Chaos, Vitriol and Serenity

 I’m sitting in my screened in porch, listening to the much needed rain, the music of the birds and once in awhile some traffic and just allowing myself to be in the moment. Steady rain especially after a really dry period is cleansing, it clears the air and makes sweet and breathable. There’s a serenity that’s surrounded me.

Today’s world has become increasingly more chaotic and the vitriol that constantly envelops us is overwhelming.  What has happened to us?  (This is a rhetorical question). We no longer listen to each other, we argue for the sake of arguing, it’s “my way or the highway “ mentality and that’s an exhausting way to live. There are times that even I have gone down that path and then there are moments where I just walk away choosing not to engage. It’s disheartening.

How can we not be sad at our world?

Personally, I’ve gotten into truly listening to the songs of the birds in my backyard, as well as binaural beats (some kinda musical tones that calm the mind). It helps me focus on finding my inner serenity and for a little while calm the chaos of the world. 

Now more than ever we need mechanisms to enable us to locate the serenity within ourselves. 

Find your serenity through the music of nature, the quiet of color changing leaves, meditative music, binaural sounds, what works for me may not be the best for you but I’m asking you to try.

HAPPY AUTUMN!

(Photo by blog author)

Finding Serenity in Retirement

 It’s been quite a while since my last post, but there have been a lot of changes in my life:

A) The ending of my nonprofit.

B)  Retirement 

C). Moving to a new location and downsizing 

D) But the best part of choosing change is the reward of being close to family, of having time to volunteer for organizations that inspire me. 

Inspiration promotes serenity to me. Part of my motivation has included more active participation in my local gym, I don’t just walk on a treadmill but I also do serious weight training and that focus has made finding serenity a little  easier.

I’m finding that the joy in my life is recognizing the beauty in little things each day.

This morning I awoke to sunshine, puffy clouds and a yard filled with singing birds and a sense of change in the air. I’m sitting in my enclosed porch just listening. It’s truly amazing how just sitting still and breathing in the beauty that surrounds you can bring calm and serenity into your soul. 

Change is hard but it is necessary for growth, it’s rarely easy and it can be overwhelming.  There have definitely been times over the past year when all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry. Retirement requires rethinking about priorities and what will give you new meaning as life moves forward. I’m still working through this process and I’m fairly certain that priorities will change over time but finding daily serenity will always be an ongoing goal. 

Keep moving forward!

Keep prioritizing yourself !

Find your serenity each and every day!

Serenity, Change and Forward Thinking

Each year as the new year starts everyone always asks, what are your resolutions for this new year and I say, "I don't do resolutions".  I've always thought that the term resolutions is a immediate set-up for failure, I really don't think anyone can say that they've accomplished all of their resolutions at the end of a year, but if you did-more power to you.  I'm very impressed.

So instead I always say, "that I'm going to work towards...that way I haven't exactly failed at my goals".

2024 will be an interesting year, I think.  We'll have a contentious election, no matter what side your on, we will still be in the midst of dangerous climate change weather systems, healthcare, economy, poverty, food insecurity and crime (the last 5 are all interconnected) and it's a driving force in what I choose to work towards - changing the dynamic.

So, you probably asking yourself, how does this actually relate to serenity?  Well, that's a complicated answer.  Every morning I wake up filled with hope for the day, but somewhere along the way, it gets murky and although by the time I get to the evening news I'm usually exhausted by the world around me.  Last evening it was filled with one horrifying story after another and it's not until the very end that you get a feel good story, usually about an unknown hero who's tried to make their corner of the world a little more joyous.  Why do we have to wait until 6:58 pm for this story?  I propose that we make our own story more compassionate, more joyous, and filled with just a little bit of daily serenity.

There's an old saying, "life is what you make it" I say let's make 2024 a year of compassion, let's attempt to find ways to help those in our local communities, give back, volunteer, and you will find serenity in the feeling of knowing that others in your circle have your friendship, your compassion, your caring.

Serenity is all around you if you just stop looking for the joys of your life.

Let me know your thoughts and comments.

INTROSPECTION, DECISIONS AND SERENITY

So, I've decided to restart writing my blog on serenity.  It's been quite a while since I lasted posted, mostly life has gotten in the way, but now things have calmed down to it's time to re-adjust and find my serenity once more.

