Today is a rare and pleasant day. The sun is shining, there is a slight breeze and the world seems relaxed. I decided to venture out to a local coffee shop. I had planned to write blogs as I was due to create more. As I pulled up to the coffee shop, and with some urging from a conversation with my mother earlier, I decided to do a little light reading first. I am in the middle of a great book by Bill Bryson. I enjoy his offerings, even though he has never thanked me for the book I have sent him. Here is something crazy, I rarely do this.

Why is sitting out on a sunny day with a good book such a rare thing for me? It is too expensive. The cup of coffee is roughly $3. It includes a free refill making each cup only $1.50. The book was a gift, so that was not much at all. Why do I say it is so expensive? See if this sounds familiar to you. As I sat down to do something for simply pleasure, in this case reading, all of the things I needed to do popped into my head. I needed to write blogs. I needed to work on my fourth book. The house needs attending to. Just sitting and reading almost made me feel guilty. I was doing so at the expense at all of the things that I needed to accomplish.

Here is what is important to remember – you need moments like this. Just as you need diet and exercise to feed your body, and you need reading and learning to feed your mind, you also need simple pleasures to feed the spirit. If you are still feeling guilty, let me tell you something else that you can do while experiencing these simple pleasures. In our busy world, taking time for simple pleasures can seem like quite a luxury. Another thing that can seem impossible in our busy world is being present. This is extremely important to do while taking time to enjoy simple pleasures. If you just want to sit and listen to music, do that. Hear the music, feel the music. Do not fill your head with all of the thoughts that you have about what needs to be done, or problems in your life. Be present for your simple pleasures. Above is a list of simple pleasures for you to enjoy. Think about how you can be present and totally enjoy these brief vacations of the spirit in an otherwise chaotic world.

If taking a few moments for yourself makes you feel guilty, it may be a sign that you need to do it more. Remember, you are still doing some very important things while you are taking time for yourself. You are feeding your spirit. That is one third of your total being. You are also taking a moment to be totally present and that is a very valuable skill in today’s world. Pick a few of the items that speak to you off of the list above and give yourself some moments of simple pleasure today.