Meg Evans

When problems persist for a while, sometimes they start to weigh heavily on the mind. Those little moments of happiness once taken for granted start to seem few and far between. Even though the simple everyday comforts are still there, they don’t get noticed or appreciated as much as they once did. When that happens, it can feel like the only way happiness will ever come back is when the problems go away.

Instead of putting most of our energy into problem-solving, it’s often more effective to step back from the worries and set aside more time to enjoy simple comforts that refresh the mind. Just a little shift in perspective can make problems a lot more manageable.

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 life feels so busy and complicated that it’s hard to see how one person can change anything. But although we can’t always see what impact our choices might have on the world, it’s likely that we are making much more of a difference than we know.

Bringing positive change to the world doesn’t necessarily require big dramatic projects. Often it’s our small day-to-day decisions that have more lasting effects, whether or not they might turn into anything that can be measured in terms of conventional success.

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 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.