Meg Evans

After a dark wintery week, I was very glad to see the sun this morning, and I opened the wooden blinds in my family room right away. There’s still no furniture other than a rocking chair because filling in the space never felt right to me, as I mentioned in a previous post. But it’s lovely in the sunshine; and even though the sky soon turned hazy, reminding me of the old song “Hazy Shades of Winter,” all that wide open space left me feeling cheerful anyway.
 

Maybe it’s the angle of the sun as it slants more steeply through the windows, reassuring my subconscious mind that spring is not far away. Whatever it may be, I hope that everyone reading this post has a comfortable place at home that inspires cheerful feelings too!

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 received an email from a coworker on Tuesday with a fun word-art image about spreading happiness like jam, which gave me a smile on a dark winter afternoon. So, I decided to share it for today’s post and spread some happiness for Nurturing Thursday.
 

And, I’m happy to report that when I ate a yummy sourdough English muffin with apricot jam for my breakfast today, I did not get any jam on myself. I hope your day got off to a good start too!

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 time of year, many folks in the Northern Hemisphere start feeling like we’ve had enough of winter and are counting the days till spring. But rather than grumbling, we should enjoy and try to make the best of each day instead, even if there happens to be snow in it! So I decided that this word-art image would make a good Nurturing Thursday post.
 

This morning I glanced out the window at some flurries and thought about how soft and pretty they looked, and how easy they were to appreciate from the comfortable warmth indoors! When we take the time to look around, there’s always something to turn ordinary days into “days that count.” Wishing all my readers a joyful week full of great days too!

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 am writing this post on a desktop computer where the background images are a collection of landscapes with paths, which change automatically from one to another every few minutes. My husband found them last year. They’ve been very good for my soul, inviting me to go for refreshing imaginary walks along those peaceful paths, rather than just sitting in my chair focused entirely on producing words on a white screen.

I’ve also found myself drawn to similar images when I look through the online gallery for the digital art display I got for Christmas. At present, I have it set to display a wooden bridge or walkway leading to a beach, with palm trees and other tropical plants on both sides. This picture makes me feel almost as if I could step into the frame and be somewhere far away on a magical adventure.
 

We have many stories like that in our culture—the Narnia books and the Myst game come to mind. These familiar stories speak to a truth that our ancestors knew long ago, when they put on animal masks and danced with the tribe’s guardian spirits. Our world really does feel more magical when we surround ourselves with bright, fanciful images that call us to explore 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.

When I woke up and saw bright sunshine this morning, after a cold and snowy week, it gave me a cheerful smile to start the day. So today I’m wishing sunny smiles to everyone for Nurturing Thursday!
 

Even (or perhaps especially) in the middle of winter when it seems like there’s not much to look at but snow and ice, we should keep in mind that there are always reasons to smile!

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 this week has been snowy here, the season has been warmer than usual. I noticed last weekend that some of my spring bulbs were starting to send up little shoots, as if they’d somehow gotten the idea that winter might already be over. I was going to take a photo, but then it snowed, and all that could be seen was the tip of one hyacinth peeking through the snow cover.
 

I have to wonder if I’m going to get any blooms out of them this spring, as early as they’re coming up. But, I have to say I admire their optimism!

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 work schedule got unexpectedly rearranged this week, just after coming back from my end-of-year vacation, because I got “volunteered” to help with another group’s project. Of course, that’s not at all unusual in the corporate world; and though it can be uncomfortable to be pushed out of one’s usual routine, sometimes that can be a useful nudge to avoid getting stuck in a rut. It’s all too easy to end up always doing the same work, without thinking of much beyond getting a paycheck and buying more stuff.
 

Although I’m enjoying the new things my family got for Christmas, there is certainly much more to a happy life besides how we spend our money. It’s always good to be reminded of that, even if the catalyst for reflection might sometimes be a bit of workplace distraction!

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.

Almost twenty years ago, I was walking through a flea market with some friends when I noticed a display screen with animated art of a moving waterfall. It had no Internet connection and showed only the one image on a big, heavy screen, in the blocky graphics of the time. Still, I thought it would be great to have something like that to hang on my wall; and I decided to buy one after a few years when the technology got better.

Time went by, and I moved to a new house without having found anything similar. I had a spot picked out for it on a wall of my dining room, which is on the north side of the house and always seemed too dark and quiet. Even with a small holiday tree in the corner, it was hard to brighten up that room in December. So I was very happily surprised when my husband’s Christmas gift for me this year was a flat-screen art display connected to an online gallery, which he put on the wall right where I wanted it.
 

For this photo, I set it to display brightly colored abstract art. It can easily be changed to other images, either static or animated, with a phone app. This is a new product by Electric Objects that was rushed into production for the Christmas season and doesn’t yet have a large searchable gallery. Users can upload images, though, so it’s just a matter of finding good ones.

I look at it as a symbol, on this New Year’s Eve, of moving forward in a world where the images and stories we keep in mind become our reality. They may take a while to show up in our everyday lives, they probably won’t look exactly the same as what we first imagined, and they’ll change even more as time goes on—but however it happens, they do find their way into real life. So, it’s up to us to choose our thoughts wisely.

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 mentioned in a post on Saturday that one of my Christmas decorations is a clock that chimes holiday songs on the hour. The clock has a bright, cheerful winter scene on the face. Last year I got it in a Yankee Swap (also called White Elephant) regifting party, where my husband and I got together with friends after Christmas and everybody brought their unwanted presents.
 

I suppose the person who didn’t want the holiday clock thought that the chiming songs would be annoying. My daughter complained that when she was watching TV, the clock was too much of an interruption. I like it, though, because it breaks up the holiday rush with a cheerful pause every hour, reminding me to take a moment and appreciate my blessings. We can all benefit from such reminders. Have a very merry Christmas, everyone!

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 of my first Nurturing Thursday entries, which I posted almost two years ago, was about the benefits of having a fruit bowl on my kitchen table. I wrote that I always kept it filled with my favorite varieties of fruit as a symbol of abundance, a reminder that the kitchen table is not a junk shelf, and a prompt for healthy eating.

This year I’m still using the fruit bowl, but I have realized that it’s much healthier to eat a wide variety of foods instead of always buying the same ones, so I’ve made a point of switching things up. At present, the fruit bowl contains Asian pears and large mandarin oranges.
 

Making small changes to our routines is healthier not only with food, but also with life in general. It’s all too easy to get stuck in a rut, always doing the same old stuff out of inertia or because it seems more comfortable. And then, before we know it, our creative energies have gotten malnourished. Although it’s perfectly natural to have favorites—both in what we eat and what we do—it’s also important to make sure we get plenty of variety!

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.