As Thanksgiving approaches (tomorrow actually) I have started looking at what's next in my life.  Life is hard and day-to-day decisions can sometimes be overwhelming.  I'm one of those people that tries to list out pros vs cons.  If I choose this one what are the consequences but the COVID shutdowns that happened a couple of years ago have changed my approach to life.  I think that I have become less of a planner and am starting to take more of a gut approach to life, work, family, friends and commitments.

In the past year a close friend and a close cousin both became ill, one will hopefully be able to return to the life they had before, with some modifications, the other one although has the will and determination to carry on, my not survive the medical issues that have set their path.  

These 2 make me introspective, have I lived my life to the fullest or have I become complacent?  Have I really tried to live my best life or have I lived my life based on what others will think of me?  The answer to these questions is more than likely yes to all of it.  Now I believe the time has come for me to take control of my life, to try my best not to be so worried about how I will look to others, but how I look at myself.

In order to relocate my serenity I must stop the belief that I have to be available for everyone who needs me, that I have to keep going on projects that probably need a different perspective from a new person.  All my life I've believed that I couldn't let anyone down, my parents, my family, my friends, but the one person I was truly letting down was myself, because I didn't believe in myself, I always second guessed every answer, I always asked opinions even if I new the answer.  Now I'm in a much better place mentally, physically and emotionally.

I'm going into this Thanksgiving filled with joy, filled with compassion, filled with the belief that I can't do everything, I won't always make people happy, but that's their issue not mine.

Fill your life with the things that bring you joy, that's how you find serenity.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!🦃🦃🦃🦃 

Finding Serenity during the crazy, busy times in our lives.

 I know it's been forever since I published a post on serenity but life does get a little crazy sometimes.

In the past several months life has just gotten in the way of finding my towards serenity.  My home life balance is out-of-whack, my work life balance is out-of-whack, my health balance is out-of-whack and it took until Thanksgiving for me to realize that it's absolutely exhausting.

I have always been the person who has a tendency to put others feelings and best interests first pushing my own to the side.  For a while I stopped doing that but somehow it has crept back into my being.  So what to do about this:

    a)  First and most importantly, it took some time but I recognized that behavior before it's spiraled out of control.

    b)  Now that I have recognized the issue and I can return to bringing balance back into my daily life.

As of today, as I write this blogpost I have taken back my ability to see me, put myself and my best interests in living a life that has meaning foremost in my mind.

I have found that there are times when negativity that surrounds me.  I've chosen to no longer allow it to permeate my soul.  Sometimes the best course of action is to remove yourself from the equation and that's what I'm choosing to do.  I leave the room and walk away.  I find my quiet place, deep breathe and remove the negativity from surrounding me.  Is it hard to do, absolutely, because there are times when all I want to do is answer back,  yell and try to get my point across.  But, what I've learned is that when that much negative emotions swirl you stop listening and only react. Almost never a good option.  So in that case it's best to remove myself instead.

I find it works for me, it may not solve the problem but neither will a shouting match so instead I just keep moving forward.

Life sometimes is really hard, day-to-day conflicts are draining, we watch entertainment, read books, meet up with friends, take long walks or even exercise to remove ourselves from our stressors, but at least once a day we need to quiet our minds.  

Close your eyes, Move to a quiet spot, do a couple of deep, deep breathes and find a little bit of serenity to help you face the world on a daily basis. 

Photo by Lois - Alaska trip

Finding Serenity during these times of stress

So first let me apologize for the length of time between now and my last post.  Sometimes life just gets in the way.  But that being said, know that I have still maintained my ability to find some serenity in each and every day.

These past few weeks we have been reminded that peace and serenity are extremely fragile things in our world.  But each and every night when I watch the news or read a post about the horrors that Russia has rained down on Ukraine, I marvel at the stories of hope, faith and the ability to find just a small piece of joy and serenity in their lives.  A few nights ago they showed a clip of a young woman playing her violin, last night it was a very young girl singing in Ukrainian "Let it Go" from the movie "Frozen" both huddled in bomb shelters and then the clip was the young girl singing the Ukrainian national anthem at a concert (she and her family had escaped out of Ukraine, I don't know about the violinist, through).  This is the truest form of finding serenity, one I cannot even imagine.

As I think back on the past 2 years of the pandemic, it astounds me that our world is still filled with such hatred, disrespect, violence and out right meanness.  Why, is the question that keeps going round and round in my head.  There's no easy answer to that why, but is there a way to subdue it, to lessen it?

