The days are flying past faster and faster. I can’t believe June has already come and gone. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m trying to slow down and enjoy summer’s magic and yet, time still flies.

Savoring the present takes focus, intention. If we’re too busy doing, we miss out on the little glimmers of joy surrounding us each and every day.

The antidote to this? Pay attention.

So I sat down this week and wrote a massive Joy List. Took a legal pad and wrote numbers 1-25 along the margin and filled the page with glimmers of joy.

1. purple poppies… popping

2. going out for ice cream (and then later buying ice cream and cones to have at home)

3. the swallowtail butterfly I raised hatching and flying away

4. discovering my first cherries!

5. the feel of sunshine on my back as I work in the garden

6. lots of little green tomatoes

7. iced tea with mint from my garden

8. a beautiful day out for our anniversary

9. using my fun, new, strawberry-patterned tray to bring food and drinks to the patio

10. peapods, peapods, peapods!

11. the little wren singing around our yard

12. salads from the garden

13. wearing shortalls

14. watching hummingbirds enjoy my flowers

15. watering houseplants with water from our rain barrel

16. fireflies

17. making spaghetti with an armload of herbs from the garden

18. meditation in the form of weeding and deadheading

19. the smell of creeping charlie in the cut grass

20. robin song from dawn till dusk

21. late glowing sunsets

22. misty clouds of cilantro flowers

23. watching a surprise mullein plant tower into bloom

24. discovering new color variations in self-seeded viola flowers

25. looking at other peoples’ gardens when I’m out on walks

Focusing on beauty and wonder and delight helps me pay attention and be present in the moment. Maybe it won’t actually slow time down, but I know it slows me down and that will have to do.

So maybe you want to sit down with paper and pen and write your own list. I’d love to hear some of what’s bringing you joy, so feel free to share in the comments and then go, enjoy your day!