I choose JOY!

In every situation.

In every relationship.

In every ordinary moment.

It’s one of the cornerstones of happiness.

Such a simple choice to make and yet happiness still eludes so many people.

As we fly headlong into another new year 

I need to remind myself to focus on that joy.

Practise an attitude of gratitude and joy will flow.

I’m a happy person by nature, 

a ‘glass half full’ kinda girl.

Even on the dull days, MYdays are bright and interaction with others is always sparkly.

I bubble.

This is a good thing.

MOST of the time.

My JOY is found in the simplest of things.

Walking EVERY day

It’s my daily dose of Vitamin D and fresh air. 

If you don’t have a hound to add humour to the equation, 

beg, borrow or steal one!

Being HAPPY with WHAT I have

and WHERE I am

You can be happy anywhere if you CHOOSE to be.

It’s all about GROWING where you’re PLANTED.

BREATHING it all in and LOVING it all out

I try. I really DO.

But some people turn NOT loving them into an ART form!

Making a BOLD mark, NOT a dull impression

Letting it GO

Period.

CHANGING my words. 

CHANGING my mindset

This makes my head spin and my mind salivate.

It’s so easy to fall into the trap of negativity by the very words we use to communicate. 

ALWAYS doing my best

As both a night owl AND an early riser, 

my ‘best’ changes moment to moment. 

Being my AUTHENTIC self

If I’m true to me then I have no competition.

NO ONE can do ME, like me!

Authenticity acts as a magnet for the right kind of everything in my life.

LOOKING for the beautiful in every day

Beautiful days are NOT the exception any more.

They’re the rule.

So there you have it.

The WOW's in my day that help me FIND joy!

Your life is your message to the world..

“Your life is your message to the world.  

Make sure it’s inspiring.”

~ anon

As life assumes some semblance of normality and balance 

I can’t help but feel tremendous gratitude for where I am right now.

Life rocks.

In a myriad of ways.

No matter how financially strapped I might be at times.

That too ISN’T permanent.

Happiness bubbles.

In, around and over us.

The more we laugh and smile, the more it’s reciprocated.

We BUBBLE and FIZZ.

There must be a song in there somewhere!

Or am I confusing it with other end of the week activities that also bubble and fizz.

Happiness IS contagious.

And it’s more than evident on our early morning rambles.

The darkness of these early mornings makes for unexpected adventures.

There’s no telling who and what we might stumble upon as we ramble.

Stumble being the operative word.

In the darkness of the morning rocks and edges aren’t always visible.

There are a myriad of bodies around, despite the earliness of the hour.

Fishermen, cyclists, rowers, an odd photographer and several other hound-led humans.

All braving the unseen pitfalls of pre-dawn light along the Tamaki Estuary boardwalk.

Street lights are conspicuous by their absence.

The hound, being chocolate brown in colour, 

takes on stealth missile attributes in the darkness before dawn.

Even WITH her glow in the dark collar.

Many a heart has been left all-a-flutter as she looms out of the darkness.

Gasps turn to chuckles as the monster in the mist is seen for what it is.

I can’t quite hide the laughter in my voice as I apologise for her unexpected appearance.

These dark early mornings might not make for good photographs 

but they certainly make for ample humorous moments.

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; 

and to do so with some passion, some compassion, 

some humour, and some style.”

~ Maya Angelou

Delicious ambiguity.

“I wanted a perfect ending. 

Now I’ve learned the hard way.  

Some poems don’t rhyme 

and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end.  Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what’s going to happen next.  

Delicious ambiguity.” 

~  Gilda Radner

Muriwai Beach

I’ve been on leave these past two weeks.  

I’ve been set free temporarily from the rigour of rosters and routine.  

It’s given me time to just BE in the places and the moments that fill me from the inside out.  

My kind of magical.

More magical Muriwai

Whilst my time-off has been tinged with sadness at the loss of my mother-in-law, it’s also been filled to the brim with love and friendship and everything that makes my little spot in the world so unique and special.

I’ve been attentive to life and it’s ebbs and flows.

Absolutely present within my own mind.

At leisure.

Leisure being a form of stillness.

That might sound odd but our pace of life is sometimes SO frenetic that we function on autopilot.  

Making a living is not having a life, 

no matter HOW much I might like it to be so.

Stillness keeps me human.

Rambles have been long and unhurried.

Beaches, reserves, reclaimed volcanoes our port of call.

The hound and I have sat and soaked up the sun ... and the rain.

Raining at Cornwall Park

We’ve shared coffee and apples and biscuits with the gulls.

A sad surfer who'd broken his board

There have been moments 

when the happiness bubble inside 

of me has felt fit to burst!

I’ve wanted to share the feelings I’ve felt.  Words though can’t describe it.  

It just IS inside of me.  

Time, and any sense thereof,  has been completely irrelevant.

That delicious ambiguity that Gilda Radner speaks of comes to mind!

The chicks are losing their downy feathers

Life might not be what I and others envisaged

but taking the moments and making them joyful is a choice.

I choose that joy purposefully. 

All is right in my world at this moment in time.

I couldn’t ask for more.