If you have any ideas or would just like to express your concerns, please feel free to post comments.

I have learned over the past year that it's best for me to turn off the "noise" mid evening, prepare for bed, read a few chapters of a romance novel and then listen to sleep meditations to lull me into the night.  By the time the lights are off and maybe a few minutes into the mediations, I'm usually fast asleep and I wake up each morning hoping that it will be a better day.  Some days are and some are not, but I will always try to end my day by finding my serenity, finding joy in some small aspect of the day and believing that we will always try to bring that serenity to others in our circle.

Find your joy!

Find your peace!

Find your serenity!

Sadness, Stress and Serenity

 So it's been a very stressful month for me personally.  In the past few weeks my work partner passed away suddenly, just simply dropped dead from a massive heart attack, a day later my cousin's wife was struck and killed by a car a block from where her husband was killed 4 years ago and I learned the stress of having to deal with a significant disruption to the workplace.

I will admit that this past 2 weeks have been enormously difficult to locate any serenity at all.  It has also made me very thoughtful about seizing the moment in my life.

Over the past week and a half I have spent a lot of time realizing just how little of ourselves we share with our family and friends.  My partner had a lot of knowledge about our operations stored in his head and since there was just the 2 of us I realize that I never took the responsibility to learn all his operational knowledge, I always thought that there would be more time.  This is what has me stressed, do I even have the capacity to learn everything I need for continuing our operations, or is best to bring closure to our center and try and move in a different direction.  This has been weighing on me very heavily.

This has also made me look at my own self.  How much of myself do I actually share and how much do I keep inside.  I have a fear of being judged, so instead I deflect away from my own issues and yes I've tried therapy, but when you have a fear of constantly being judged for your decisions, I don't really think that it was helpful since I probably didn't share the right things with the therapist.

There's a lot in the air right at the moment, but there is also a lot to be thankful for.  I have wonderful children who when they learned of the events of the past few weeks, make sure to text and call to ask me how I'm holding up.  I have siblings who do the same and spouse who knows I'm in distress.

All around me I am looking for the joy in the world.  My family is fully vaccinated, my husband's vegetable garden is starting to sprout and we have already picked a few strawberries from our patch.  The US is beginning to open back up, summer outdoor concerts are being announced and although we still have to wear masks ( I've actually gotten really comfortable wearing the mask) our lives are beginning to return.  But the question will be returning to what?

Will we ever to able to put aside our anger, our devisiveness, our meanness and find joy, happiness and serenity in our daily lives?  Each night as I attempt to find sleep and some calmness in my stressful day I try to think of little joys that came through, a phone call, a funny meme, a news store that focused on a happy outcome, this is what is helping me keep some serenity in my daily life.

Sorry, stress and sadness will eventually pass, it's up to us to move forward with joy and serenity.

Thanks for reading.

Find Serenity Each and Every Day of Your Life.

Finding Serenity might be a little easier.

 Although I've made mention in previous blogs about the chaotic nature of the world, I truly feel that today the world took a collective sigh and a deep cleansing breathe that hopefully we can began to heal on multiple levels.

I realized this morning watching the inauguration of our new president that for the first time in very long while it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.  I know that I'm not in the political realm but we have all been cast in to it by circumstances.

Yes, there will be tough times ahead and yes we will still struggle to locate our serenity but perhaps it will be a little bit easier to find it this time.

I will be looking for my serenity during each and every day and I hope that my blog followers will do their best to locate theirs as well.

On this day of the collective sigh, be grateful for the ability to live in a democracy, find joy and bring serenity to our daily lives.

Look for a new blog soon.

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy and Find Your Serenity.

Serenity, Safety, Thankfulness and Beauty

 So, this is the week we begin to move into what they call the holiday season, with Thanksgiving being the lead in and this year it's even more of a gigantic question mark?  What do we have to be Thankful for?

In my opinion, a lot.  As each day passes and I look at the sunsets, the falling leaves, the sunshine out my window or even the rain pelting the roof, I'm grateful that I'm still healthy, that my spouse's surgery went well and that he's able to move around without crutches, that my family and that my extended family and friends are also doing okay.  But that said, there's so much stress in our lives that it sometimes seems to consume us.  There's the stress of being contained into one space - our homes, the stress of not being able to visit our family on anything other than online, the stress of simply not knowing what's next and the stress of not being able to hug your adult children or your grandchildren.  I miss being able to call a colleague, a friend, my sister and simply saying, "let's meet for lunch or a cup of coffee".  It's these small things that affect my daily being.

