Today, I re-mind myself that the road to happiness is paved with my own positive attitude. Happiness is a choice that I choose… I own. Even when life puts road blocks in my way, I must remember that I can find the strength to get through the detours by choosing to be happy every day. ~~ Pamela J. Leavey

(Photo: Pamela Leavey at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge ~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2011)

Today, I re-mind myself that there are always flowers blooming in my heart and mind. If I but stop for a moment of silent contemplation I can smell their sweetness in the air. And so I start my day, by stopping to smell the flowers and I am filled with joy. ~~ c. Pamela J. Leavey

(Photo: Stargazers ~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2012)

Through the web of the bare branches of the trees and the electrical wires, this sky was such a gift to watch outside of my desk windows a few nights ago…

I am always grateful for the ever-changing canvas that is the sky.

(Photo: My Evening Sky at Point Shore ~~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2012)

My joy and happiness are dependent on my belief that they are each a choice. I can choose to be miserable or I can choose to be blissful. I choose to be blissful everyday. ~ Pamela J. Leavey

With each dawn is a new day of opportunities and blessings. I welcome them upon waking each day. I open my heart each day with a sense of gratitude. I welcome the blessings and I work through whatever obstacles may come my way for I know from hardship comes wisdom. And so today, I welcome the dawn… and the new day. As I do every day. ~~ Pamela J. Leavey

I’ve been charting rough seas for a few weeks now and I keep looking for a break from the many storms that have been thrown my way, financial, physical and given the first two, emotional as well. It’s been one of those times in life that no matter how hard you try, you just feel like it’s tough to get a break.

I’ve always believed in the power of positive thought and intent but sometimes even within a daily practice of affirmations, gratitude and prayers, you still feel as though the sea is tossing you from side to side.

Still, there are moments as each day passes by, that I see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is a reflection of light so wonderous, that it fills me with the necessary strength to push through the rough seas…

(Photo: Reflection on the Salt Marsh ~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2011)

Sometimes the universe heaps so much unsavory matter in our lives, we feel swallowed up by the enormity of it all. It is there, we are in times of deepest despair and sorrow, brought to our knees. Some of us, come to know this time as the Dark Nights of the Soul.

It is here, we lay our troubles ahead of us like an unknown path to a destination that was not on our agenda. Crippled we find ourselves unable to walk the path and find the answers waiting in the light.

But trust we must, that the answers to our questions will be answered if we still our hearts and minds and listen.

It is there in the still of the dark night, that we cry out in anguish that life is so unfair. We weary of the thought of carrying on, because we have been worn down by so much grief.

And so in the darkness, we take one small step at a time, towards the light, with trust and faith that we will be encompassed with the ever glorious light of the universe.

Though the journey might be tough and and the process slower than we wished, we must all take this journey at times in our lives, because it is on this journey that we learn the lessons necessary and gain the strength to move forward in our lives.

The light is there… Trust we must.

(Photo: Parker River Sunset ~~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2012)

I am strong enough to get through whatever life throws at me. There is an inner strength that flows through me like a river that runs through the earth’s surface. ~~ Pamela J. Leavey

(Photo: Merrimack River at Point Shore, July 2011 ~~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2011)

I recognize there is no time like the now to clear up the clutter in my life. Although the task maybe be arduous at times, little by little as I work through the clutter I am clearing space for new possibilities in my life. Every day I re-mind myself that clarity comes from clearing up clutter. ~~ Pamela J. Leavey

This quote caught my eye earlier today…

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy. ~~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge, 1943

Reflecting on the subject of taking delight in something “while we have it,” I think back to times of great joy. We know instinctively in the midst of sheer joy, that that joy will not last forever, but we still revel in it while it is happening.

And then, is that joy not our solace, when we slip down into a period of the dark nights of soul. It is there, lost in the dark nights of soul, that we reflect deepest sometimes. And that reflection at first can appear messy, like the reflection of the clouds amidst the winter trees in the marshes.

Difficult as the path may seem, it is taking the journey through the dark nights of the soul that clears our hearts and allows us to find strength in the notion that “nothing in the world is permanent.”

(Photo: Reflection In Hellcat Swamp ~~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2011)