Archives for posts with tag: small joys

Night and Day

May 4, 2025 //
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I woke this morning with a song in my head. That’s not so strange. It’s not even strange for it to be a love song; it’s been that sort of weekend. What is odd is that it is a Frank Sinatra version of a Cole Porter classic. lol Nothing against Frank, but he’s not generally my choice of crooner for most jazz standards. lol

… The strangeness didn’t stop me from singing along with the song in my head (and heart) all the way to the trailhead…

It is quite a chilly morning for May. I’m glad I wore my frumpy warm favorite baggy sweater. I almost didn’t and I would have regretted any other choice this morning. It’s almost freezing. There is a dense fog clinging to the marsh lowlands. I swap soft shoes for my sturdier boots and head down the trail.

Dawn beats me to the trailhead these days.

Yesterday was a lovely day. I got home from my walk and spent the day on household tasks, mostly laundry, and made time for some reading and played a video game. It was a relaxed day in my Traveling Partner’s good company. I walked thinking about love and feeling grateful and uplifted, rested and recharged.

I baked the best brownies I’ve ever made.

I tried a new brownie recipe. The results were fantastic. I’ve never made better. I used Joshua Weissman’s Fudgey Brownie recipe from his Texture Over Taste cookbook, which differs slightly from the recipe of the same name online (otherwise I’d link it). Seemed like a good day for brownies – and it was. They were so good my beloved had me talked into baking another batch today (they’re easy), but adulthood caught up with him during the night and he later asked me not to. They’re quite irresistible, and also full of sugar; not ideally healthy, and best served as an infrequent treat.

I ran out of energy before I ran out of daylight, and kept things quite simple for dinner.

Just a bowl of ramen.

I smile thinking my thoughts and hearing the sound of my steps crunching along the marsh trail as I walk. The fog enveloped me in my solitude. I could see sunlight in the treetops as I stepped along. I reach my halfway point and stop with some reluctance; 38 degrees (F) feels colder in May than it did in March. lol Still, I stop and write awhile. It is a thing I do.

I’ll finish my walk (probably with my hands jammed into my pockets for warmth), then go to the store before I head home. It’s another day of housework, minus the relaxed shilly-shallying of yesterday. There is a new week ahead, and it’s time to set aside play in favor of getting things done. Laundry. Tidying up. It’s not really a long list – I’ll even find time in the garden. An ordinary day, in what feels like a mostly pretty ordinary life. It is mine, and there are choices to make, actions to take, and projects to see to completion. I know my results will vary. That’s fine. When I fall, I get back up. When I fail, I begin again. It’s a journey. I smile at the rising sun and get to my feet with a song in my heart…

…”Night and day, you are the one…”

…It’s already time to begin again.

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Categories Allegories, breathe, gratitude, inspiration, joy, Love, meditation, Moments, Perspective, Relationships, Spring, The Art of Being, The Big 5, Uncategorized

Waiting, Balancing, Pacing Myself

April 4, 2020 //
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There’s a certain “order” and “flow” to circumstances that sometimes requires a bit of waiting, of patience, of carefully and clearly resetting expectations, and occasionally, even that has to be revisited, reinvented, or repeated along the way. I sip my coffee and remind myself how effortlessly easy it truly is to wait for something – it is the impatience to reach the goal that is the hard part. lol Letting that go, and the waiting? Well, it’s just letting time pass while I do other things, right? 🙂

Big things and small things, life has a lot of “wait for it” built into it. lol It’s neither a good thing, nor a bad thing – it’s just a thing to account for, to accept, to shrug off as one of life’s unavoidable, inevitable experiences. Rich or poor, we’ve all waited for something.

…Yesterday, I was waiting for a delivery of live fish to arrive on my doorstep. Today, I am waiting for a future moment in time. It’s a chill Saturday, well-suited to waiting on moments, contentedly, patiently, considerately, and even gently. The moment will arrive, and when it does, perhaps the waiting will have become “preparing”, “planning”, or some sort of desirable state of readiness, or another?

Aren’t we all waiting, right now? Waiting for the return of what we each understand as “normalcy”? Waiting for the moment we can meet up with our friends over coffee, or that moment we can host a big neighborhood barbecue (or attend one), or that moment when, through a crowd of strangers, we spot that person we know we love… so many moments are on hold right now. Vacations, journeys, endeavors, projects, group gatherings of all sorts… we’re all waiting. In the meantime, we’re all also living our lives. How’s that going for you, right now? 🙂 I hope your wise choices are resulting in a measure of contentment and joy that makes it all quite bearable.

Oh, and yes, the fish did arrive. It was a peculiar afternoon of timely arrivals, actually. My Traveling Partner and I enjoyed an evening punctuated by timely arrivals, and moments of joy, and discussions of our future together – in a time beyond the pandemic. We enjoyed the evening we had in front of us, savored the depth of our conversation, the intimacy of our shared connection, and the commitment to a shared future. It was quite lovely. There is so much more to talk about and to share that pandemic-related content. lol

So… another cup of coffee, another new day. I don’t know what it holds, and I can’t see the future. Nevertheless, I’m waiting, patiently, and contentedly, for another moment, while I enjoy this one right here. 🙂

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Categories Allegories, Free Will, gratitude, health, Healthy Living, inspiration, Love, Metaphors, Mindfulness, Moments, Perspective, Practices, Relationships, Spring, The Art of Being, The Big 5

Fuss and Bother

December 9, 2014 //
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I’m feeling a bit unsocial this morning. The disrupted sleep and short nights are becoming an aggravation. I woke this morning thinking I’d slept enough…until sounds of life and the world at daybreak began to encroach upon my fragile consciousness. It’s not that bad, it’s been worse and I’ll get by just fine once I’m awake, my medication has kicked in for real, and I’ve had my coffee. Saying that, and really meaning it, I recognize for a fleeting moment how far I’ve come and what a big deal self-acceptance and self-compassion can be.

I’m enjoying evenings sharing favorite animation with my family. Some of them, one or the other of us as seen at some point before, and like so many things there is tremendous joy and fun in sharing them. Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, and TriGun are on the menu lately, and I enjoy them all – and rarely find myself particularly aware of other lives, other experiences, and other people with whom I watched them until some quiet moment to reflect reminds me of them, and of then.

My traveling partner interrupts ever so briefly with a frothy cup full of love a tasty latte. There’s something extra wonderful and yummy about unexpected treats, trinkets, and gifts. Yesterday, shortly after arriving home, I was playfully advised that a package at the door for me was really for me, and please don’t wait to open it… It turned out to be a really neat fun cookie tray for baking sugar cookies and such into holiday shapes! (It is clear the holiday baking of the weekend was very well received. lol) I love the holiday season. It often seems that at this time of year everyone tries just a little bit harder to be more like the best person they imagine themselves to be, really putting their best qualities out there for the world. It’s lovely.

A latte. A quiet morning. I am content in this precious moment. What the next holds for me is yet unknown, and that, too, is quite okay. Small details matter, and cherishing these lovely moments, however insignificant they may seem, is by far the best gift I am giving myself this year.

Love is my lighthouse.

Love is my lighthouse.

Today is a good day to embrace each pleasant moment long enough to truly value it, to savor it, to make it memorable. Today is a good day to recognize the simple beauty of small joys. Today is a good day to be content. Today is a good day to help when I can. Today is a good day to change the world.

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Categories Brain Injury, Healthy Living, Love, Mindfulness, Perspective, Relationships, The Big 5