Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Happiness’ Category

May 4

Loaf

“I lean and loaf at my ease… observing a spear of summer grass.”― Walt Whitman

May you find loafing and ease each day to –

Be grateful
Be joyful
Be silly
Be relaxed
Be settled
Be kind
Be empathetic
Be light
Be present

To just be. Let go of doing. Quiet both the outside and inside voices and listen to stillness for clarity. Observe where and what you are paying attention to. It is when we are in the vast wilderness that we return to discover who we are and always have been. Observe a spear of grass.

Apr 24

2 Comments

Run with Joy

“Never lose the childlike wonder. Show gratitude… Don’t complain; just work harder… Never give up.” – Randy Pausch

When we were young, we were light on our feet, untethered. Each day a new adventure filled with delight and awe. Naïve, they say. So we grew up and got “real.” We traded possibility and fun for rules and limitations. We allowed other voices in and proceeded to become “wise” by over-complicating it all. “Yes!” was swiftly replaced with “no.”

My great nephew Liam was born the same year that my Dad and my two dogs Molly and Lily passed away. He was and still is a bright light, an oasis in the desert. And he just keeps getting better by the day.

"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all." – Mark 10:15

“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” – Mark 10:15

He runs with joy. Uninhibited, pure sweet joy. And he invites me in to his world to be silly, to dance and sing like no one is watching. And if they are, who cares, they can join in too. I enter his beautiful, innocent world filled with wonder and all of the stuff that clutters and distorts life floats away with the bubbles he chases into the sky as he yells “bubbles!”

Each of us has the capacity and the calling to run with joy, to chase bubbles and to see the world through the eyes of our inner child who keeps asking us to come out and play.

Enjoy your life unbound and with splendor. And by doing so, you give others an invitation to join you and if but only for a moment to find solace in difficulty and the rainbow after the rain. Run with joy.

Apr 17

Cutting the Lawn in Winter

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” – Albert Camus

Mid-April and 17+ inches of snow in Minnesota this past weekend. No doubt, it has been one long winter that continues on. Circumstances, other people, the weather take up too much of our time. We lament and try to change things that we can’t change. In the midst of this effort, we are missing out on our life.

It’s pretty simple, yet we’ve made it hard. We either hibernate or we find the invincible summer inside and burst out into the world, regardless of what’s in our peripheral vision. Our ability to focus our attention and time on what’s important and of meaning has never been more important.

If 17 inches of snow can defeat us, we need to work on our resilience and more importantly our sense of humor needs some exercising. Flex your joy muscles today and bring summer to the winters that surround you, even in July. However, I am not convinced that snow is not possible in July based on this past winter. Bring it on!

Sometimes, you need to get the lawnmower out in the snow.

Apr 9

1 Comment

Flowers Within

“We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.” – Aristotle Onassis

It is April 9th and it snowed again. I worked half the weekend on projects and trying to get my email down which didn’t work. I’m still at 500 emails with “to dos” attached to them. Civility is at an all-time low and adult-bullying is at an all-time high. Friends struggling with death, surgery, elderly parents. And it’s Monday and my calendar is filled with meetings that will produce more “busyness.”

Insert your list here.

We all are justified to be exhausted, frustrated and fed up. But that bus trip gets you to wasted days that never return. So despite our justifications, we must cling to hope and find joy in our winter seasons.

So much of what we suffer is outside of us – circumstances, unreasonable expectations, other people, the weather. We can and must control what’s inside so we can go out into the world and be hope and joy-filled people. To contribute to light rather than darken the darkness.

We have to intentionally, mindfully and actively choose hope over despair. So write your list, acknowledge the challenges and then move on. Also, write a list of your blessing and gifts. It will be much longer and deeper than you think. Gratitude is the bus to get on.

Find your inner “Tigger” and grow flowers within when the soil outside is still frozen and barren. And go out and beam, start a domino-effect of joy. That’s powerful. Joy over despair.

Cast light, bloom, multiply joy. Now that’s worthy of our time and attention.

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.” – Pope John Paul II

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.” – Pope John Paul II

Apr 6

1 Comment

Magnificent

William James

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” – William James

“Time itself comes in drops.” – William James

Magnificent, spectacular, striking, breathtaking, delightful. We need more of these words and feelings in our daily life. Magnificent is waiting to be seen right in front of us each day. In a sunrise, a smile, a laugh, a poem, a dog’s enthusiasm to virtually everything, a song – all found in drops of time. Awe and beauty amidst the chaos and struggle. They co-exist. What we pay attention to defines our day, our life.

