“The pleasure of doing a thing in the same way at the same time every day, and savoring it, should be noted.” — Arnold Bennett  (shared by Gretchen Rubin & The Happiness Project)

Often in our striving, loud, pushing, over-achieving society when we are flooded with information spilling from devices that demand attention and energy, and if we let them, become the connector that allows us to set aside the fear that something is going on that we may not know about, that someone has taken a half-step ahead; we forget.

We forget to stop and note the simple pleasures of our small daily routines, the smell of coffee brewing in the morning, traveling the same route and perhaps seeing the same people on our way to our daily destinations.  The comfort of shopping in the store where one knows the location of all the usual items, the confidence that comes from knowing what to expect when you arrive at your desk.

Instead we lose sight of the comfort of the routine and focus all of our energy on the items that are not; the milk that has gone sour, the bus that is late, the rude clerk.  Yet when we savor the simple pleasures, we give ourselves the gentle frame of mind that allows us to be more forgiving of the unexpected.  Cherishing the small habits that make up the routine of our day wraps a blanket of serenity and security around our day.

It is easy to dismiss an action that has generated trite adages like “stop and smell the roses”, yet those phrases are most often born of a truism that is difficult to deny.  Pausing, observing, absorbing and appreciating the small nuances of our daily routines, brings in to focus the largest part of our lives and allows us to delight in even our smallest actions.