So what can you do to eliviate some of this toxic stress?  First off acknowledge that it's present and then take a deep breath, and do coffee on Zoom, FaceTime or whatever online site you use.  Sometimes all it takes is a few minutes of FaceTime with my daughter, son-in-law, grandson or my son to just bring a smile to my face and then I take a deep cleansing breath and find the space inside me that says this will end and life will return to some sort of normalcy.  But even as I write that word I wonder what does that mean?

Our world has changed and not for the better, we have become a much more discordant group of humans.  We have changed the way we interact with our neighbors, with our colleagues, with our friends and most of us have become, more hardened in our beliefs to the point where we no longer listen to other opinions, only our own seem to matter.  Why have we become the worst of us?

Now is the time for us to take a hard look at who we've become and how we can move back towards finding our serenity.  Thanksgiving has always been a time when we are supposed to look back over the past year and give thanks for what matters most in our lives, for me it's simple - what I'm thankful for is being able to find serenity in even the most contentious of times, being able to find my serenity wearing a mask when I go out, finding serenity when I get into round and round arguments with my spouse, with my kids, with my colleagues and with strangers in the grocery store.

After each of these times, I simply close my eyes, or walk outside onto my deck or grab my IPhone to snap a photo of the beauty, stillness and joy that surrounds me.

In times of stress, serenity is what we need most, so close your eyes, take a very very deep breath, and picture the beauty that surrounds you, be it, family, your pet, your comforting bedroom, I've even gone into my walk-in closet for peacefulness, or your deck outside and find your serenity deep within you. 

Have a joyous and beautifully serene Thanksgiving.

Serenity and a time for reflection and a little celebration.

 This is the time of year when some people look back over the past year, re access their priorities, ask forgiveness from those they have wronged and look forward to moving into a new phase of life.

Since March we have all had to face drastic change, change in the way we live our everyday lives, change in the way we interact with our friends, our community, our spirituality, the world that surrounds us.  We are constantly bombarded with news, political, pandemic, racial injustice and inequality, poverty, food insecurity and for some of us unemployment.  It's submerging us into constant negativity.

How can we begin to extricate ourselves from this force of ever swarming negativism?

I personally have made it a goal to not focus on the constant barrage of news, but instead spend time reading, walking, photographing sunsets or watching Netflex, Disney+, Hulu or classical movie/Broadway musicals (I know it's sappy but it makes me smile).  My other enjoyment is watching my soon to be 1 year old grandchild enjoy the wonder of the world in their own home, along with strolls to the park.  (I want to thank Apple for the invention of FaceTime)😊.  There's nothing that can bring a smile of joy to my face quicker that watching an almost toddler decide that the best sound in the world is running their fingers over their parents metal water bottles, or standing up by the tv screen to dance along with the music, how can you not smile and laugh and that untarnished joy?

Each and every day we must find a way to break away from the negative world around us and instead find just one thing to bring forth that smile, that laugh, that sigh of contentment.  It's the only way we will be able to move forward with whatever the year brings us.  Look outside your window and see the sun, the clouds, see a rainbow, see the rain but also see the joy that we can have if we only try.

Serenity is a powerful feeling if we choose to allow ourselves the ability to accept it.  So let's all try to find the joy, find the happiness, find the serenity in our lives at least once a day.

Take a step away from the negative world, take a walk and see the quiet, take of photo of the natural world of beauty that's outside your home, read a powerful uplifting book, watch a goofy comedy or classical movie musical, or even read a romance novel where at the end of all the strife there's a HEA(happy ever after).  I know that this helps me.  I love doing each of these activities and they help me end the negativity in my day.

So my advice at this time of reflection,  take a breath, locate what fills you with joy and find your serenity each and every day.

STAY SAFE, STAY HEALTHY!!

Serenity & Fear

It's been a while since I last posted on my blog, but I have to say that it's been a very troubling time for everyone, myself included.

I'm afraid.  I'm fearful that every time I walk out my door or get into my car I'm going to come back with COVID and yes I'm in the high risk group, not only due to my age but also because I'm a T1D (Type 1 Diabetic), so I'm afraid. During the past month when people were protesting I wanted to be out there with them, expressing my outrage over the plethora of deaths caused by police, the deaths caused by ignorance, the deaths caused by hatred, but I realized that I didn't want to risk my life by being in large crowds.  I would need to express my outrage in a different way.  I'm still trying to figure out the best way, but this blog is about how to find serenity in our everyday lives, so that's what I will concentrate on.

