I broke a water pipe in our backyard because I dug up our banana trees. It was a mess; there was water everywhere and now I had to fix it.

If you’re thinking - So what I don’t give a flying…either have someone fix it or do it yourself. I don’t want to read about you fixing your water pipe.

If that’s what you’re thinking then you’d be missing out on a great moment in my life and possibly yours if you can apply the same techniques.

So, I was digging the hole and getting the mud out of my way. I saw the white plastic pipe busted to pieces. I threw my shovel to the ground and sighed, fell to my knees and dug away the muck with my hands. After clearing out the mud I cleaned off the pipe and knew what I had to buy at the hardware store. When I got back I started the process of digging more dirt away so I could lift more of the pipe out of the ground. At this point I was over two hours into the job and wasn’t sure how much longer it was going to take. I was missing out on relaxing with my wife and training my new puppy. I dropped to my knees again and sighed, reached into the bag for the new pipefittings, and suddenly the great moment in my life struck.

Underneath all my internal complaining there was joy inside. I was dealing with my emotions on the surface, but never thought to look past this. I never recognized the different levels of feelings throughout this experience. I began to feel the weight of the plastic pipe in my hand. The smooth surface, my knees in the dirt, and the gentle current of joy flowing beneath everything I did.

There it was: my joy, but it was masked by my louder emotions. By tuning out the obnoxious feelings, I was able to tune in to the beauty of the task at hand.

I then went back to the job, but enjoyed each movement I made. Everything slowed down and when my obnoxious emotions started to bubble, I tuned back in to the joyous feelings of the moment.

You have this ability too. Next time you feel frustrated, bring yourself back to the underlying feelings of the moment. If you’re typing an email and you get stuck, slow down your thoughts by just feeling your fingertips on the keys and your butt on the seat. Look at an object that has nothing to do with your work and tune in to the joyous undercurrent that’s always there.

We are experiencing more than we can process and it’s up to you to decide what thoughts and feelings you want to focus on. Make the decision that’s best for the moment. If you need to focus on the surface feeling then do it, but always know that the peaceful feelings are underneath everything else if you ever need to enjoy them.

Show some Love:

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2007 at 7:44 pm and is filed under enjoy everything.