Micro-Moments

I had fun doing the recycling.

This is what my 3-year-old said right before bed. After dinner, I asked him and his brother if they wanted to help me bring the recycling to the garage. We have a small blue bin that sits in the pantry, and it’s constantly overflowing. Normally I’d reluctantly make multiple trips once there is barely room to walk in the pantry.

I made a different choice this time.

The idea was ignited by pure focus on the present moment. For the first time, I chose to keep my phone out of sight during dinnertime and the pre-bedtime routine. I’m not an addict (I guess that’s what an addict would say!), but I will use my phone and play the NYTimes puzzles or do something in Notion while eating dinner. My kids are young (6 and 3) and not usually seated while I eat. My wife is cooking, cleaning, and shuffling around. But these are all just excuses for moving my attention to my phone, not my family. Our brains crave approval, so this is me talking to my brain in order to appease it of its concerns.

I also find it beautiful that my 3-year-old specifically called out this moment. And he even brought it up again the next morning! Children are wonders. We so often focus on the big things, that we forget to recognize the small things in front of us. Big moments are infrequent, but those small moments happen hundreds of times per day—we just have to noice them.

In the book You, Happier, Dr. Daniel Amen calls these “micro-moments of happiness”. These moments even affect our neurology, improving overall brain health and enhancing mood. That’s the science, but I can tell you from firsthand experience just how powerful it is to recognize and savor these micro-moments. I felt an afterglow of joy from this experience, which will linger until the next moment. And this is something worth being addicted to.

So pay attention, stay mindful, and seek out micro-moments of happiness.