Monday, April 30, 2012

A New Perspective




My friend Sarah is celebrating one year of Follow Your Feel Good, and she asked her face book friends today what their favorite place in nature was and why. There will be a drawing on Friday, and three lucky picks will win a copy of her book, What the Walrus Knows: An Eccentric's Field Guide to Working With Beastie Energies.

I encourage you all to check out Sarah's work, as she is a genius at finding the "feel good" in life, and helping others tap it's power. She can also have you talking to elephants before you know it, but that's another story. I've learned so much from her.

Today's post was inspired by my answer to Sarah's question.

I loved playing in puddles as a kid. I loved rerouting the minuscule streams in my driveway after a rain. I could get absolutely lost in tiny swirls of sand, a trickle's force as it plunges over a pine needle dam. Crouched and bent I entered a mysterious world.

So today, although we've had no recent rain, I took my camera to the driveway, and shot a few pictures from the wee perspective of my driveway's miniature riverbed. The view I got was a little tilted, a little out of focus, a little eschew, a little "Alice in Wonderland", and it's out my door on an ordinary day, waiting to be discovered.

We think nothing ever changes.

We think life plods along and if we're stuck in a fog, we have to accept it, when in reality...

...we're a tilt away from a new view. The smallest movement can open a door to a new definition.

JOY: everywhere we look, every thing we hear, every sensation beneath our feet, if only we will see.

♥ K.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Giving Gives

From Mom



For my Mom's 70th birthday, my sister, brother and I threw her a party. We made yummy food, hid my brother and his girls (who came from out-of-town) to surprise her, and gave her as a gift a Mother's ring.

A ruby for Lisa, an emerald for me, and a citrine for Dane.

My Mom's reaction??

JOY, JOY, JOY!!

Who could have known what this would all mean to her? Mom sent each of us thank you notes, but what I will never forget is what she said that day...

"This has been one of the greatest days of my life."

It has long been known that showering others with our gifts and talents is a tried and true path to happiness. It's easy to get so caught up in the giving that troubles are forgotten, and the love in life, the beauty in each of us that is always there, glows with a lifting energy that sustains us as human beings. If we look closely we will see we are in a magic place when time stops, and all that matters is the teary smile on our Mother's face. Her heart full to bursting.

One of the greatest days of my life.

May you find a way today to give, because it heals, because it fulfills, because it brings joy,

♥ K.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Last Place



I write today as one who struggles.

I got dressed, I'm drinking my anti-depression tea, I worked out in my garden for two hours, I pet my dog, talked to a friend, ate breakfast...

...and all I want to do is pull the covers over my head.

I can't lie to all of you today and tell you how things will be fine if you just do this, or just read that. This is REAL and it SUCKS, and I want to be honest.

I guess I'm reaching out to you.

To any of you who may have a word of encouragement for me.

It's all my fogged out darkened brain can come up with I'm afraid.

I promise my next entry will be a positive one, where JOY is in the lead, winning the race. Right now, she's having trouble finding her running shoes.

Breathe in, breathe out.

♥ K.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Crazy Praise--Part Two

Two weeks ago (plus a few days) I posted Crazy Praise--Part One.

In it, I offered up a challenge to anyone willing to join me for five minutes a day of out loud praise for our fingers, toes, ears, nose, and on down to the arms, tummies, hips and thighs.

It has been an enlightening two weeks for me.

What began as an experiment in kindness became a LOVE FEST.


This might sound nuts, but I realized that the extra weight I may carry on my hips and thighs is just my body's way of doing its job. She's taking care of me by storing up for the lean times. That's how I'm built.

How can I continue to hate on myself for doing what I was built to do?

I can lovingly work to lighten the load by taking in more fresh air than brownies, going on more walks than pizza runs, and spending more time in gratitude for all my body is than in dissatisfaction for what she is not.

Since I started praising instead of punishing I've lost four pounds, I've discovered countless things I love about myself, and I have an outlook now that is leading me toward a much healthier relationship with food, movement, and the scale.

I hope you all had a great two weeks too. Let's keep the LOVE FEST going!!



♥ K.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

All Those Tiny Insignificant Joyful Things...


Joy wins when coffee brews...


....when children smile...


...when people from all over the world are clicking and typing and connecting...



...when I see the light inside every single one...



...when I make tissue paper flowers for Mom...



....in the tiniest, seemingly insignificant things, like a sweet shampoo, or a bit of chocolate, or a poster advertising a local band of misfits, or the colors in my favorite kitchen rug, or the whiskers on my very camera shy dog.



I see these things.

Crumbs leading the way out of the forest and into a field of daisies.


On my way to the gingerbread house,

♥ K.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Scents Connect

Of the five physical senses,
the sense of smell evokes time, place, and person
faster and more effectively than any other.

Why not consciously surround yourself with uplifting aromas, delicious time traveling scents, and wafts of giggle inducing whimsy?


I see an Acupuncturist named Emily, and she's a master at what she does. I went to her as an almost last ditch effort last October to treat my depression and I've been seeing her ever since with great results.

She practises her craft out of an old house perched along one of Duluth's many ascending, pothole-filled avenues. It's one of those homes with tons of history and character. Just ask it.

There is a small bathroom near the room where she meets clients, and in it is Soothing Orange Blossom Honey soap from The South of France. (Actually it's from Greensboro, NC)
Emily's hands carry this sweet and soothing scent when she works on me. I have connected it to feeling safe and cared for, and just yesterday I found it on the shelf of my local whole foods co-op and brought it home. I'm assembling an entourage of support with inanimate objects. Alongside the amazing, loving people in my life.

It also looks beautiful on my window sill.

There are other scents in my life that take me back to times of sadness. English Leather cologne is one of them. I torture myself if I seek out that aroma.
Instant tears.

Why do this to myself?

 If you,
  like me,
work to bring more happiness into your life,
then make decisions that support that aim,
not sabotage it.

Everywhere in small ways we can grab slivers of joy from the simplest places. Like soap.

Off to wash my hands,

♥ K.