....look for the good

Yogis,
This morning I awoke to a light snowfall at the beach. Quiet, cold, peaceful. I made my way to the ocean to take a few pictures but soon a gust of wind had me hurrying back to the warmth of the house. Views of white flakes floating from the sky through the big window.  Cozy, relaxed, slow moving.

Pictures and videos began arriving. The winter wonderland scene from my sister with geese lifting from the frozen lake behind her house. Like a painting. A photo of my oldest granddaughter heading out the back door in winter gear. A big smile shows her two missing front teeth. Another of my youngest granddaughter on a sled with her dad heading down the street in front of their house. Excited.

The joy of a snowstorm.

I hold a warm cup of coffee in my hands. Phoebe chooses her cousin’s dog bed which is way too small but she curls herself tight. Maybe it is warmer or maybe because it is someone else’s bed. She falls into a deep sleep. I hear her breath. The trees outlined in white.

I am reminded of all the good in the world and decide I will choose to look for even more throughout my day.

I see the way my neighbor helps me by putting a package inside the house without hesitation. The warmth and pleasure of shopping in small local stores. The impromptu friendly conversation with the only other person crazy enough to be at the seawall in icy gale force winds. The dependable return of thousands of snow geese winter, after winter, after winter.

My sister-in-law bakes cookies to bring for dinner.

We live in a time of turmoil, and it is easy to be swept up in its swirl. Bad news served to us daily can change the lens through which we see the world. Our emotions, mood and even physical wellbeing feel an effect.  

Getting swept up in good does the same thing, but in the opposite direction. The more you look for good, the more comes toward you.

Where you look is where you go…….

Choosing to put on a different set of glasses,
SARAH

....ho hum

Yogis,
Thanksgiving is in the rear-view mirror and attention is turned to Christmas. Many know I like to put fences around the Christmas season. Two weeks before the big day I am ready to dive in and can stay comfortably until a few days after New Year's.

The only problem is ……I am married to Mr Christmas.

In his ideal world, the boxes come out of the attic before Thanksgiving. The tree is up and the house strewn with decorations for over a month. A difference we navigate each year.

Thursday he was itching to get the tree and start the process. I reminded him it was only December 4^th but off we went. I later heard the steps to the attic pulling down. ‘Let’s only put the Santas up on shelf this weekend’, I offer. Me picturing an easing in with a tradition I love.

I drive up to the house Friday to a Santa welcoming me home from the front steps. Hhhhmmm…….

Saturday I am woken by a song of the wind-up snow globe. As the day progresses, each time I enter a room I notice something has quietly arrived. A figurine here and a reindeer there. By evening the doors are adorned with new wreathes of fresh greens. It is now December 6^th. I notice my resistance. A tightening. Oh yes, I recognize you well.

It doesn’t feel good. Makes me terse.

That night I’m cooking dinner when I have an epiphany. What if I just let go? What if I allow the boundaries I arbitrarily set years ago to fall? I have a choice. Hold my ground or yield.

I chose yielding. Walked over turned on my speaker, chose a Christmas playlist and turned up the volume. It played through the evening and I found myself singing along. I felt my inner critic quieting.

Today my son came to help with outside lights. The big old fashioned colored bulbs. The tree will come in the house Wednesday, and she is a beauty.

Christmas may not be your trigger, but whenever that recognizable sense of resistance raises her head, know that you have a choice to release the reins. Every time.

Ho, ho, ho,
SARAH

....seagull

Yogis,
Every creature has a purpose and deserves a full life. Some though, illicit more emotions from humans than others. A seagull is one such creature. People love them, hate them, are afraid of them, feed them and use derogatory language about them.

I have watched and photographed them often. In the US and beyond.

I have discovered there are many types of seagulls, each with unique habits. I will begin with the ones I grew up with at the Jersey shore. The laughing gull. Smaller with black heads they are notorious scavengers. With each generation we try to train the toddlers to sit under an umbrella with a towel over their head to eat. But it isn’t until they forget and have a piece of sandwich snatched, along with some skin of a finger, that the lesson is cemented. A rite of passage.