Find the magnificent in your day today no matter what you are going through. It may be like “Finding Waldo” to start, but the more we do it, the easier it becomes and the more we need it. Keep an eye out – there’s a spectacular day ahead.

Mar 12

Chase the Ball

“Life is fragile. We're not guaranteed a tomorrow so give it everything you've got.” – Tim Cook

“Life is fragile. We’re not guaranteed a tomorrow so give it everything you’ve got.” – Tim Cook

“Beauty is a fragile gift.” – Ovid

Amidst our “first world” problems of unattainable deadlines, traffic delays, acceptable incivility and general daily irritations, life is happening right before our eyes. These days are the days – the good ole days we’ll look back on and long for even though we missed most of them in pursuit of the nonexistent.

Wake up and be present so you feel the depth and breadth of each day. This is it. Chase the ball and keep having fun in the pursuit of simple daily joy. Join in life and start participating, praising and celebrating all that is right now.

Play the board game with the kids. Make snow angels. Throw the ball. Chase the ball. Be silly. Dance like you don’t give a damn who’s watching. Laugh every flippin’ day. One life. This is it. Start living each day. Beauty abound. You now have the secret, the shortcut, the formula. Today. Be present.

Mar 9

2 Comments

Do It with Joy

“Perfect happiness is a beautiful sunset, the giggle of a grandchild, the first snowfall. It’s the little things that make happy moments, not the grand events. Joy comes in sips, not gulps.” – Sharon Draper

When we get stuck in the “whys” and “whens,” we miss out on the depth of now. Without a doubt, no one gets through life without bumps, bruises and scars. But woven through it all right in front of us is a current of grace and awe.

What really matters is not that we have challenges but rather how we go through them. With angst or joy. And we have the choice. So whatever this day brings or wherever you are at on your journey right now, choose light as you move through. Do it with joy and heart all in.

“Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful, and free. The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.” – Don Miguel Ruiz

“Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful, and free. The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.” – Don Miguel Ruiz

Feb 12

With Great Joy

“Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.” – Thomas Carlyle

The joy of watching the Olympics is to witness the fruition of years of work, stories of struggle, come-backs and then after all of that a medal or just the mere opportunity to compete among the best and be counted as one.

We reach our dreams and aspirations by opening our eyes and pursuing them with diligence, grit and a “never give up” attitude, no matter what. There will be a lot of noise and clutter along the way. Tune it out and stay focused on the pursuit and most important, enjoy the journey along the way. Don’t let your “to do” list, a snarky comment from another or your own fear and doubts get in the way of becoming who you are called to be. And do it daily with great joy!

“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. – Acts 20:24

Jan 28

2 Comments

Airborne

“There's something just magical about flight. Period.” – Graham Hawkes

“There’s something just magical about flight. Period.” – Graham Hawkes

“Be like the bird who, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she hath wings.” – Victor Hugo

We all have it in us. The longing and the ability to take flight, to be airborne. To run so fast that you break gravity. Feel the freedom of flight if but for a second to get a glimpse of heaven. It is in us you know. In each one of us.

Chase it. Let it chase you and get caught up in it. There is such delight waiting just outside our thoughts and fears. Calling us to come out and play. Pursue and be pursued. Pure magic.

“Life seeks life and loves life. The opening of a catkin of a willow, in the flight of the butterfly, in the chirping of a tree-toad or the sweep of an eagle – my life loves to see how others live, exults in their joy, and so far is partner in their great concern.” – Edward Everett Hale

Jan 21

4 Comments

One Less Thing

“There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.” – Lord Byron

What is one less thing you can do? Not more, less.

What we say “no” to gets us to the richness of the “yes” things we long for and are called to do. I jam as much activity into a minute better than most and it merely fosters more activity. Yet that which I value most is not quantity of tasks but quality of moments of depth that comes from “single” tasking.

A long run, throwing the ball for the girls, writing, reading more than 3 pages in a book, prayer and reflection that leads to gratitude and grace, a walk in the woods, undivided attention and device free moments with family and friends. That’s my list. What’s yours?

And when we get to more “yes” things that matter, the other stuff that makes up our ridiculously long “to do” list gets done. And if they don’t then maybe those things shouldn’t be done in the first place. Add more quality to your days and your tasks by doing less so the things that you spend your precious and limited time on bring more joy and discovery to your days. Remove items from the list so you can fully participate in life rather than be a “productive” machine.

Add by subtracting. It’s the new math.

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »