Meg Evans

Now that the long days of summer are over, my husband and I have been rowing with lights on our boat when we go out after work because it’s getting dark when we return to the dock. Yesterday we were a bit later than usual, and the sun already had set by the time we put our boat in the river.

It turned out to be a lovely moonlight row, and we enjoyed being out under the stars! Although a cool wind was blowing, we had a good workout and never felt cold. Whatever the season, there is always something to appreciate in 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.

Now that September is underway, the rowing club has been putting in the entries for the fall regattas. My husband and I are not the fastest in the mixed double races; it’s only our fourth season since we learned to row, and there are others in our club with much more experience who always come in ahead of us. But we improve each year, and that’s good in itself!

If we had never started rowing because we were afraid of looking like awkward beginners, then we’d have missed out on a lot of fun!

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.

Sometimes it feels like there is nowhere near enough kindness in the world, especially during this year’s political campaign season, about which the less said the better. Putting things in perspective, however, if enough of us make an effort to be just a little kinder each day, then it can add up to much more of a change in the world than we might imagine!

Making the world a better place isn’t so much about grand accomplishments in society; often it’s the little things that matter more.

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.

Sometimes it can be helpful to reflect on the past, such as to appreciate how much has changed for the better over the years. Outside that context, though, it’s generally best to keep the focus on what lies ahead. There is nothing to be gained from ruminating on old disappointments or from complaining that things aren’t what they used to be. That’s just an unhealthy waste of time.

In a world that’s full of amazing things to discover, there are always plenty of opportunities to look ahead to more adventures in an exciting future!

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.

Earlier today, I was trying to come up with an insightful observation on life for Nurturing Thursday, but nothing came to mind right away. Then I decided that I was making things too complicated. Life doesn’t necessarily have to be all about profound insights—sometimes it’s enough, and more than enough, just to be present and feel happy in the moment.

Wishing you well on a peaceful Thursday—enjoy the rest of your day!

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.

Because we face so many decision points every day in our complicated modern world, it’s just not possible to avoid making mistakes. That in turn leads to feelings of insecurity about whether we’re as capable as others. The truth is, of course, that we don’t have a fair basis for comparison because we rarely see other people’s mistakes and worries—everyone tries to keep them hidden.

If we ever stopped to add up the many things we’ve accomplished over the years, rather than worrying about little mistakes here and there, we’d find that the scorecard looked pretty good. And besides, life isn’t just a simple calculation of mistakes vs. successes anyway—there’s a lot more to it, such as having fun, doing something meaningful, and making the world a better place.

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 in mind to get my Nurturing Thursday post up bright and early this morning because I’d been posting them later than usual this summer, and I felt like I had been slacking and ought to do better. But as it turned out, I couldn’t use the computer early in the day because of massive (and somewhat buggy) Windows updates yesterday, which caused a backup to fail last night. My husband started the backup again this morning, and it had to run for a long time.

That turned out to be serendipitous, though. I started thinking about the value of a relaxed attitude toward time as part of self-nurturing, and that ended up becoming today’s post. I asked myself, what’s the big deal anyway about posting blog entries on a schedule? A blog is supposed to be fun, not work. It shouldn’t feel like looking at the clock and filling in project codes on a timesheet.

So, my self-nurturing resolution for this week is to just let my blog posts flow naturally while having fun writing them, and banish all thoughts of slacking!

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.

Although most of us don’t go through life expecting to be perfect, we do tend to see our flaws (whatever they may be) as more of a problem than they really are. Truth is, most people don’t even notice them, and we are just pointlessly wasting our time worrying about nothing! So, for this week’s Nurturing Thursday, I decided to post a little reminder that everyone has plenty of flaws and that beauty—of both the inner and outer variety—does not require perfection:

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.

Birds and small animals occasionally drink from the little fountain on my front porch (shown here). Today I saw a chipmunk and was going to take a photo, but the chipmunk was scurrying away under a bush by the time I got back there with my phone. I noticed that the bush needed mulch and that a few small weeds were coming up around it.

Of course, there’s always something in the yard that has weeds or is otherwise in need of maintenance—we expect that. Then I started wondering, why do we expect so much more from ourselves than from our gardens? We wouldn’t complain that a garden was a bad garden for having a few weeds, but we criticize ourselves for all kinds of small imperfections. We might do better simply to accept the fact that, just like the yard, we’re always going to have a weed here or there!

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.

Because there are so many consumer goods and advertisements for them in today’s world, people often feel poor as a result of not being able to buy everything at once. Even though many of us actually have lots more stuff than in the past, it doesn’t always feel that way. So, when those ads make us feel like we don’t have enough, it’s best to keep in mind that the most important things in life have nothing to do with money.

Having an expensive house and buying all the latest cars and gadgets may be fun, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that a person is rich in what really matters.

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.