At the bottom of the state, they have found the tip of the umbrella top to be a perfect spot. Here they have perfected the fly by under the umbrella, always coming from behind…..leaving no place and no one safe.

I remember sitting on a beach blanket when young and feeling a warm plop on my shoulder. Good luck, they say. We threw bread to them anyway.

Travel down to Delaware and their heads become whiter, with attention shifted from sandwiches to Thrashers french fries. They bicker as to who gets the top of the light poles which offer the best vantage point for unsuspecting families walking by with overflowing vinegar soaked buckets of fries. The swoops and ensuing shrieks are epic.

As winter approaches the mix of gulls evolves as some shift south. Bigger and more colorful, they actually work on catching fish!

I’ve noticed how in the cold early morning they naturally gather in large groups. Backs turned toward the rising sun to absorb her warmth. They lay down when relaxed but hop to attention on skinny legs when threatened. Be kind as they have incredible memories.

I can’t imagine the beach without the sound of their call.

Appreciating seagulls,
SARAH

.....humming

Yogis,
It has arrived! The season of giving thanks is officially here with its peak on Thanksgiving Day. Then as the last piece of pumpkin pie is eaten, the shift to buying and giving is swift. Let’s not lose any time.

Today I offer an activity to help get what I call the gratitude engine, humming. Gratitude is an energy with a unique vibration and resides within us. It is one of the feel-good energies, closely aligned with joy, awe and love and can be switched on at will with practice.

Here is what I am using this week as the switch.

Find a time when you can take a 20 minute walk, although walking itself is not the goal. This could just as easily be done with 20 minutes standing outside or even meandering through the house. Have your phone with you and camera turned on. Turn off the ringer and no checking emails or texts.

Look for something you like. It can be anything. An object, a color, something in nature……. Once you find one, take a mindful picture of it. Take your time. See it. Capture what it looks like and mentally say to yourself, ‘ I am grateful for_____’.  And move on. Keep looking and repeating.

I did this today on my walk to the beach. My first find was a changing oak hydrangea leaf. Beautiful. I am grateful for the changing colors of the leaves. Stepping onto the sand I see a horseshoe crab shell. I am grateful that there are horseshoe crabs in this world. And grateful for sand!  Looking up, the sun is beginning to peak from behind the clouds. Sun beams streak the sky. I am so very grateful for the sun!

Geese fly overhead. Grateful for birds. The boardwalk. My shoes. Ice cream cones….my trusty car…..the first sip of coffee on my return.

The more I look the more I find. My body feeling lighter and my heart beginning to hum. Gratitude connects us with the world around us. Finding the good that is already there.

If you decide to join me, I would love to see a picture.

Grateful for a warm shower,
SARAH

.....seeds, seeds, seeds

 Yogis,
The garden no longer asks for much of my attention. Watering has ended, pruning is unnecessary and clean up waits for spring. My focus now is on seeds.

We usually think of buying and planting seeds in spring. Yet there are many plants that drop seeds now which sit quietly on the ground through the cold, ice and snow. Patiently waiting for days to lengthen so they can send up their shoots. This is referred to as self-seeding.

The birds and wind are co-participants in this activity treating me to spring surprises, like woodland lettuce which appeared in my medicine wheel.  I also love to lend a hand, scattering them in empty spaces where I want to see them grow.

I have been collecting seed heads from echinacea, lobelia, boneset and cardinal flower in the yard, but also sneezeweed and mistflower near the river. Swapping seeds with friends and neighbors is another great way to have more natives in your yard….for free!

Will they all grow? No. It’s like a fun science experiment. All that is required is disturbing the dirt in an area a little and rubbing the seed head to get the seeds to drop and kick a little dirt or leaves back over. I have complete faith that some will grow. Others may wait a couple years, and some just weren’t meant to be.