Last night I had a really bad night's sleep.  I was obsessing over a grant I had submitted through the federal governments website,  it's something that happens to me every time I submit a grant through a portal.  I always think that I've forgotten something, clicked the wrong button, etc and this time was no different, the obsession overtook the sleep.  I swear I tried everything in my own playbook to bring the serenity back into play, but no luck.  I finally gave up, came downstairs, ate breakfast, dressed and sat down at my desk to double-check everything and of course, everything was just fine.  I think this must be some really weird quirk in my personality and I'm going to have to find a way to get it under control.  I have to learn to let things go, not just in work but also in life.  You can't control everything, nor should you try.

This is a fear of failure,  Fear has become part of our daily lives now.  We turn on the news, or read email, our social media, websites and it's in our face.  At some point during the day I have made it my mission to disconnect from all of this input.  I have actually taken to having a full hour long lunch break.  I eat, I do my word search and I read romance novels.  This is my break from the real world.  It's escapism and it's how I've learned to deal with the fear and bring back serenity.  Last night or rather very early this morning, when I couldn't fall back asleep, I finally gave in and picked up my romance novel and read for 45 minutes before I dozed back off.  It helped me close down the fear temporarily and silence my brain.

My recommendation for the days ahead.  Decompress, escape from the noise, escape from the fear, close your eyes, take a breathe and visualize beauty in the world, it will eventually return to us and for the moment let's just see it in our minds.

I read romance novels and photograph flowers, sunsets and nature that surrounds me to remind me of the beauty in the world and that's what calms my mind and brings me serenity.

Take time in our day to find yours.

Spring Beauty, Some Sadness and Serenity

Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time outside - walking, sitting on my deck or sitting at my desk with the sliders open to the backyard.  The world was beautiful, but in a solemn way.  Sun was shining, breeze blowing, birds chirping, colors abound, but there was a stillness to it all, people were not really outside enjoying the days and that's sad.  Covid-19 has changed our landscape and it's changed our lives forever.

Change can be good or change can be bad, but change is always difficult.  We have our minds set on how things should be and we don't want change, but change is inevitable and we must learn to accept things we can't control.  Some people have a very hard time with this concept.  I personally have a high tolerance for change.  I like certain things to be done a certain way but when something happens to upend that I don't usually freak out.  There are people in my life who cannot bend, who become stuck in a mindframe and can't or better yet won't leave it.  So how do you get around that? 

Over the past couple of months I have found that it's sometimes just easier to ignore it that try to convince the other person to look at things differently.  When someone is so dug in there's really not much you can do about it without bringing yourself into that vortex.  So I ignore, I walk away or I go for a walk or I go somewhere else in the house and bury myself in my Kindle app.

One thing I have learned from this exploration of finding serenity is that why I can give you all suggestions based on what I do to find serenity, I cannot find it for you.  When the people surrounding me get to be too much, too much negativity, too much talking and not enough listening than the best thing I can do for myself and for the other person, is to walk away.

In this very strange time we are now engrossed in, finding serenity in the moment is imperative.  We need to find a way out of the negativity, out of the sadness, out of the constant news cycles and move into a way we can bring back the joy, the beauty and the serenity into our lives on a daily basis.

Join me in the quest.  Send me your ideas, your comments and your thoughts.

Take a deep cleansing breath, go outside and watch the world go by, enjoy the sounds of birds, of the quiet, enjoy the sunlight, enjoy the rain, enjoy the blooming flowers and trees.  All of this might help you locate your serene place.  I know that it helps me.

Find your serenity from within yourself.

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!

Finding Serenity In Close Quarters

Well, this has been a very trying time for all of us, whether you're a senior, a middle of the roader, a millennial, a college student or a kid.  Each group, each individual, each family, each couple has had to face a new reality and it's tough, contentious and maybe even a little depressing. 

But, I know that we can get through this with a little perseverance, a lot of patience, a lot of laughter and each day a little serenity.  The question is how to locate your serenity in the midst of the chaos.

Being stuck in my home with only my spouse, my cat, my mobile phone and of course the internet could drive me nuts, but instead I'm sitting in front of patio doors looking out on a picture perfect day, a day I will use for writing, going for a walk and just listening to the quiet and calmness that now surrounds my community.

