Monday Moment: How Do You Want to Experience Today?

In this Monday Moment, Tania reflects on a simple realization from her recent birthday: what made the day special wasn't what happened, it was how she chose to experience it. From receiving kindness to letting "enough" be enough, this episode explores the power of deciding how you want to meet the day before the day starts deciding for you.  

Transcript

Tania 0:00

Happy Monday. Recently, I celebrated a birthday, and afterwards I found myself wondering what exactly made it feel so special because it was a really great day. Now, of course, birthdays are typically different than ordinary days. There are well wishes and messages and people reaching out, but the more I reflected on it, the more I realized it wasn't really just those things. It was a decision I had made. I had decided that my birthday was gonna be special. And before you picture fireworks or a spontaneous trip to Paris or something really extravagant, uh, let me say that it was nothing like that. In fact, it was a very ordinary day. After work, I picked up some sushi, I spent time with my daughter, I sat on my balcony with the sun on my face and my puppy, Duke, by my side. So what I think made it different was really how I chose to experience the day. I decided that I was going to receive all the love and the kind wishes people offered me instead of shrinking away from the extra attention. And I also decided to just be really present and do one thing at a time. And if you know me, that's kind of a miracle because I usually multitask my way through life. So when I was driving to pick up my sushi, I was just driving. I wasn't listening to a podcast or an audiobook. I wasn't talking on the phone. I was just driving, and it had a surprisingly calming effect on me I also decided that whatever happened in the day would be enough. Originally, I had hoped that my daughter and I could go out for dinner and sit on a patio. It was a beautiful evening, but she had an exam to study for, and instead of feeling disappointed, I decided to find the next best thing, which for me was picking up sushi and having a quick bite together, and I let that be enough. Later, I noticed that I still had dishes waiting for me in the kitchen, not from sushi. That's another great thing about sushi. It doesn't create a lot of dishes, but from breakfast and lunch and essentially just a bunch of stuff to clean up that had been waiting for me all day. And in that moment, I stopped and asked myself, "What would feel like the most nurturing thing to do?" And you're not gonna be shocked to hear that it wasn't cleaning. That could wait. The answer was sitting outside, enjoying the evening, feeling the sun on my face, and spending a little time with Duke. And when I look back, there was really nothing extraordinary that happened on my birthday. I didn't receive a bunch of gifts. I didn't take a spontaneous trip. There wasn't some magical moment that made the day special. I truly believe that the difference was that I had already decided how I wanted to experience it. I decided to be present. I decided to receive. I decided that whatever happened would be enough, which also left no room for comparison or disappointment, just gratitude. And since then, I've been experimenting with bringing that same mindset into ordinary days. Now, not every day feels like a birthday, but I have noticed that my days feel a little different when I decide in advance how I wanna experience them instead of simply reacting to whatever shows up. So that's my invitation for you this morning. Before you jump into your to-do list, your meetings, your errands, or whatever else the day has in store, I invite you to pause for a moment and decide: how do you wanna experience this day? What will be enough? What are you willing to receive? And what choices might help you move through the day with a little more peace and presence? Okay, have a great one.