Serenity, Mother's Day and Hockey

Okay so first let's talk about finding serenity when it's the Stanley Cup Playoffs,  I'm a hockey fan.  I have been a hockey fan for a long time and yes I will admit that it's not a very serene sport, but you know what, I think that's okay.  You can always find serenity while being a sports fan, it's knowing that the excitement of the sport is but a fleeting moment and after the rush, there's the time to find your serenity and take a deep cleansing breathe.

I love the excitement of the Stanley Cup playoffs especially when I team I support is in it, so I get happy and tense and occasionally angry but when the game is over and the t.v. is off then I take a very deep cleansing breathe, close my eyes and bring myself back into serenity.  I always want a win but if it doesn't happen I will still be able to find my serenity.

Onto a more happy topic - Mother's Day.  Yes I am a mother and yes I'm obviously a daughter, my mother is very much alive and very much a part of my life.  This is a day that has always confused me.  For a couple of hours we "honor" our mothers but what does that mean and shouldn't we be honoring them everyday we are alive?

My mother is one of the most giving beings I have known, she has always gone out of her way for others, right down to making sure that there was food on the table for you if you were vegetarian or allergic.  Every friend we had growing up became a part of our family and our spouses were immediately her sons or daughters.  Each time I shop for her or take her to an appointment the conversation is always either about one of her friends, or her grandchildren or what she learned last night at a lecture, concert or meeting.  What makes her happy - phone calls from her grandchildren, cards or notes from family and friends or short visits from her friends.  That's what her Mother's Day is all about.

I did not ask my mother what she wanted for mother's day this year, I am fairly certain that I know what she wants and it's not something that I can actually provide, but I will do my best to be with her and enjoy her love and passions when I'm with her tomorrow.  I know that my children will call, chat with me, make me laugh and bring me joy.

When my kids were young I always enjoyed the homemade cards and the breakfast they made with help from their dad along with the presents and the freshly picked bouquets (sometimes of dandelions), but as they got older and started asking me what I wanted for Mother's Day or my birthday which is shortly after I began to say the immortal words that I think most mothers say, "there's nothing I really need, just you."  But what are we really saying when we spout those words?  I have decided that we really want our kids to think for themselves, use some of that amazing brainpower we have instilled in you and try to determine what would fill your mother with joy.

This will be my serenity tomorrow and it's what I will remember each day until the next time I talk with my kids, with my mother, with my family, with my friends and of course my spouse.

So this week find your serenity in surrounding yourself with family and friends.  Find joy, find peace and find your serenity.

Happy Mother's Day and onto the Stanley Cup!

Is It Easier to Find Serenity in Spring?

Today has been a day of changing patterns, thunderstorms, rain, sun, clouds, more rain, more sun, but it has been relatively warm throughout the day and that begs the question - Is it easier to find your serenity when is warm and sunny or is it just because it's spring?

I sometimes have difficulty with this time of year, one day it's warm and the next day is cold, some days are cool and sunny, some days are cold and rainy and some days are just magnificent-warm temperatures, slight breeze and sunny skies.  Moods go up and down depending on the focus of the day, but that's just normal.

Spring is a time of renewal, grass turns from brown to green, soil is moist and bulbs begin to bloom.(I personally love tulips).  It also seems to me that birds sing louder in the spring, maybe their just happy.

It's an appropriate time to take a deep deep breath and allow ourselves to renew.  Renew our senses, renew our perspective, renew our awareness of the life that surrounds us.  Today I started reading a book a colleague wrote entitled "Learning from Looking:  How Observation Inspires Innovation"* and it completely fits into how important it is to re-look at the world that surrounds us.  Take the time to really observe the green grass, the blue sky, the bolts of lighting, listen to the rain hitting the windows and hear the thunder.

By truly being a part of our surroundings in the Spring we can begin to find our serenity.  I find that just standing outside on my deck, even if it's in my yellow rain-slicker and flowered rain-boots and drawing in a deep cleansing breath I allow the cobwebs, the negative feelings, the resentments to flow out of me and breathe in the serenity that flows through beauty.  Even if it's cold and rainy we should still go out into the weather and breathe deep.  (Word of caution though, don't do this if the weather is severe or dangerous.  Stay inside and simply breathe deep to maintain your balance).

