Evie was waiting for her toast.
She waited quietly for almost eleven seconds, which she felt was more than reasonable.
Then a song appeared in her head. Her foot began tapping, her shoulders joined in, and before long, a wooden spoon had become a microphone. Evie draped a dish towel around herself like a cape and announced the first performance of her breakfast tour.
The fruit bowl had the best seats in the kitchen, although the bananas remained a very tough crowd.
Evie sang with her whole heart. She spun across the floor, added several dance moves that had never been attempted by a person wearing only one properly tied sneaker, and finished with a note so magnificent that the toaster released both slices at once.
The toast flew into the air.
Evie jumped, caught one slice against her shirt, and watched the other land neatly on a plate.
She took a bow.
Nobody applauded. Nobody told her she had done a wonderful job. In fact, nobody else had even seen it.
Yet the joy had been completely real.
The kitchen had not placed it inside her. The wooden spoon had not manufactured it, and the toast—despite its excellent timing—could not take the credit. The whole delightful experience had come alive through Evie’s thinking in that moment, illuminated by Consciousness and carried by the quiet intelligence of Mind.
That is helpful to notice because we sometimes imagine our good feelings are waiting somewhere ahead of us. We expect them to arrive after someone approves, after we accomplish something important, or after life finally gives us the perfect occasion.
Praise, success, and special occasions can certainly be enjoyed. They simply are not the source of the enjoyment.
Sometimes a six-year-old, a wooden spoon, and two startled pieces of toast remind us that the source is already much closer than we thought.
Have you ever caught yourself having a wonderful time when nobody else was watching?
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