Tag: joy

It’s Your Thing

I don’t believe that there is any decent writer who isn’t also an avid reader. Most days before I start writing, I do a fair amount of reading. Interestingly, no matter how randomly I seem to choose my reading materials in the morning: news stories, essays, book chapters, tweets, horoscopes, old journal entries of my own, text exchanges, magazine articles etc., a common theme often seems to evolve. Today, from my various readings, I jotted down these ideas that seemed to be “the message” which my most intuitive self was trying to bring to the forefront of my mind and into the guidance of my everyday life:

Don’t fixate on the negative.

Enjoy and fully appreciate the everyday modest delights in life.

Keep it simple.

One of my readings this morning included this quote:

“A multitude of small delights constitutes happiness.” – Charles Baudelaire

This morning, not long after I jotted the French poet’s astute quote down into another one of my almost full leather bound notebooks (On an aside, I consider these notebooks of mine to be some of my greatest treasures in life. These ever-evolving notebooks contain thoughts and wisdoms that provoke my own thinking, and they guide me and inspire me to my own innate wisdom and peace. These personal treasure boxes are available for anyone who can read and who can think and who can feel, to create and to accumulate and to savor. If you don’t have a “thought museum” journal/notebook/scrapbook, start one today. They are like potato chips. You won’t be able to stop at just one.), I started reading another excellent article by the New Zealander, Karen Nimmo. Karen Nimmo is a psychologist and a prolific writer and this particular excerpt from her article stood out to me, and enforced and validated this one main message that seems to be the theme of my reading today:

“Life is challenging, that’s the deal we all sign on for. But if you find one thing — one thing — that gets you excited even in small doses, one thing that makes you come alive, preserve it. Nurture it. Build it. Sneak back to it. Invest in it. Because it’ll be there for you all the days of your life.” – Karen Nimmo

I have often thought that if I am fortunate enough to grow old and feeble, I hope that I will always have the ability to read, and hopefully, even to write. (More than once, I have even pictured little old lady me, perched in her comfy bed, in the nursing home, reading to her heart’s content, all day long until it’s time for dinner, and then I even hope to be able to read, while I am eating my dinner.) Reading gets me excited, even in small doses. So does writing. Writing makes me come alive. And so every morning, as Nimmo suggests, I preserve these activities. I nurture them. I prioritize them. I sneak back throughout the day to look at my blog, and to read any comments, and to read other various written communications that have caught my fancy. I invest in these activities on a daily basis, because they are an investment in my own happiness and fulfillment and feeling of purpose. My happiness and excitement and contentment is positive energy that spills out to my home environment, and to my family, and to my pets, and to my friends, and to my community and to my world. My investment in my deepest, truest self (even in small doses) ends up being my gift of joy to the world. Win-win. What is “that thing”, that “one thing” that makes you come alive? What’s that “one thing” that brings out your most beautiful, positive, alive and happy energy, so that when you do “that thing”, it only adds to the bank of positive energy that our world so desperately needs right now? Whatever that activity is for you, doing “that thing” is your gift to yourself, to your family, to your friends, to your community and to your world. You owe it to yourself, and you owe it to all of the rest of us, to do that thing that makes you feel the most alive, even if it is only in small doses. In a world where we are facing a horrific crisis that has absolutely no winners, we need loads and loads more of the magnificent, light-filled, uplifting, excited, loving, positive energy that is a “win-win” for all of us. As Nimmo says, find “your thing”. “Preserve it. Nurture it. Build it. Sneak back to it. Invest in it.” Do it for yourself. Do it for all of us.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Charlie and Milo

