Affirmations

What activities make you feel the best?  I am happy when I can be productive in a way that serves others.      That poses a challenge for me these days.  When I worked as an educator, I truly felt that I was making a difference each day. These days, I have to be creative in order to achieve that same level of helping.  When looking for ways to fill a day, I have always found that the most rewarding tasks were those that supported others.  Some of my favorite jobs were those that allowed me to teach others a skill that they could then use to improve their own work.  Even hobbies seem more fun when they result in some form of assistance.  In fact, I think that our purpose in life is to do things for others.   What about you?  What do you do on a daily basis that supports or helps others? Does your work allow you to do so? Or perhaps you have hobbies or creative outlets that provide this outcome.  If you are reading this with skep...

If you haven’t yet heard of this practice, you have been missing out.  The Japanese people have lived by the concept of forest bathing for ages.  The main idea of the practice is simple:  spend at least 20 minutes a ay in nature.  Why is this important?  Studies, partially spurred on by knowledge of this practice, have found that time spent outdoors can lead to faster healing, less anxiety, slower heart rate and lower blood pressure, among a variety of other ailments.  If this isn’t enough to encourage you to get outside, perhaps the idea of slowing down for 20 minutes might convince you to try it. Forest bathing doesn’t necessarily have to happen in the forest.  For some, it might mean taking a walk through the countryside, walking through an orchard, or even just stepping out of the office and spending time sitting on a bench outside.  For those in the city, it might be difficult to get to a park to forest bathe.  No worries!  Simply g...

Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays… We spend a lot of time preparing for these “big” events and then enjoying the celebrations that that ensue. Those days provide us with great amounts of pleasure, and often give us an opportunity to share that with others.  They are great reasons for celebration. However, in addition to the big events, perhaps we should make an effort to celebrate the small things in life more often as well.  Each of use have different ideas about what small events deserve celebrating  For some, its just a matter of the temperature dropping, or perhaps its the opposite!  Some might think that a day at work without a meeting is also cause to celebrate.  There are any number of “small things” that happen during our day for which we could, or should, celebrate. I challenge you to find at least one “small thing” to celebrate this weekend. Your celebration doesn’t have to be “Thanksgiving” large.  It could even be a small high five with someone...

Good afternoon, Today, I find myself filled gratitude.  I am grateful to have woken up this morning. I hope you are, too. I’m also grateful to be surrounded by a huge support system of family and friends, and friends who have become family. I try to tell each of them “thank you” as often as I can.  I fall short of the mark sometimes, so I want everyone reading this to know how much I appreciate each of you. For whom are you grateful?  What have you said or done recently to show your gratitude to them?  This is today’s challenge:  Choose one of those folks and reach out to them.  Explicitly state one of the reasons for which you are grateful.  You will feel wonderful for having shared with them, and trust me, they will feel great because of it, too. If sharing that with others seems to stressful to you (it can be quite challenging), then choose one of the items in the lead photo and spend a few minutes mediating on the blessing of filling your heart and...

Do you ever wonder what your purpose might be?  What career you should seek out, or if you should have sought something different than you did?   Or perhaps the question that plagues you is where to find your joy? What can you do to surround yourself with positivity? Both of these are themes that face each of us. We all ponder these questions at some point. Most of us ask them numerous times over the years. It seems to me that they are major driving forces behind our choices as adults.  However, just because they exist in all of us, that doesn’t make the decisions we make in regard to them any easier.  Sometimes, we find that it is very difficult to come up with an answer to one or both of the questions posed at the beginning of this blog.  This can lead to confusion, frustration, and even a sense of sadness or depression.  So what can one do in this situation? I find that focusing on a positive thought, feeling, or even memory can pull me out of the negati...

What type of photographer might you be?  Do you aim for candid shots or are you more of a staged photo sort?   Do you prefer pics of nature, architecture, humans, or a some combo of the above?   Or, are you reading this and thinking, does it even matter?  They are just pictures, right?   I’ll be honest:   I fall into the last group   I put almost zero effort into “framing” a photo, unless under duress to “make it look good.”  I just don’t get all that excited about pictures.   Luckily, Jim enjoys taking and posting pictures, so I’m “mostly” off the hook.   So why do I ask?  Because I find myself hoping that you’ve each had reason to smile today. Whether it was a smile after seeing someone you’ve been missing, or perhaps a smile appeared while watching a tiny house TikTok (yes, several of those encouraged my smiles today), or maybe your special smile showed up after completing some onerous task.   Whether you smiled for these or...