Jul 6
“Nothing like a little judicious levity.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
“The body, she says, is subject to the force of gravity. But the soul is ruled by levity, pure.”― Saul Bellow
Weight and levity.
Gravity and flight.
Ground and sky.
Both and all the in between.
Awe and wonder.
Play and laughter.
Lighten up.
Ignite your imagination.
Illuminate this day.
Let joy in.
“Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.” – Mother Teresa
Apr 13
“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”― Nicolas Chamfort
“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”― Nicolas Chamfort
Do not waste this day.
Laughter. Joy. Wonder.
Bubbles floating in air.
Take a pause.
Pay attention.
Dance. Delight. Walk lightly.
Sun. A soft breeze.
A thousand, no, ten thousand springs.
Delight here in this very moment.
“I am so fresh in soul and spirit that life gushes and bubbles around me in a thousand springs.” – Robert Schumann
“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” – Dr. Seuss
“Success is not like a cake that needs to be divided. It’s more like a heap of stones – a cairn. If someone is successful, they add a stone to the cairn. It gets very high and can be seen from all over the world. That’s how I see it.” – Maeve Binchy
By lunch the temperature broke 10 degrees.
An invitation to get some fresh air and crisp sun.
A sliver of warm sandwiched before the next dip.
After five days of mall walking, invitation accepted.
The girls needed to get out to chase some joy too.
Without delay, recess is in session.
Mission Fun for 30 minutes triggered.
From one end of the wooded park to the other, ball chasing and frolicking with other dogs who got the same invitation to the party.
Walking the hill to the car, Abby proudly carried all three balls she came with.
Gently placing them down, she created a tennis ball cairn.
Cairn is a Gaelic term meaning “heap of stones.”
There are several meanings to cairn in different cultures across centuries.
Balance, marking, peace, prayer.
All seem to fit our quick adventure.
Mission Fun, accomplished.
Take a recess or two and go stack some fun today.
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” – Maya Angelou
“Animals praise a good day, a good hunt. They praise rain if they’re thirsty. That’s prayer. They don’t live an unconscious life, they simply have no language to talk about these things. But they are grateful for the good things that come along.” – Mary Oliver
“Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.” – Dale Carnegie
I take the girls to the dog park almost every day.
A few blocks out, Abby starts groaning with anticipation.
If no one is around, I let them off leash at the top of the hill and they barrel down the wooded path as if arriving somewhere new for the first time ever.
Every single time, enthusiasm overflowing, fresh and new joy.
We can make the ordinary daily activities extraordinary by entering them through doors of wonder and windows of awe.
Seeing the same from a different angle.
Like we’ve never been here before and that we won’t ever be in this day again.
One is in our control and the other is not.
Time is moving swiftly.
We slow it down when we savor and celebrate it while we are in it.
No where to be but here and now.
Like never before or ever again.
Praise this good day.
Hunt well.
Plenty to be found.
“Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.”― Aeschylus
“Remember that happiness is as contagious as gloom. It should be the first duty of those who are happy to let others know of their gladness.” – Maurice Maeterlinck
May the door to delight and awe be unlocked and open.
Letting play and fun do their work in you.
Lightening the load.
Creating space.
Putting down the unnecessary.
Making room for the breath of life.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Smile, laugh, let your guard down.
Rejoice and be glad in this day.
Cultivate, create, and share gladness to spark and kindle joy for others.
Be contagious with zest, enthusiasm and encouragement.
Unexpected sparks, brightest blazes.
Make it a “I got three balls in my mouth” kind of day.
“Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”― Samuel Johnson, The Idler
“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.”― Mark Twain
“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”― Henry James
Two days of snow is making for good sledding and fort building conditions. On a walk with the girls last night with the snow softly falling, a boy was climbing his new snow hill in his front yard to slide. Up and down and back again. As we passed by, he stopped at the top, looked at me and asked “are you having a good day?” I said I yes and it looked like he was having a good one too. He made a good day even better.
A simple question from a boy to check on another. Pretty profound. A sense of other, of interest, of kindness. Are you having a good day? Get out of your own head and take interest in others. Connect, ask and wait for the answer. And certainly do not forget to do something fun with the piles of snow or sand, depending where you live. Divide the joy, get the full value.
Are you going to make it a good day so you can answer “Yes!” to the question? Extend a kindness to another to double the joy.
“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” — Henry David Thoreau
“When it comes to the beauty of nature, time stops, the space becomes silent and the soul falls asleep while awake!”― Mehmet Murat ildan
After an off-leash romp in the woods, Abby returned wearing the woods.
And a big grin.
Sasha came up behind with the same delight.
Coats of joy.
Evidence of frolic.
A big mess to brush out.
Worth every stroke.
A release of energy and enthusiasm to generate even more.
Go off leash every day.
Untie from tasks, rushing, shoulds, have-tos, busy work, transactional.
Unbound, untethered, free-falling into felicity.
Nature invites all to the playground of expanse and exploration.
Breathe. Drink. Taste.
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” —Henry David Thoreau
“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” —Mahatma Gandhi
“Every day is a good day. There is something to learn, care and celebrate.”― Amit Ray, Walking the Path of Compassion
“Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that dance.”― Amit Ray, Mindfulness Living in the Moment – Living in the Breath
Joy is a verb, an action, a decision.
May you dance with it daily.
Inhaling and exhaling, deeply.
Celebrate and keep opening this wonderous gift of life.
“Breath is the finest gift of nature. Be grateful for this wonderful gift.”― Amit Ray, Beautify your Breath – Beautify your Life
“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”- Orhan Pamuk
“The dog lives for the day, the hour, even the moment.” – Robert Falcon Scott
Abby loves chasing tennis balls. She’s diversifying her fun practices to include frisbee catching as well. When I went out to throw a few, she saw an opportunity to diversify further by grabbing my glove that was hanging out of my pocket and frolicking ensued. She must have sensed that I needed to lighten up and enter goofball mode, a place she and Sasha spend a lot of time in. Game on.
May we all enter goofball mode daily to lighten up, have fun, finding joy in the ordinary where it resides awaiting our attention, participation and engagement.
“Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.”― Anne Lamott
“Let the wild rumpus start!”— Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are
“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it… it’s just easier if you do.”― Byron Katie
Let your imagination roam, wander.
Uncharted territory.
Off path.
Allow unknowing, mystery.
Invite wonder, awe.
Embrace light, laughter.
It’s a big big big world.
Inside and out.
Explore, get lost, be found again.
Wild essential things.
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”—The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
