If you are a regular reader of my blog, you’ll have noticed that for the last 230 or so days I’ve been dedicated to taking part in a personal photography project I call ‘365 Days of Happy’.

The intention behind the project was to capture those little moments of joy that happen on a daily basis, but which most of us overlook because we’re either too busy rushing around, too plugged into our smartphones/tablets/laptops/TV screens or too focused on our own negative thought patterns.  Put simply – we just don’t notice them.

Now that I’ve been committed to the project for such a long time (and it is most definitely going to be an ongoing feature – both on this blog and in my life) I’ve been finding that it’s been getting easier and easier to find the moment of happy in my day, even if sometimes it’s only small.  But something else I have noticed is that on some days I struggle to find a picture to post.  Not because I can’t find a moment of joy (that simply hasn’t happened and I don’t think it’s going to – there is always something to be happy about), but rather because I’m so content all day in what I’m doing, just BEING, that it doesn’t even occur to me to take a shot of any one particular part of it.

I had one of these days recently.  It is currently half term and oh boy have the girls and I been looking forward to it after what feels like a very long stretch of school-time.  We have all been in need of a rest and were anticipating lazy mornings, lots of time spent together and plenty of fun to be had.  We had a few plans written down on a list stuck to the fridge, but nothing that we absolutely had to do.

On this particular day, a Tuesday,  we’d been to the dentist in the morning (always a winner with my girls – they love getting stickers at the end of the appointment!), and then spent the afternoon baking brownies together, doing their holiday homework assignments and playing in the garden.

Nothing special.

Just ordinary moments.

And it was wonderful.  As I was standing at the sink washing up the breakfast and lunchtime dishes (plus the debris from our baking efforts), I took a moment to stop and watch my three daughters playing together outside in the gorgeous October sunshine.  In that moment I felt overwhelmingly grateful and joyful and lucky.  Just because it was such an unassuming, completely ordinary moment… and that was what made it so special.

We are constantly being encouraged to seek out the ‘extraordinary’ moments in life, to make the most of every single day, to constantly strive for more… because that’s what will make us happy – right?

Perhaps.

But perhaps not.

Because what I’m beginning to learn is that slowing down, keeping things simple and being in the moment is what makes the ordinary moments extraordinary.