We live (usually) in a frenetic, fast-paced world, a world that is in constant movement and now we are faced with quiet, why not use this time to our advantage?

There are always ways to connect with the world and why not use time to reach out to others in isolation throughout the global community.  I write this blog for me but it's also a way to connect to others who are unknown to me personally.  I post and use twitter and sometimes Facebook, this is a way for us to reach out globally to people we don't always know.  Perhaps at some point when this pandemic is beginning to wind down we will realize that we have a lot more in common than what actually separates us.

So, to locate your serenity, find a few minutes each day for yourself.  During these crazy days I recommend the daily shower, light a candle or turn down the lights, put on soft comforting music and as the hot water slusses over your body, simply close your eyes, breath deeply a locate a moment of serenity.

We will get through this, we will be stronger and we will hopefully find a way to peacefully coexist with our global community.

May you find your serenity today and always.

Serenity when all around isn't.

I know it has been quite a while since I've posted, so I'm going to make it up to you by posting several times over the next few weeks.

These posts have always been about locating serenity in our lives and over the past few months I have found that listening to news media outlets has been anything but peaceful.  It has been a lot of vitriol, hatred, fear mongering, over and over and over and it's from all sides of the equation.  It's exhausting.  I've have decided to maintain some serenity in my daily life I must disconnect from the world's noise and instead I read, I listen to calming music, I stare out the door at the birds feasting off the feeder, but I do not engage with the voices of hatred.

In an ugly world we must learn how to be nice to anyone and everyone.  As I sit at my desk writing, my spouse just opened the door to the backyard and the silence was broken by the birds singing.

Spring is quickly approaching and while March has certainly come in like a lamb instead of lion, perhaps we can take a page from nature and enjoy the beauty of what surrounds us, enjoy the greening of the grass, the buds of trees and flowers, the songs of the birds and the colors of nature and our world.

March reminds us of what we can look forward to in the spring.  Joy, calm, beauty and serenity must become a part of our daily living. Let's try to end the vitriol and begin this burgeoning new season filled with serenity.

Talk to you soon.

Serenity in the Joy of the Moment

These past couple of weeks have been filled with joy, trepidation, breathing sighs of relief, the wonder of the world that surrounds us and how very very special a new life is.

14 days ago I became a grandmother for the 1st time.  I watched my beautiful daughter and worried son-in-law bring a beautiful baby boy into the world (no I wasn't in the room the whole time, I waited in a waiting room filled with other expectant grandparents and siblings).

I didn't get to see my grandson immediately due to a complication that was known about prior to the birth, but I visited him the next day in the ccvcu.  He's very cute even while hooked up to many monitors, tubes and i.v. lines and no I'm not just saying that because his my grandson, I am saying that because yes he's my grandson, but that's what many of the residents, nurses, p.as. and doctors have said.

As I sat in the unit looking down on my grandson, who just happened to smile up at me (i'm going to believe that until the day I die), I wondered what my parents would have felt if they were still alive, I wondered whether they have the power to intercede on the baby's behave to insure successful outcomes.

There have been times in my life that I have questioned my belief structure, but as I look around at the beauty that surrounds me each and every day I have to believe that there is a reason for joy when we truly need it most.

One of the days as I was walking towards to the hospital I stopped to watch a toddler revelling in the pure joy of playing in the puddles on the sidewalk, he was adorably decked out in rain boots and a yellow slicker with cat ears on top and for 4-5 minutes he just stomped in the puddles with his mother standing off to the side watching her son filled with joy and happiness.  I was amazing that the people round didn't stop to watch this, they were to busy on their phones, or walking with quickend steps wrapped in their own worlds to see the joy in that one simple moment.

In these days of autumn with leaves changing, turbulent times in the world, I am more convinced than ever before that our survival will only be determined by what joy, beauty and serenity we can bring into our daily lives.

So if you come upon a toddler jumping for joy in puddles, stop and find your own joy, jump in a puddle, smile at your children/grandchildren for no particular reason, put down your phone and look out at the sunny day or the clouds or the rain, sigh and smile. 

We need to take time during our turbulent lives to locate our joy, find our smile, this will help locate your serenity.

May our lives be filled with joy and serenity.