So is it easier to find our serenity in spring?  I say no.  I can locate my serenity no matter what the season but simply seeing and being a part of the world that surrounds me.  This is an important thought - it's not just about observation, it's also important that we participate.  We can only find our serenity if we are active participants in the serenity.

Be Serene and Have a great week.  Happy Spring!

*"Learning from Looking:  How Observation Inspires Innovation" by Charlie Szoradi is available at Amazon.

Serenity and beauty

Today is a beautiful day for me as my daughter is celebrating a birthday.  I started thinking back to right before she was born and how even though we were away from where our families lived they had come to be with us to witness the birth of their first grandchild.  Alright they did not actually witness it but were there the moment she left the delivery room in the arms of her father.  I felt at that moment complete joy and a sigh of relief that she was beautiful, crying and mass of hair on top of her head and at that time I'm sure that I was filled with the serenity that being a mother would entail.  But I was also filled with trepidation.  Could I really do this?  Can I be responsible for the squirming bundle?  What if she doesn't like me?  What if....
An hour later after I was cleaned up she was brought into my room to nurse and as I held her to me and she immediately latched on I knew at that moment it would be okay.
Now years later she is a beautiful woman with a wonderful husband and I hope that I have had a part in her success in life.  She is surrounded by friends, family, extended family, a great career and a hopefully happy life.
Each day when I awake I try to look out for something beautiful especially in these past few weeks when the political world that surrounds us is so very cantankerous, each day seems to bring a new level of hatred and a new level of distrust and fear.  So it's up to us to try and find beauty where ever we can.
Today it was the joy of my daughter's birthday and tomorrow I will look for something else to bring out the beauty of the world.

This link is sure to show you just how beautiful our world could be, enjoy and find your serenity:

https://brightside.me/video/this-2-minute-video-is-the-best-thing-ive-ever-seen-about-nature-i-could-rewatch-it-endlessly-308010/

Serenity in times of Distress

A couple of days ago I received a call from a reader of my blog(also happens to be a close friend) to let me know that she had found her serenity by going out on her deck and exercising in the bright sunshine and enjoying the air around her.  We went on to chat about other things and when I hung up the phone I was smiling and breathing calmly myself.  By her expression of joy in finding her serenity she passed that along to me.  I didn't even need to see her face but I heard it in her voice.

This is what we need to do, let's infuse our sense of serenity to those that surround us.  I have seen, read and heard the distress that people in the USA are feeling post inauguration and see the vitriol spewed forth on Facebook, Twitter and other social media from both sides.  Would it not be more helpful and better for our psyche to instead of lashing out offer up solutions and compromise?  

People keep asking how to find serenity in today's world and here's what I tell them - you cannot look to anyone else to find your serenity, you have look within yourself.  It's there believe me I know.  I also know that this can be difficult, but it serves no one to place blame else where.  If you are angry, unhappy and/or stressed.  Then you need to look around you and inside yourself.  If it's sunny go out on your deck, backyard, driveway, pathway, etc and take a couple of deep breaths, look around you, let go of the anger and instead take in the world that surrounds your little corner of the world.  Maybe it's trees, maybe it's kids playing, maybe it's a cold wind or clouds and if you can't go outside then simply close your eyes and listen to the sounds that surround you.  Your breathing, the low hypnotic hum of the dishwasher, refrigerator, heating/ac system, etc.  Just listen, Just breath and Just be.  I have found that I love to sing out loud in the car(usually when I am by myself although my kids will tell you that it's embarrassing)  I really don't care, I love Broadway show music and since the invention of tinting windows, and hands-free applications I can sing to my hearts content.  For me this is joy, for me this is stress reduction (especially driving) and for me it's filling me with serenity.

Singing in car helps me arrive upbeat and happy and when I enter a room, a meeting, a doctor's appointment, or even the grocery store I know that I'm calm and ready for the adventure that's about to begin and that infuses the people around me with my sense of serenity.

So in these times of distress - stop, take a deep breath or sing to your hearts content, close your eyes(but not if your driving) and feel the serenity enter your body.  You will infuse those around just by Maintaining Your Serenity.

Serenity in New Year Resolutions

So, it's the beginning of a New Year and it's the time of year when everyone asks - What are your New Year's resolutions and while I understand the concept I really don't like to make new year's resolutions.