Image

This is a picture of Charlie and Milo, twins with Down Syndrome, who are viral on TikTok. This picture gave to me my first, biggest smile of the day. In my experience, people who have Down Syndrome have that ability to make others smile. It seems like the extra chromosome that comes with Down Syndrome, also includes an extra dose of pure joy and happiness. Many, many years ago, I sold college textbooks for a living. One of my professors told me the story about how upset his family was when they learned that their fifth and youngest child had Down Syndrome. At the time, he said, the whole family believed that having a Down Syndrome child was the worst thing that had ever happened to their family. But, as the professor regaled me with many love-filled stories about his family’s adventures with his wonderful youngest son, and the close relationship which the two of them shared, the professor told me emphatically, that their Down Syndrome son was the BEST thing that ever “happened” to his family. (It’s funny how these are the kinds of stories which you never forget in your life. I forget a lot of stuff these days, but stories like these, I never, ever forget.) Here are some facts about Down Syndrome, taking verbatim from DoSomething.org:

Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic condition where a person is born with an extra copy of chromosome 21. This additional genetic material changes the course of development and causes the characteristics we have associated with Down Syndrome.[1]

The exact cause of the extra chromosome that triggers Down syndrome is unknown.[2]

One in every 691 babies in the U.S. is born with Down syndrome, making it the most common chromosomal condition.[3]

There are more than 400,000 people living with Down syndrome in the U.S.[4]

In 1983, the average life expectancy of a person with Down syndrome was a mere 25-years-old. Today, it’s 60.[5]

Children and adults with Down syndrome share some common features, but naturally the individuals will more closely resemble their immediate family members.[6]

Since the 1970s, public schools are required by law to provide a free and appropriate education to children with Down syndrome.[7]

The likelihood of giving birth to a child with Down syndrome increases with maternal age, however, 80% of babies with Down syndrome are born to women under 35 years of age because this age group gives birth most frequently.[9]

Roughly 25% of families in the U.S. are affected by Down syndrome.[10]

While behavior, mental ability, and physical development varies from person to person, many individuals with Down syndrome grow up to hold jobs, live independently, and enjoy normal recreational activities.[11]

Let’s be like Charlie and Milo today and let our inner joy take the lead with whatever we are doing. Who’s to say that people with Down Syndrome aren’t the wisest people on Earth? What’s wiser than to live in every moment with pure, unadulterated jubilation???

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Just Bloom

I’ve mentioned on the blog that I love my plants and jardinière. Yesterday evening, I looked over at my lovely figurehead lady, who has probably adorned our lanai for at least seven or eight years. (And in that time, she sure has weathered some storms.) She has housed a few different plants during all of these years, but never, ever, has her hat of flowers looked more fabulous and ornate and celebratory than right now. I smiled because it reminded me of a news story I read recently. An 82-year-old Oklahoma woman dressed up, and she wore a hat for her Zoom church meetings, 52 weeks in a row, during this terrible pandemic. Bloom where you are planted, right? We don’t always have a lot of control about what goes on all around us, but as we weather our storms, we do have a choice to do it in style and flair, and in hope.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/03/31/sunday-virtual-church-outfit/

Stylish woman dresses up for Zoom church every Sunday

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Find Your Stoke

The other day I was a little bit restless, perhaps a bit bored. I was flitting around from one thing to another, not really accomplishing anything. I was aggravated so I started poking into my family’s business, being annoying and relentless in the spreading of my agitation around like butter.

My youngest son (a senior in high school) said, “Mom, you need to find your stoke.”

“What the hell does that mean?” was my flash, edgy answer.

“Like Ralphie loves to swim.” ( Ralphie is our labrador retriever who thinks our pool is a daily dose of heaven provided for him, at the scratch of a door.) “You need to find what excites you today,” he said bluntly and correctly.

I think that is the funniest thing about kids growing up – the role reversal. How many times did I have to remind my kids to “find your stoke” by showing them their favorite toys or telling them to call their friends or even assigning chores for them to do?

Why is it so easy on some days to get lost in “your stoke” and other days to completely forget what excites you in the first place? Some days are so purpose-full and other days, your insides are screaming, “What’s my purpose?” I like it that I have raised centered kids who sometimes have to remind me to get balanced and centered, too. We all need that reminder from time to time.

“If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.” – Bishop T.D. Jakes

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Harold Whitman