Chaotic lives and finding Serenity

So this morning I listened to a news reporter's story about a young single woman who didn't know how to find time in her day for herself and I wondered about all the people who don't take a moment in their daily lives to just stop and take a breath.

In our ever changing and chaotic world of constant inputs we really need to take a moment each and every day to look around us and find a moment of joy, a moment of peace and a moment of serenity.

One of my greatest joys is when there's an late afternoon rainstorm and I rush outside to see if I can find a rainbow and when I do, it's magical and it fills me with beauty, calmness and serenity.  Even if there's no rainbow, the smell of the earth after a rainstorm is also a calming factor.  It's wonderful to just stand in the middle of my street (I do watch for cars) and deep breath the scent of cleaner air.

Our world and our country are under-siege, we have mass shootings, hatred, racial inequality, economic divisions that are overwhelming, climate change that's reeking havoc on our world and 24/7 social media inputs that are not allowing us to find inner serenity.  We must find a way to not become a part of the toxic life that surrounds us.  We must find our inner-strength, our inner-peace and our inner-serenity to bring about change.

Let's start small.  Let's start with ourselves.

Look around your neighborhood, your home, your space and pick out one thing that brings you joy, brings you peace, brings you serenity and focus on that.  It doesn't take long, it can be as short as a few moments or as long as you need, but in that time you will become aware of your breath, aware of your heart rate and aware of the serenity that now fills you.

Let's try keep this moment of serenity throughout the entire day, throughout the entire week and throughout the years to come.

I need to believe that there is a way to bring serenity to our world and I truly want to work to be a part of it.

Find Your Serenity and Perhaps We Can Find a Way to Better Our World.

Serenity and the evening sky

The past few evenings have been truly beautiful, lower temps, light breeze and beautiful sunsets.  I have found myself setting out on the deck after dinner with a glass of white wine, my IPad (reading romance novels) and just enjoying the serenity surrounding me.

It seems to fill me with a sense of peace even if our world is far from it and this to me is why finding serenity in our daily lives is so very necessary.

Yesterday, I strolled around a beautiful local arboretum not far from my home and just admired the joy that surrounded me in this green and colorful oasis, it was filled with young couples pushing strollers, toddlers in wagons and kids running in out of the sculptures and the model trains that are a part of this garden sanctuary and all I kept thinking of was when I would be able to come back with my grandchild (due in September) and show the baby the beauty, the joy and the serenity of nature in it's own way.

Summer is an interesting time to be in touch with the serenity that surrounds us in our daily lives since we tend to be outdoors much more frequently. So when you're sitting on your deck, or strolling on the boardwalk, or wading in the ocean or lake, or hiking, fishing, boating or just sitting on a park bench close your eyes, breath deep and enjoy the sounds, the smells and just feel.

The serenity will surround you and lift your spirits, lift your mood, lift your soul.  The key is to believe in the peacefulness and the joy.

ENJOY THE BEAUTY THAT SURROUNDS YOU!
IT WILL BRING YOU SERENITY ON A DAILY BASIS.

Serenity, Good Health and Finding Joy in Little Things

On my way home from having an Echo Cardiogram & Echo Stress Test I heard someone on the radio say that being pretty isn't being beautiful, that someone who is pretty can also be unkind, but someone who is beautiful is a person who shows their beauty in many ways, not just looks.

I thought about this statement as I drove the rest of the way home and while I was awaiting the email about the results.  I wondered how many times of thought someone was pretty but didn't really know if they were beautiful because I didn't really know them and then I thought about all the people in my life who I would classify as beautiful.  Pretty is a statement of one's outward appearance where beauty is conceptual thought process.  It's not just how we look at a person but how we see them in total.

I'm going to make it point in my life to look at things with beauty in mind, look at the whole picture and the surroundings at the moment.  Is this true beauty or is it just pretty,

I have written about finding your serenity by looking at the beauty and joy that surrounds us and yes I'm fine, my heart is strong, but if I'm honest about this I would also tell you that I was a little scared last night and this morning while driving to the exam, but while I laid on the table and watched my heart beating away and listen to sound of my blood flowing through the chambers I was remembering when I had my ultrasounds while I was pregnant and the joy that followed through me when I heard that baby's heartbeat each and every time.

I'm thrilled that I'm healthy and I filled with joy that I have these reminders of what brings beauty into our lives.  Find the joy and you will find the beauty and by finding the beauty you will bring yourself serenity.

Happy May - fill it with JOY, BEAUTY & SERENITY