I actually prefer to make a new day resolution.  I mean why set yourself up for an entire year, why not simply wake up each day and say, "what is my resolution for today?"  Small goals, small steps I believe will provide a greater sense of achievement.  When I woke up this morning my immediate thought was that today I would begin to work through the corrections and comments that have been made to a document I recently wrote, that I would walk around the neighborhood (even though it's very cold), get fresh air and exercise and how did I actually begin the day - by looking out the sliding glass doors to the deck and seeing the most beautiful sunrise.  How can you not be filled with joy and serenity when your day begins with nature's beauty?

So if anyone asks me what my New Year's resolutions are I will simply say, "it's my goal to find joy and serenity each and everyday of my life."  I will wake up tomorrow and look forward to the day, because I know how to find my joy, how to locate my serenity and how to see beauty even in the cold rain or grey days winter.

This should be everyone's New Year's resolutions:
FIND JOY, LOCATE YOUR SERENITY AND SEE BEAUTY ALL AROUND YOU!  Not just once in awhile but each morning, each afternoon and each evening before you get into bed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It is my goal to try a post to this blog a lot more frequently, perhaps even weekly.
 

Finding Serenity In Noise, Beauty, Service and the Holiday Season.

So this morning construction workers begin the tear off of my roof and it's loud and it will get even louder as the day wears on and they begin using the nail guns to put the new roof on.  So how can I find peace when old shingles and a lot of banging surround me?

The answer is quite simple actually.  I will concentrate on work, concentrate on how the new roof will keep my house dry and safe and concentrate on what the end of the day will bring.  I am exciting to say that this evening I will attend a gala dinner honoring the 100th anniversary of the International Rotary Foundation and yes I am a Rotarian and yes I believe in Service Above Self.  But more importantly than believing in the motto is demonstrating that I follow the motto.  I'd like to believe that I do.  By working towards helping others it is very possible to find serenity.  There is always a sense that helping the world, the community, the people and the environment that surround us will bring us an inner joy and a sense of peacefulness that seems to be lacking.

Serenity can be found in the beauty that surrounds us during this holiday season.  I love looking at the homes decked out in beautiful lights, I love the music playing in stores, choirs in the malls, seeing kids lined up for Santa Claus, I love the sappy old movies and even some of the newer ones - Elf is a favorite now and I love how people actually wish you season's greetings and happy holidays, even if they are strangers to you.  This is truly beautiful and it fills me with joy.

The question is why does this only seem to happen post Thanksgiving through New Year's and why can't we keep it going through out the entire year.  Okay, I understand the music and the lights but can't we keep pleasant greetings in place when we shop, dine, or bump into people on the street?  Can't we be better, more polite drivers and let people in as they change lanes or merge into the highway?

It would be my wish that we turn down the noise, turn up the joy, spread the idea of Service Above Self and bring out serenity into the community around us and into our own lives.

I leave you with this thought - find your serenity in the beauty of yourself.  Believe that with serenity surrounding you you will be able to find the beauty of the season and throughout the year.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Finding Serenity in Disharmony

Serenity is sometimes very difficult to locate when the world around seems poised to be filled with discontentment and disharmony, as it has been the past couple of weeks, but now is the time more than ever to change that and find serenity in the inherent good that people can possess.

I will not bring politics into this blog, but it seems that people throughout the country we live in have gone off the rails.  Protests, hate mongering, attacks on individuals, trash talking, etc., how can we find a serene moment in this chaos?

Here are my thoughts:

First, we really need to start listening to each other, yes we all have different belief systems and yes we all have issues that we feel strongly about, but if all we do is deride the people who feel differently than we do we will never heal, we will always be at each other's throats.

Secondly we need to take a step back and look around us, not just at our neighbors or the people pushing through the grocery store or the mall, but let's look at the beauty that surrounds us each and every day.  Last night, if you looked outside there was a super, super moon - it was simply awe inspiring.  How can you not feel serene when gazing up into the night sky.  I have been amazed by the fact that until a few days ago I still had roses blooming in my yard.  That is beauty and that fills me with serenity (although, I do have to say that having flowers blooming because of global warming isn't exactly a calming thought), but beauty is beauty no matter what the reason.

Third, let's just try to be nice to one another.  I was sent an Instagram photo from We Are Love that stated the following:  "When you can't control what's happening, challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what's happening.  That's where your power is."  I believe it's also where you will locate your serenity.

If you believe in the goodness you can find within yourself and within those around you then you might be able to maintain your serenity in a world filled with disharmony.

Keep believing in serenity, I know I do.