal for my birthday. The perfectly dim lighting and smell of garlic filled my senses. As a warm bread basket and a glass of bubbly Prosecco arrived, I looked over at my dad and said, “In this moment, I am smitten with life.”
In preparing for this essay, I googled the definition of smitten, and found the two most common explanations were: to literally be struck by something, or to be enamored by something. In that moment, I felt both of them.
You know those moments of your day? They don’t always get the attention they deserve. We yell about the promotions, graduations, and high volume accomplishments… but what about the in between joys? What about the quiet, delicious moments that strike you on an ordinary day? What about that involuntary rush of happiness in that awesome cup of coffee?
Life is mostly filled with this simple luxuries, and yet we breeze over them like they’re outtakes on the cutting room floor.
This is where gratitude comes in. According to research at UC Berkeley, gratitude improves sleep, tendency to exercise, cardiovascular health, mood, optimism and hope. It also reduces substance abuse, fat intake, cortisol, blood pressure, suicidal thoughts, inflammation, and perceived stress and depression in health care providers.
One way to incorporate gratitude in a practical way is with a gratitude jar. I borrowed this idea from Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic.
Every week, you jot down a moment that made you feel grateful. Place it in the jar, and at the end of the year you empty it out and get to soak up all the glorious, smitten moments in your life.
I enjoy the challenge of getting as specific as I can. Instead of the usual blanket-statement “I’m grateful for my family and friends,” I find myself looking for things with a fine-toothed comb of gratitude. It might be a phone call with mom, hearing the birds in February or coffee with the cat running around.
An ode to the tiny magic moments.
Another practice is to soak it up in your body whenever you feel those smitten moments sneaking up on you. Take a breath, notice, pause. Even if it’s just for a moment, your central nervous system will thank you. Over time, it will be second nature.
May your days strike you with simple joys. May you feel smitten with your life.
Kate Licciardello