Meg Evans

Often when people are too busy, it’s because they’ve gotten the idea that if they don’t do everything, then it won’t get done. Of course, that is not really true. It’s not all on us. Lots of things happen whether we’re involved or not. Most of us are nowhere near indispensable in our jobs and other obligations, however much we might like to think we are; and Mother Nature does as she pleases.

I planted snapdragons in my garden next to some that had survived the winter, as I mentioned in a post a month ago. Here’s a photo showing two large plants on either side (the survivors, now blooming) with the freshly planted ones in between and smaller plants from last year’s seeds popping up all around.

If I hadn’t gotten impatient for a bit of color in early May, I could easily have waited, and the garden would have filled in with snapdragons naturally. I see it as a good reminder that even though we always have things we want to do, the world is not going to fall apart if we don’t happen to get them done!

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.

Even though it’s silly to try to be like celebrities, most of us would have to admit we’ve done it at one time or another. When I was a student, I decided that I wanted hair that looked like Princess Di. The stylist gave me a lecture about how my long hair looked pretty as it was, complained about young people who don’t appreciate the beauty of just being themselves, and reluctantly trimmed it a little after telling me that Princess Di had started wearing her hair longer.

I was young enough that I didn’t appreciate the advice, either; but it did start to make more sense as time went by. If we can’t be comfortable as ourselves, then we’re probably not going to have much success trying to be someone else, either!
 

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.

Our society has gotten so competitive that people stress themselves out all the time worrying that other people might be doing better than they are. And whether we’re talking about work, school, sports, or anything else, there’s usually another person who is doing something better. After all, the world is a very big place and it’s not reasonable to expect perfection in everything we do.

It’s much healthier to take a step back from the competitive frenzy and remind ourselves that it’s not really about who wins or loses on a particular day—rather, making simple little changes for the better in everyday life will add up to much more as time passes.
 

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.

With so much going on in today’s busy world, it’s all too easy to get a bad attitude when something doesn’t go as expected. I have to confess that I let myself get annoyed recently when I wanted to make an appointment and was waiting for a call back, but did not get a prompt response. I started to feel like maybe I was being ignored on purpose. They did eventually call, and of course the most likely explanation is that they were just disorganized and it was nothing personal at all.
 

Sometimes those little annoyances are best taken as nothing more than life’s helpful reminders that an attitude adjustment might be called for!

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’m listening to the rain as I write this post, with occasional thunder rolling through. This past week has been dark and humid, leaving an oppressive feeling as if I’ve lost much of my mental energy for no particular reason. The stories and blog posts I’d like to write seem as if they’re far away, washed out to sea with the tide on a dark moonless night, with only a faint gleam of dawn to be seen.
 

But, there is peace in those quiet spaces too, and time to reflect. It’s the same in our minds as in nature—the sun and the tide always return.

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 ordered a flat of snapdragons again this year for a junior rowing fundraiser. Some of last year’s plants are still alive because of the mild winter (as shown in a late November post), but they’re not blooming yet, so it will be good to get some new ones in next to them!

The plants were delivered to the boathouse this afternoon, and my husband picked them up. He hasn’t gotten home yet, and the flowers are still in his car, so I’m posting an image that I cropped from the order sheet instead of the actual flowers.
 

Tomorrow afternoon I’ll get them planted while my husband mows the lawn. Wishing all my readers in the Northern Hemisphere a week of happy spring planting 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.

When I sat down to start my work I knew this would be a long day, both because I usually work later on Thursdays and because I had an annoying computer issue yesterday that wasted time. Also, it was a dark morning and got even darker when some rain blew in, whipping the new leaves on the trees all around.

Then it occurred to me that a window with a nice view of trees next to my desk was something to appreciate, even on a rainy spring morning; after all, a lot of people nowadays work in cubicles far away from outdoor views. So I decided to post a cartoon of a smiling tree for Nurturing Thursday.
 

Okay, this is a totally goofy picture, but I have to admit it cheered me up. And yay, the sun came out just now and the birds are chirping, too. It’s all good!

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’ve had the windows open much of the week because the spring weather has been just lovely. A pleasant breeze from the north brought the scent of fresh blossoms into my dining room. Setting the digital art frame to display a cheerful beachfront animation made it feel like I’d rented a cottage at a tropical vacation resort, even though I never really left home!
 

When a few small things are enough to find beauty in the moment, it doesn’t take much to transform everyday life into something magical.

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.

If we could go back in time and look at what we’ve accomplished over the years from the perspective of a much younger self, we’d probably think it was awesome. After all, we didn’t expect as much of ourselves back then, since we hadn’t seen as much of the world and didn’t understand how a lot of things worked. But somehow, we managed to bumble along and do many things that we never imagined we could do.

Now our expectations are much higher, and we’ve realized that the world is much more complicated than it once seemed. We notice all those little mistakes we used to be totally clueless about. Some days it feels like everything is going wrong if one little item on the to-do list goes undone. Rather than giving ourselves compliments for having done so much already, we just pile on more tasks.

So, a regular perspective adjustment is much needed!
 

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 cool, windy mornings of early spring have a lonely feeling to them, sometimes, looking up into trees with just a few tiny leaves starting to open on branches that blur into a dark sky. The willows in my backyard have mostly dropped their catkins, as shown in this post from last year, and now they’re outlined in the pale green of new growth. For a moment, a squirrel peeks around a neighbor’s tree. A breath of the damp air carries with it a sense of potential, of bright and wonderful things yet to be imagined. The lonely feeling floats gently away, carried on the wind.
 

I couldn’t resist illustrating this post with a happy squirrel image that one of my coworkers attached to an email message earlier this week. Enjoy!

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.