Serenity, Sadness and of course Spring.

Yesterday was a rainy, windy dreary day and my whole body, mind and soul felt that way as well.  I just couldn't get motivated to do anything, so I wallowed in gloom all day.  I really couldn't get a handle on why I felt this way but I did so I just went with the feeling.

The thing is perhaps it's just what was needed at that moment in time.  I think that sometimes we just need to give into gloomy feelings, we just can't get stuck there.  So I allowed myself to feel sad, to feel mopey, to feel the enormity of what's happening all around us and then around dinner time, the clouds parted, the rain and thunderstorms stopped and the sun came out, so I did what I talk about in these blog posts - I stretched, opened the sliders and walked out onto my deck and breathed in the fresh air.  I looked around at the backyard and saw that there was very little damage from the storms, just a few overturned lawn chairs and I took a few more deep deep breaths and found my serenity.

People keep saying that this "shelter in place" is our new reality but I beg to differ.  I believe that this is just a blip in reality and that this blip in time maybe needed to reset our world, our lives and perhaps give us some focus on what should really matter to us - family, respect, love, caring, finding the joy in our lives and the beauty in our world.

The new reality will be what we choose to do once this pandemic begins to wane.  Will we return to "normalcy" by being obsessed with who has more money or more power than we do or will we be able to remember that for the past couple of months we have changed our perspectives, changed our focus put the emphasis on our families, on our neighbors, on those around us who have quietly been there for us all along- grocery clerks, restaurant employees, doctors, nurses, medical assistants, hospital staff, the list goes on and on.

Serenity is about being in touch with your inner peace.  It's a very necessary focus for maintaining stability in this very unusual time.  So at least once a day I walk away from the walls that surround me and I step outside and listen (which is now far more soothing since there are very few cars on the road) and then I close my eyes and breathe.  All I need is a few minutes and it resets my thoughts, resets my inner peace and locates my serenity.

Find your serenity each and every day.  It works for me and hopefully you'll find a little peace from locating your serenity.

Please Be Safe, Keep Your Distance and Keep Healthy!

Spring in my backyard.  This is the beauty that helps me locate my serenity.

Confinement, Family, a Little Chaos and a lot of Serenity.

So it's a very different world we are currently living in and I don't know about you but for me, it's been very very very weird.

I'm not used to just sitting at home working from my desk or sitting at my breakfast bar or on the couch with my laptop, mobile phone and IPad.  I'm used to going out and meeting with possible donors, having face-to-face meetings at coffee shops, I'm not used to doing Zoom conferencing and text messaging constantly and I'm not really sure that I like it, but it's the new normal and I will survive.

Daily stress is now a part of our lives and we need tools to help manage it.  I'm no expert but my tool is detoxing with nature.  It's how I've been able to find my serenity on a daily basis.  Each day I try to take a little bit of time to just walk outside, sometimes I walk for a couple of miles keeping social distancing in mind, sometimes it's simply walking out into my yard.  No matter what I always have my phone with me, not to answer calls but to listen to zen type music and to take photographs of the beauty that surrounds me.  I'm finding that each day there are changes in colors, changes in scents and wonder all around - that's how I maintain my serenity.  I pause, observe and photograph.

This might not be your thing, but it's definitely mine.  I think that everyone needs to find a place for just themselves, a moment that you can escape from the constant inputs of news, of social media, of chaos and noise in your home, or even in your place of business if you're a doctor, nurse, medical staff or first responder.  Take a moment to find a little peace, find a little bit of joy, find a little piece of nature, of music, of serenity.  It may helps us survive the chaos.

Stress is part of life and how we manage it is what will keep us sane.  Perhaps by locating our serenity it will keep us being nice to each other and keep our conversations pleasant.

Please be safe, please maintain your social distance, stay healthy and find your serenity!