Meg Evans

The Fitbit wars continued today, as my daughter started a new one-day challenge—after she worked out this morning, of course. Meanwhile, I hadn’t done much besides going to the supermarket on my lunch hour, and it was a windy day with rain blowing in.

Late in the afternoon, the sky got very dark, and there was even a tornado warning. Although I didn’t see anything other than a single flash of lightning, it definitely wasn’t the sort of afternoon to go outdoors for exercise. Not that it mattered because I generally work later on Thursdays, so I was still at my desk while the others in my family went to the gym.

The rain was over by the time I finished my work, though, and it was pleasantly warm outside, so I went for a walk. The sky had pretty much cleared by then, and the birds were singing happily. I ended up being glad that I’d gotten a little nudge to go out and enjoy it.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

The house seemed very quiet today after a week of dog-sitting was over. A sunny morning had given way to another dark, cloudy winter sky by the afternoon, and it was well into the evening before my husband came home from work and the gym. I was sitting at the computer wondering what to post for Nurturing Thursday, but I didn’t have much energy and nothing insightful came to mind.

Then my husband came in and started chatting cheerfully about the international soccer game he watched on TV last night, after I went to bed. He didn’t get much sleep and had to drink plenty of coffee in the morning to wake himself up, but he was fine with that because the game was so exciting.

Just listening to his upbeat conversation left me feeling more cheerful and energetic, and reminded me once again that happiness doesn’t necessarily have to be gained through effort or insight. It’s mainly just about having a good outlook on life and enjoying the moment.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

We’ll be dog sitting this weekend because our daughter and son-in-law are traveling to attend a wedding. Their dogs are always so excited when they come here, running all around and wagging their tails. My husband often says that we can learn a lot from dogs about just being happy in the moment.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

I had a brief conversation on another blog this week about sadness and letting go of things. Everyone has memories of unpleasant events and hurtful attacks, which need to be worked through and tidied up so that they don’t fester. The old-fashioned advice of “forgive and forget” is of course much harder to do than to say, but it can go a long way toward a peaceful life.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

My daughter is visiting for a few days. She enjoys wall decorations with inspirational sayings, and she has several of them hanging on the walls of her house. In general, she loves decorating and cheerful little things. I thought of her when I saw this image recently:

Although I haven’t spent as much time decorating, I do agree with her that the more reminders of positive things, the better!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

Today was very dark and wet. I got rained on when I did the grocery shopping this afternoon, and then there was a power outage for about two hours. Meanwhile, my husband had to move the rowing club’s boat trailer to higher ground because the river was rising high enough to flood the parking lot at the boathouse.

So, even after the power came back on, I didn’t feel particularly lucky or glad until my husband texted me from the gym after work. He asked if I had checked the basement. I went down there to look, and the sump pump was running. The floor was dry, though; so even with all the rain, there hadn’t been enough water to flood the basement floor while the power was out. That left me feeling much happier about how the day had gone, as compared to what might have happened.

With all the water around here today, I decided this word-art was quite appropriate for Nurturing Thursday:

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

I put on my cozy winter pajamas after taking a shower, and then I started thinking that I should go write my Nurturing Thursday post because it was getting late in the evening. But instead I sat down by the fireplace, on the carpet next to the bricks, enjoying the warmth and feeling grateful to have a comfortable home.

After a while I started composing this post in my head, so I wasn’t entirely idle; but mainly, I was just sitting there and letting myself have a few pleasant minutes without feeling obligated to start doing something. It’s good to write blogs, along with all the other ways we can so easily connect with people in modern times; but we also need to take enough time to connect with and care for ourselves.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

This year I am keeping a journal of people’s kind acts, as described in my New Year’s post. The original idea was that by writing about kindness, I would give it more weight subconsciously, which in turn would shift my perspective toward seeing the world as a kinder place.

So far I’ve noticed something else, which is that I am not only giving more weight to kind acts—I am seeing more of them in the first place. When I take the time to consider (as journaling requires) what acts of kindness I’ve seen on a particular day, I find myself reflecting on events that seemed ordinary at first glance and then realizing, “Oh, this was done with kind intentions, and that was kind too.”

Even the most commonplace things can seem very different, depending on how we look at them.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

This evening I got distracted and, instead of writing my usual Nurturing Thursday post, I put on my pajamas and chatted with my husband for a while. Then I got in bed and was still awake, looking at the brightness behind the window shades where light was reflecting from snow, and had a vague sense that there was something left undone.

The internal to-do list never fully came back after its mysterious disappearance over the holidays, it seems. I did eventually remember that it was Thursday and I hadn’t written a blog post, so I got back out of bed and sat down at the computer. Oh well, nobody’s perfect, and anyway, Nurturing Thursday is about gradual self-improvement rather than getting it right every time.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

One advantage of getting older is that every passing year comes with more perspective. The list of entries grows longer in what I call the Portfolio of Past Problems. Just like we keep track of our job accomplishments by writing resumes to show employers how proficient we are in our jobs, solving problems in our personal lives also gives us valuable experience and makes us more capable. Rather than feeling gloomy because not everything came out perfect on the first try, we should give ourselves credit for work well done!

No matter how troubling a particular situation may be, the chances are good that when looking back on it many years later, it’s probably just going to be another one of the many things that worked out all right.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.