Good Morning!

As I sit contemplating the fate of my house, listening to the constant drip...drip...drip,drip...drip of the ice dams that have created an indoor water feature that I REALLY didn't want and the subzero howling wind outside (how is anything melting in that anyway?!), I realize exactly how aptly I have named this blog.  I am sometimes tired of reading blogs and facebook posts about the exotic travels and stunning homes and lives that people are so fond of sharing...and I am guilty of doing the same thing, I am sure, on some level.  It is so easy to get caught up in the comparison game and feel inadequate or resentful and miss the bigger picture.  Everyone's journey is different, and life is not splendid all the time for anyone.  Comparing my life to anyone else's is pointless - God created my journey especially for me and since I am not dead yet, I can assume he has more for me to learn or do.  My job is to pay attention and listen to what that might look like - to celebrate the blessings I have and to look for opportunities in the midst of hardships - to trust in the love and goodness of God to weave together the pieces of my not so splendid life into an integral part of his story.

Blessings,
Janet

The never-ending winter

Hi there,
It is challenging to live here in the Boston area this particular year.  The winter is brutally cold and the snow is never-ending.  We have created new records for snowfall in the last month...a dubious honor to be sure.  The only thing anyone seems to be mindful of is the weather and the work and expense that ensues from counteracting the weather...an endess cycle of plow, shovel, chisel ice, salt, pay someone, repeat.  I am not immune to this drudgery, but I can choose to frame it differently - to practice mindfulness by being grateful for what I do have...a reasonably healthy body that CAN shovel, the fact that shoveling is exercise (and pretty much not optional if I want to leave my house before July), that I have a roof over my head that isn't leaking - yet, that my heat is working, that the power hasn't gone out, that the snow and ice is beautiful when viewed through the window(?!)  I am sure God is laughing at the lengths to which he has to go to get me to exercise; This weather may be entirely my fault - perhaps I should have chosen discipline as my word of the year after all?   In any case, the point is, being mindful is, at the heart of it, choosing where your mind focuses and while I shovel, I am choosing gratitude with a dose of hope for the springtime that is coming eventually.  Where is your mind choosing to focus?
Blessings,
Janet

Checking in

I am realizing these days, that one of the most helpful things in my quest for mindfulness, is to refresh my mind. Daily.  I am pitifully distractible...it is so easy to get sucked in to immediate activity - it seems efficient and even noble to just dive in and DO.  Okay, catching up on facebook and "words with friends" and the daily "red herring" and "sodoku" puzzles isn't all that noble, but making the bed, emptying the dishwasher, answering emails and returning calls seems like it is.  Not that those things should be left undone, just that focusing my priorities first thing in the morning, makes it easier to keep those priorities in mind and in order.  There's nothing particularly profound here - just a reminder to myself to think.  To take time to be thankful and thought-full before I jump into list-making and problem solving mode.  So this morning, trapped in my house by yet another snowstorm, I am thankful for my not so splendid, but very joy-filled life, and for the people God has brought into it.  How do you start your day?

Blessings,
Janet