Category: Joy

Heavier to Carry

April 8, 2021

Greetings of the Day…

It is a bright, sunny morning here in Massachusetts’ North Shore. Every day, I’ve been watching over my bulbs that I planted last fall. So far, I have some crocus and some daffodils blooming, and lots of tulips coming up. I feel very protective of my spring bulbs. They are the first bulbs I’ve planted in about 10 years. I love to garden. The pandemic brought that joy back into my life.

I have to admit though, gardening was a lot easier when I was younger! These days, I take it a little slower and that’s just fine. Especially after a year of sitting around the house, in pandemic lock down mode. I’m zapped. The emotional toll of the pandemic is heavy. We go about our days the best we can, the numbers, those we have lost, hang quietly in the back of our minds, too much to convey.

Everyday, I just do the best I can, because that is all any of us can do, not just now, in the midst of the pandemic, but in life as well. We all have silent struggles, that we tuck away, or we work through them. It’s far better to work through those silent struggles, that to tuck them away, because when we tuck them away they became heavier to carry.

Don’t carry the struggles, let them open up, and blossom, and listen to what they are teaching you. Struggles are lessons. We’re here to learn. The lessons of the last year have been tough, but we’ve all learned to find joy in the midst.

I wish you all a blessed day…

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Spring Showers

March 26, 2021

Good Morning Friends… It’s a little dreary and rainy here today, but as they say, “spring showers, bring spring flowers.” I’ve been watching my spring bulbs as they make their way through the cool soil and begin to grow. Each day, a little more. That’s what life is about, growing each day, a little more.

Wherever you are, rain or shine, I am wishing you all a bright and beautiful day. Find some joy and be kind to one another.

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A Surprise That Brings Joy

March 23, 2021

Greetings of the Day…

What a bright and beautiful spring day it is. We’ve had nothing but sunshine since the first day of spring. I’ve spent more time outside than in, in the past few days. Soaking up the sun, listening to the birds and monitoring the bulbs that I have planted as they poke out of the soil that is warming in the sun. So far I have some tulips, daffodils and crocus coming up. I confess, I do not quite remember what all I planted. I love a good surprise, a surprise that brings joy.

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Daily Affirmations: In This Moment

February 24, 2020

I love the feeling of floating in life. You know that feeling, when everything in life is working the way you want it to and you are floating along, flowing on course. In truth, we’re always floating in life, we’re a stick floating downstream on the river of life. Whether life is good or life is not good, we’re still floating. But it’s our mindset that is different. Sometimes we can change that mindset but other times it is best to work through whatever it is that is weighing us down. Maybe we are not a buoyant as we’d like to because we’re going through a lot of heavy stuff in our lives – loss, pain, trauma, grief, financial struggle, drama with others – you name it, these are the things we need to work through as we float downriver.

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Food for Thought: Life as a Process of Following a Path

February 21, 2020

I look at life as a process of following a path. The path isn’t always direct. Sometimes it is straight and you are moving along in life thinking, “yeah, this is good.” And then one day the path takes a turn. You’re good with that turn, great, keep moving. Maybe the turn doesn’t feel right. Maybe you need to sit and think about whether you want to go in the new direction or turn back. It’s still a forward motion in life if you follow the turn. Turning back might not be beneficial, because life is all about moving forward and evolving as our best selves.

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Creative Writing and Finding Joy in Nature

January 21, 2020

In 2015, while working on my undergraduate degree in Digital Communications and Creative Writing I did an Independent Study in Nature Writing. During the class, I had substantial reading list (some of the books are listed below) that I worked my way through. However, I found that the most valuable and instructive time that I spent, while working on my independent study, was actually done outdoors in nature observing it in the area of the Merrimack River estuary lands where I lived in Amesbury, Massachusetts.

At the time I rented an apartment in a historical shipwright’s house on Pleasant Valley Road. All around the house there were woods and wetlands that are protected by the Massachusetts Division of Conservation Services. I needed only to sit at my desk to and look out the window in front of it to see bald eagles and blue herons fly across or even through the front yard.

One day returning from my frequent walks along the river I watched a sharp-shinned hawk dive from a sugar maple tree in the front yard into a yew shrub in front of my living room window (where my desk sat) and lunch on a sparrow.