A seed is tiny but filled with unlimited potential. Think of the acorn. She carries the blueprint of an oak tree that grows over 50 feet and lives hundreds of years.

In life every thought or intention we have is a seed. Filled with unlimited potential because thoughts become things. Fall, like spring, is a time of year to plant your life seeds. What is it that you want to grow in the empty spaces of your life’s garden come spring?

It reminds me of how reading or listening to something right before sleep imprints it in your mind. Winter is our sleep. I have complete faith that the seeds I plant will become things if they are meant to.

My job is to plant them.

Happy seeding!
SARAH

.....seasons

Yogis,
This was the week when fall truly settled in around here. The temperatures, smells, colors and sounds were like ads for the season.

Most of my life I wasn’t a fall fan. Instead of enjoying it for what it offers, I saw her as a harbinger of what lies ahead. Darkness and cold. I would say it has only been in the last ten years that I have begun to draw her in…..or maybe it is she who embraced me.

Like the calendar year, our lives have seasons.

We are born into the springlike energy of childhood and adolescence. Bright, carefree and playful. Years to grow and build a foundation where our biggest needs are to be nurtured and watered. Then summer arrives…….and with it the heat.

Careers, children, schedules and responsibilities pack our days. High energy as we strive and accumulate the cars, houses and lots of stuff. A time of fullness. The peak. Then, if we are fortunate, we get to experience fall.

I intellectually knew I entered fall a while ago, but for some reason it wasn’t until this year that it truly sank in. At 63 autumn has suddenly settled into my bones and I am now ready to honor her and the gifts she brings.

Like the trees I watch out my window, my colors are changing. My skin and the garden becoming dry. And life becomes a bit quieter.

Fall is melancholy….but in a beautiful way. A season in life where we are in the midst once again of big transitions. Retirements, downsizing, moves, grandchildren. A thinning of responsibilities which can feel sad but also exhilarating as new spaces open.

I watch the leaves fall as I fill bags and boxes with things I am ready to let go of. I hear a flock of birds overhead and as they head south, so will many of my friends.

At times I wish for an endless summer.  But fall does not try to pretend it is summer. Why would it?  I listen and lean in to love this season of life, just as it is.

And if I am fortunate…..I will get to experience winter.

In fall we drop our masks,
SARAH

....open to awe

Yogis,
I’m at the beach this weekend and set the alarm early to get down to the ocean before sunrise. Our house is STILL filled with the saws and sawdust of construction (that’s another whole story) so we can’t stay there. My routine is to drive into town and park in front of our house so I can take my usual run.

I head through quiet streets and as I start down the sandy path that leads to the beach I see it. The ocean in the distance topped by puffy pink tinged clouds. The emerging light of dawn coloring even the air. My breath catches for a moment. The feeling of awe floods my body. It happens every single time.

What is the definition of awe? According to Oxford it is ‘the feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.’ Other definitions add in terms such as ‘produced by that which is grand, sublime or extremely powerful.’

According to studies, the average person experiences awe 2 to 3 times per week. When was the last time you felt awe?

Although a fleeting sensation, for me it is a whole body high. Thoughts quiet, my body tingles and the chest expands. For that moment, nothing exists except me and the observed.

It happened the other cold clear morning as I stepped out to walk Phoebe and looked up. Stars illuminated the sky with a perfect crescent moon hanging on the western horizon. It happened when I walked into my bathroom in late afternoon to the sight of my suddenly gold colored oak tree framed by the window. And again while cooking dinner when I took my first taste.

A crescendo in classical music. Artwork. The smell of a rose.

I have been thinking about awe. I’m realizing it isn’t something you can go look for. Instead, the more present you are the more often it finds you. It’s as if by moving through life more slowly and being open to awe, she rolls to your feet.

The world we live in is filled with awe. No, I would go a step further. The world we live in is awe. All we have to do is open to let it in.

Feeling tingly,
SARAH