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Enjoy Today’s Harvest
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Captions
on my morning commute . . . taking the time
Earth laughs in flowers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Perfect Vacation & Passwords
This, I must say, is a GREAT feeling: returning to work from vacation and not being able to remember my password. When this happens, I know that I truly got away from my day-to-day stuff.
Vacation. You’re able to get away from work and you have the opportunity to renew, recharge, and re-invigorate your senses, your inner calm, and your ideals. You’re able to ignore the chorus of shoulds and woulds and coulds that dog your work days and you relax into moments of Just Now.
Vacation is over and you come back to work, sit down in front of your computer and . . . you can’t remember your password. And it feels good — even though you have a mild concern about what is happening to your mind. Those letters and digits that you have typed in day after day while on auto-pilot have simply vanished from your memory. You get the feeling that you went a lot farther on your tirp than you actually did.
Has this happened to you?
Life is just so pleasantly full when you have been allowed to let your mind and heart go to that place that doesn’t require dashing off to work, grocery shopping on the way home, cooking a quick meal, and then catching up on chores around the house so you aren’t completely inundated once you get a day off.
It strikes me that I want to create more Vacation Moments in my day to day. Be more mindful about “making time” to do fun stuff that reminds me that my life is good and that there is time to do fun stuff. [I realize that this is not an extremely ingenious notion!] With all of the reminders to create a heightened awareness of being more mindful, I think we all understand the need for more relaxation . . . more time to just be and less time to just do.
My vacation time travels in cycles. There have been the Glory Days of having lots of trips and there have been times when any travel has been non-existent. These days, my travel time is at an all time low. My solution? I grab mini-vacation time whenever I can get it, and I thoroughly enjoy the experience. I don’t have to be on a tropical beach for two weeks to go into my Happy Place (even though that sounds like a LOT of fun!).
And as for passwords, this last December when I returned home from a trip, I did indeed forget the password for opening the computer at work. Maybe this is not the best litmus test of a great vacation, but it does make me feel blessed that I was able to get outside of my head and inside of my soul.
When you know life is good . . .
. . . that feeling when you can turn your alarm off the night before and sleep in the next day . . .
Happiness is sleeping in on Sunday morning.
The Perfect Vacation:
This thought of the perfect vacation occurred to me when I was sitting in a locals’ brew pub on Maui. I realized that I hadn’t needed my reading glasses for several days . . . meaning that I had been blessedly away from any printed materials and the computer screen . As much as I appreciate technology and its many wonders (I truly do), sometimes it just feels so good to unplug, turn my phone off, and just be in the moment that engages all of my senses.
It felt great to take a break from technology. And it causes me to think on making a conscious effort in my non-vacation days to unplug and seek experiences that engage my senses more fully.
Today, I am going for some balance! How about you? What does balance look and feel like for you?
Color – Such a Pleasant Quality
Color does not add a pleasant quality to design – it reinforces it. – Pierre Bonnard
Happy Color-filled Friday! For today’s journal prompt, download the prompt below and get out your favorite Friday pen . . . you will be recording five “colors” . . . five “things” that reinforce pleasant experiences in your life. Yippee! And yippee for journaling!
For me, the first “color” that comes to mind is helpless laughter — the kind that is snorting, gasping-for-breath, cheek-hurting, and side-splitting. There is something that is just so enriching and bonding about this kind of laughter. When I experience helpless laughter, I feel as if my entire system has been rejuvenated, restored, and reset. It feels so good! I can remember a time when I was going home after a night of dancing with some friends, and I thought I was going to simply split with laughter. We were telling stories and just hooting it up and having so much fun. We eventually pulled until we could get it out of our system.
The funny thing is I can’t remember what it is we were laughing about, but we sure were having fun. I don’t remember what any of us were wearing that night or who the band was or who I danced with that evening. But I can distinctly remember the moonlit night and the the Joyful White Noise of Laughter that boomeranged throughout the car.
It strikes me that this kind of laughter doesn’t happen nearly enough in my life. I think about the “features” of this “color” that bring back such happy memories . . . spontaneity, camaraderie, an enormous feeling of letting go.
Here’s the thing . . . one cannot simply summon or command a moment of helpless laughter. It’s the sort of thing that just happens. However, I can look for opportunities to create moments that involve spontaneity, camaraderie, and letting go. Are you with me? Simply being open to what I value may very well lead me to different shades of happifying.
Maybe I am stretching here. But this is what I enjoy about journaling: stretching and growing my perspective in ways that embrace newness that feels good and that enlivens my life. I am suspecting that the very act of seeking joy in my life is going to bring me joy in return in unexpected and new ways.
Record your five “colors” and let me know what you think. Click on the aqua-blue link below to download and happy journaling!
Colors. Such a Pleasant Quality. journaling prompt
[Print this prompt out, 3-hole punch it, and start your journaling binder. Take the writing journey and listen . . . you can’t get lost when you are following your own heart. After all, you are the only one who can hear what it has to say. The only one. Relax, read, think, feel, listen, write. Repeat. And enjoy the journey. It is a fine one, and one that is perfectly-made just for you, I promise. Life is meant to be grown.]
Best When Fresh
Love and eggs are best when they are fresh. – Russian Proverb
If you could hatch one idea or concept or event or mindful change or good habit or new relationship or . . . . what would it be? Be creative and pick what bubbles to the surface first. I can think of a few right now that are nest-ready and deserving of some attentive sitting right now. The secret for me and my sometimes-scattered ways is for me to take a deep breath, focus, and put in some serious incubation time. Who knows what might hatch as a result of some focused care, attention, and positive intention?
Your prompt for today:
Open your journal and draw a line down the vertical center of your page. On the left side, write a minimum of three things that you would like to hatch right now. On the right side, write a brief description of what your hatchling might look like. Have some fun with this and take a few minutes to relax and to do some nurturing. For example:
Playing my mandolin every single day —> Sitting in with that fun Monday band at the book store
Eating more health-conscious lunches —> Create one of those fun salad-in-a-jar concoctions for work tomorrow
Get outdoors more in this beautiful weather —> Take more mini-breaks while working and take some short walks to stretch and to get some fresh air
As you can see, some of your ideas might require some time while others do not require a lengthy incubation period at all. Some are as simple as going to the produce market, buying some fresh veggies, and washing out a Mason jar. So simple . . . but a hatchling, nonetheless.
Click here for a fun video on how to make a Mason jar salad the night before . . . we can all benefit from a health-conscious lunch.
Life is a lively event. Be good to yourself today. Go forth and nurture those eggs.
“Q” is for Quarantined
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