Musings on Life and Beauty Archives - Page 25 of 146

15 Days of Happiness :: Rearrange Something

May 28, 2013 jennifer Decorating, Musings on Life and Beauty

Today’s happiness task is closely related to my post about painting something.
Sometimes we get going and the beautiful things in our lives become part of the backdrop. We love and appreciate them, but because they blend into the landscape of our days we fail to really see them. When we no longer see them, their power to bring joy is diminished. We can do this both with people and with things, and when it happens it’s easy to start looking around at other people, other things, and think we need THOSE to be happy.

I caught myself being tempted to think this way recently when I saw this picture in the Wisteria catalog:

I love the bright blues against the white. The painting, rug, lamps and vase I particularly like, but I don’t really need any of them.

I do have a white living room that I love, so I decided to pull a few things from other places and see how it would turn out. This is what I did:

I moved a pillow from another room and placed my Water and Sky quilt over the arm of the couch.

I pulled vases from other rooms to make an arrangement I liked, then cut my first peonies of the year.

That was it, but it was enough. All of a sudden I had a splash of the color I wanted, and doing something different gave me new motivation and pride in having my house look nice. Sometimes that is just what I need to feel energized and willing to clean. Rearranging things makes me notice them again, and restores the pleasure I find in them as well. I didn’t need anything new; I just needed new eyes to see what I already had.

What will you rearrange today? A room? A shelf? Or will you do something far greater, like rearrange a schedule to restore a relationship to it’s proper priority in your life? Whatever it is, may it bring happiness!

Jennifer

15 Days of Happiness :: Memory Lane

May 27, 2013 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

One of my goals is to sort through all the photos, school papers and memorabilia that have come with 8 children and almost 17 years of marriage. I was going through a stack of homework from my oldest son when he was 8 years old and, tucked in all the math assignments, I found these pictures.

I stood there, swept back in time to this photo shoot, done by my neighbor, and felt overwhelmed by how young and innocent they all look. We only had six then, and they look so little! In some ways it was so long ago, and in others it was yesterday. Looking through these photographs softened my heart towards a couple of them who have been a real struggle lately, and generally made the day more precious. I realized that in another 7 years I’ll be looking at this year’s pictures with the same longing.

I found another folder, full of old family photos. My grandparents, who are now gone, my mother as an infant, all reminded me that life is always changing. I’ll never get this stage back so I’d better enjoy it now.

Then came this photo, a gift from a good friend, of my oldest three children when #1 was just a few months older than #8 is now. As I thumbed through these photographs, all of a sudden I didn’t care how many papers were sorted that day. I remembered what really matters, and remembered how fun and sweet they all were as babies.

When I walked upstairs a few minutes later, I felt happier. They are mine and I love them. Today is a good day. Right now is the time to smile at them, love them, enjoy them, and treasure the everyday that will someday fade into the past. My unexpected walk down memory lane changed my heart.

I hope you’ll look through some old photos today. Let yourself be reminded how many good things your life has been full of, and face what lies ahead of you with new gratitude and determination to enjoy it!

Happy living, Jennifer *This post is part of a short series of posts on happiness.

Click here for the previous post , and click here for the next post . For a list of all posts in this series, click here .

15 Days of Happiness :: Plant a Garden

May 25, 2013 jennifer Gardening, Musings on Life and Beauty

Today we added a garden area about 30 x 30 feet to our yard. It has always been the plan, but we’ve never taken care of it in time to plant. I can’t tell you how happy this project makes me. At last, somewhere for my squash to run without choking other plants (they’ve been in the flowerbeds for the past 2 summers) and somewhere to plant pumpkins! It’s not fancy, or very pretty, but the soil is good and all the plants I started back in February are now in the ground. The watering is all hooked up and automatic so we can leave town and have it taken care of.

This was a big project. It took us all day, and earned us some sunburns, tired muscles and headaches. But it was worth it. The children also planted vegetables in their garden boxes and I hope they learn good things from it. (Some of them will learn the lesson of why we don’t crowd our gardens this year.)

I’m already excited for the tomatillos, tomatoes, peppers and squash. I find myself wishing we could fast forward to our end of summer bounty and meal plans right away. I’m eyeing all kinds of awesome looking vegetable dishes online.

My happiness project today was tackling something big. And having an awesome husband who worked with me and didn’t quit until it was all done. We haven’t had time for something like this in too long, and I’m glad we made good use of it. I really believe that planting a garden is a healing experience. It connects us to all the generations of the past whose survival depended on sowing seeds. We learn great things from watching tiny seeds develop into fruitful plants, and the joy of harvesting what you grow yourself is a singular thing.

I hope you’ll plant a garden this year. Or make time for a big project that you can stand back and enjoy for a long time.

Happy Living, Jennifer *This post is part of a short series on happiness. For a complete list of all posts, click here.
For the previous post in the series, click here . You can find the next post here .