Hope. Spring. Rain. Sunflowers. April Fool’s Day. Candy. Grass and trees. Spring cleaning. Spring reading.

When times get rough, the weather gets cold, when my heart gets broken, when there isn’t enough money, when someone lets me down… all I need is a good book and I will lose myself within a literary world of wonder. I love reading and all that has meant to me my entire life. I am lucky to have found such a passion for something in this world… I am lucky to have many such passions.

What are yours?

“Books are becoming everything to me. If I had at this moment any choice in life, I would bury myself in one of those immense libraries…and never pass a waking hour without a book before me.”
~ Thomas B. Macaulay

I love the frosted mornings and the every day excuses to wear scarves, particularly ones that my dear friend knitted for me. I love hats pulled over my ears, gloves and boots to stomp around. I love the thick socks and the second layer of blankets, hands cupped around warm tea or chocolate. I love the possibility of snow days with those I love. I love the natural inclination to read more during the winter and while everyone else is complaining about how cold this winter has been… I giggle to know it has only just begun. =) I love the early evenings and the late mornings where January covers you thick with resistance to leave your warm, comfortable bed. I love the cold floor that nips at your toes encouraging you to call in just one time… to stay home and read or relax with no concern to the duties of making a living. I love the almost permanent twilight all month long. The deep of January where you learn to feel comfortable in your own skin, wearing yourself like a worn in favorite sweater, completely erasing the pretensions and insecurities of summer’s overexposure. I love inhaling the crisp air and seeing my every exhale reminding us how magical and real life is…

I love the calm after the rush, rush, rush of the holidays. I love receiving misplaced Christmas cards sent in haste a day too late… but just in time to be set apart from all the others. I love the unique sound snow makes when you first walk on it and the palpable excitement when children realize it snowed the night before—eagerly dressing 4 times over to play all day! I love red noses and hands rubbing together. I love the wool and thick cottons, extra layers and blasts of heat when you first come in. I love the warm soups and the grilled cheese sandwiches. I love returning TV shows and reminiscing about yesteryear. I love the hope unique in January, the motivation that pushes so many to try and try again to be just a little bit better.

December is a wonderful month…what is NOT to love about it?

Snow. Santa Claus. Holly. Mistletoe. Christmas trees, oh! I do so love the evergreens and pine trees. Cookies baked fresh. Sweaters. Scarves hand knitted by my very dearest friend. Mittens and hats, that I wear often. My birthday. Candy canes. Blankets of frost. Christmas carolers. Christmas music! I love love love Christmas music! =) Peppermint hot chocolate. Warm teas. Wrapping presents. Giving. Love. Family. Friends. Good cheer. Pies. Stories read to me or by me. I love Winter Soltice which falls on the 21st or 22nd of December, this year it is December 21st. Long lines where you can meet the most interesting people. The crunch of the ice under my boots, and the cold or wet excuse to wear them!

December is good.

a little girl made a great big wish, originally uploaded by allison lee..

I remember as a child reading some piece of advice that stuck with me.

“Decide what you like in others, what kind of characteristics or qualities you find admirable or worthy, and then become the person you want to be accordingly.”

I made a list, a simple list back then, and decided I would do just that. Many of the things on the list I already was inherently. But some I had to work at. I did. I do. And I continue to revisit this list throughout my life and compare it to who I am at the time. It has become my own measuring stick of success.

I equate success with intangible things like being most of the things on my list, or positively affecting another person’s life. I measure success in quality of love and of laughter and listening. And I think this helps put things in perspective for me. It is only when I start to look to other measuring sticks to gauge my own success that I struggle with distorted self-images.

And I have to admit, that has been my problem for awhile. I have been trying to measure myself against a different standard, a standard I can never reach. So, I am revisiting the list and the girl I once was…who was so very intelligent and wonderful so many years ago, the girl who started the list. And I am going to ask…

What does she think about it all today?

And it is my guess she would still choose love and laughter and listening over dollars and promotions and constant new professional goals. She would choose people over things. She would choose living over accumulating. She would choose a good book over a movie or a TV program any day, any time. She would spend less time focused on all that she had done wrong and more time on what she can do right.

And so should I. So should I!

Wave Goodbye by Sophie Madeleine

76/365, originally uploaded by vanessa.paxton.

Simply a beautiful picture worth sharing…

It makes me think of ‘home’ as if we will gather with everyone we ever loved right here in this field…muted, surreal. And then there is the bird, always… how lovely.

A couple songs to sit with…

The People That Come and Go by MyNameIsJohnMichael

Where No Endings End by Keren Ann

For the record, I am sorry. And love is fade resistant, no matter how far I go, no matter how long I am silent.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” , originally uploaded by {life through the lens}.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. ~Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles,” 1992 (commonly misattributed to Nelson Mandela, 1994 inauguration speech)

It is exactly in this spot that I struggle along with my fellow travelers in the journey of ours. I want to learn to love myself like I so easily love others. I want to help others love themselves as easily as they love me, easier even. If I wish to find a genuine reflection of self-love in the looking glass each day I must find myself worthy of it. I must be something, some one I can look in the eye with respect, with gratitude, with kindness. There are two sides of this and I intend on working on both. It is a balancing act, self-love, but I have my tights on and I am ready to walk the walk…no matter how narrow or windy the road, no matter the obstacles before me. It will be an adventure and I am so ready for one!

I Am Mine by Brooke Waggoner
Beautiful Flower by Indie Arie
Beautiful by Christina Aguilera

sunshine, originally uploaded by {life through the lens}.

“Kind hearts are the gardens, kind thoughts are the roots, kind words are the flowers, and kind deeds are the fruits. Take care of your garden and keep out the weeds, fill it with sunshine kind words and kind deeds.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A mesmerizing photograph, a lovely song… and a moving quote. Well worth the share, don’t you think?

For your listening pleasure… a few of my favorite renditions of You are my sunshine

Children – You Are My Sunshine
Gene Autry – You Are My Sunshine
Sara Gazarek – You Are My Sunshine

I am particularly fond of the last by Sara Gazarek!