{"id":3726,"date":"2013-12-13T06:25:16","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T06:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/?p=3468"},"modified":"2018-10-02T13:36:42","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T17:36:42","slug":"ah-if-only-life-were-this-simple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/2013\/12\/ah-if-only-life-were-this-simple\/","title":{"rendered":"Ah, If Only Life Were This Simple"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a title=\"Botones 05366 - 2007\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/12519225@N03\/2283270415\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Botones 05366 - 2007\" alt=\"Botones 05366 - 2007\" src=\"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/files\/2013\/12\/2283270415_3bcf9ef2b0.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you remember learning to tie your shoes?<\/strong> \u00a0Put on pants? \u00a0Button a shirt?<br \/>\n<strong>Neither do I, but last evening I was reminded of the experience.<\/strong> \u00a0I had the pleasure of giving my three-year-old grandson his bath. \u00a0After I dried him off, he escaped and ran naked into his room, all excited &#8212; he has a new set of pajamas! \u00a0Before I caught up with him, he&#8217;d slipped the pajama top over his shoulders and I saw it was a new design &#8212; buttons, versus a t-shirt. \u00a0As I knelt down to assist him, I noticed his face had taken on a look of intensity, so I backed off to just watch what he&#8217;d do next.<br \/>\nButtoning a shirt is something I can do automatically, while I&#8217;m having a conversation or thinking about something else or while simultaneously putting on my shoes. \u00a0For Jonathan, buttoning a button is a brand new life experience, and one he is determined to do well.<br \/>\n<strong>First, he carefully lined up the bottom of the pajama shirt so the corners were together. \u00a0<\/strong>Holding the lowest button, he lined it up with the lowest button hole, and began the process of inserting one into the other.<br \/>\nI had to resist the urge to help, but after a few minutes I relaxed against the wall and breathed it all in.<br \/>\n<strong>It took him nearly 10 minutes to secure just four buttons. \u00a0<\/strong>Not once did his attention shift from the task. \u00a0He was patient, and he was determined. \u00a0He tried multiple ways to hold the button, to line it up, to pull it thru, to push it thru the hole. \u00a0When one way did not work, he simply kept going.<br \/>\n<strong>When he finally finished, he looked up and his face was just beaming! \u00a0<\/strong>He was so proud.<br \/>\nThen, onto the next challenge &#8212; putting on the pants. \u00a0When you&#8217;re three years old, there&#8217;s always something new.<br \/>\n<strong>&#8220;Ah, if only life were this simple,&#8221; I thought.<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Then again, maybe it is.<\/strong> \u00a0There&#8217;s nothing to stop me from just focusing on One. Thing. At. A. Time.<br \/>\nPhoto courtesy\u00a0<a title=\"Lucy Nieto\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/12519225@N03\/2283270415\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lucy Nieto<\/a>\u00a0via\u00a0<a title=\"Compfight\" href=\"http:\/\/www.compfight.com\/\">Compfight<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you remember learning to tie your shoes? \u00a0Put on pants? \u00a0Button a shirt? Neither do I, but last evening I was reminded of the experience. \u00a0I had the pleasure of giving my three-year-old grandson his bath. \u00a0After I dried him off, he escaped and ran naked into his room, all excited &#8212; he has &#8230; <a title=\"Ah, If Only Life Were This Simple\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/2013\/12\/ah-if-only-life-were-this-simple\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Ah, If Only Life Were This Simple\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5789,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,47],"tags":[180,120,420,43],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ah, If Only Life Were This Simple - The Executive Happiness Coach\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/2013\/12\/ah-if-only-life-were-this-simple\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ah, If Only Life Were This Simple - The Executive Happiness Coach\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you remember learning to tie your shoes? \u00a0Put on pants? \u00a0Button a shirt? Neither do I, but last evening I was reminded of the experience. \u00a0I had the pleasure of giving my three-year-old grandson his bath. \u00a0After I dried him off, he escaped and ran naked into his room, all excited &#8212; he has ... 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