Meg Evans

As another year approaches, many of us choose a word or symbol to represent an intention for the new year. While it may still be a bit early for that as we’re only halfway through October, I happened to notice a figurine while browsing on Amazon last week that felt just right for how I’d like next year to go! So I went ahead and bought it, found a place for it in a sunny room where I’ll see it regularly, and took this photo.
 

The title is Release Dreams Fairy Holding Dragon (I’ve made that into a link to the Amazon page for anyone who might be interested).  It gives me a lovely visual reminder of what I want to do in the upcoming year—release my dreams to fly free and grow into something beautiful! And I do believe that seeing it every day will keep my thoughts focused on bringing more positive, creative energy into my 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.

As children, we sought out comfy little hidey-holes almost by instinct. A favorite spot might have been a branch halfway up a backyard tree, surrounded by colorful autumn leaves. Or maybe we had a secret cave inside a closet where we went on imaginary adventures with a storybook and flashlight. It was all ours, and it was great fun. Pets like to find and claim cozy little spaces around the house, too!
 

When we grow up, though, it’s not so easy to find places that feel like our own comfy space. Maybe we’d like to sit and relax with a cup of tea and a good book on a rainy weekend; but there isn’t even enough room for a teacup on the kitchen table because it got so full of clutter, and someone else already took the couch and settled in to watch TV. And of course, sitting in a tree or closet while reading the book is not something a grown-up would even think of doing! So, instead of enjoying a restful afternoon, we end up cleaning off the kitchen table again…

That can go on for many years while we assume it’s just the way adult life goes. But eventually, after neglecting our need for restful places, we start to develop symptoms of Comfy Space Deprivation—stress, tiredness, and general blah feelings. Fortunately, there is a cure. Instead of letting everyone’s junk pile up all over the house until finding a place to sit feels like a game of musical chairs, we can take control and get the house organized the way we want it.

Yes, we still have the power to create comfy spaces, just like when we were children! Although we probably wouldn’t want to hide in a closet like our six-year-old former self or climb up on a shelf like a puppy, even if we were small enough to do it, there are plenty of other options to creatively decorate our own cozy little corner—a bamboo screen, a cheerful painting, our favorite music, and maybe a new chair if the budget permits. All it takes is a bit of time and imagination!

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.

Last weekend, my husband and I noticed that a board on top of our deck railing had gotten warped on one end and the screws had come loose. I thought at first that we might need a new board, but he said that we could just turn the warped board over and it would be fine. We had to scrape off some old wasps’ nests and other icky stuff that we found under the board; but after we cleaned it up and screwed the board back into place, it didn’t look nearly as bad anymore.
 

Sometimes life is kind of like that, too. Bad habits and negativity can leave us feeling like our lives have gotten a bit warped, or even make us wonder if we have a screw or two loose; but often all we need to do is to turn over something that we haven’t looked at in a while, scrape off the accumulated crud, and then go forward with the benefit of a different perspective.

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 is a lovely sunny day, but over the past week there have been a few cloudy days as the weather turns cooler. Like many people, I find that the shorter days tend to affect my mood, leaving me with a dark and oppressive feeling. Although the leaves haven’t fallen yet, the sky looked like autumn with its heavy, lingering cloud cover when I took this photo—not a bit of blue anywhere to be seen.
 

After considering it, though, I realized that how I feel about the change of seasons is not outside of my control. The language I use to describe the weather is entirely my choice, and so I’ve resolved not to use words like “dreary” to describe dark cloudy days. When it comes to my mood, that is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and not one that I want to inflict on myself! From now on, if it is rainy or foggy or whatever, I’ll just use that simple descriptive term without adding a negative gloss to it. And if I notice something I like in a fall or winter day, then I’ll say that 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.

Last year I bought a Hamsa charm, handmade by an artist in Israel, to decorate an interior wall and bring peaceful feelings to my house. The wall, which never gets direct sunlight, looked like it could use some brightening up! I also hung a small suncatcher in a window, consisting of an angel and a crystal teardrop (shown in this post on a gray winter day). The suncatcher makes tiny rainbows, mostly on the floor. This morning I noticed that there was a rainbow directly on the Hamsa, and took a photo to share.
 

Although it may not seem like much, I’ve found that having little bright cheerful things around the house can go a long way toward keeping me in a good mood generally!

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 never had any furniture in my great room, other than a rocking chair in the corner, and the Christmas tree when in season (it’s artificial, so I suppose it can be counted in the furniture category). The chair matches the woodwork pretty well, but that is just by coincidence. It’s left over from when my kids were babies; I never could bring myself to give it up after they outgrew the need for a nursery rocking chair.
 

The window shown in this photo is part of a set of lovely tall windows along the back of the house, facing south-southeast. I didn’t want to put any furniture on that wall and block the gorgeous morning light. On the side of the room opposite the fireplace, there is a partial wall dividing the great room from the kitchen; it’s too short to put any sizable furniture along it. The only other wall is the one across from the windows, and we always walk close to that wall when going to and from the kitchen, so putting any furniture there would seriously disrupt our usual traffic pattern.

The room always felt perfectly comfortable without furniture. On winter nights, we sat on the floor playing Monopoly next to the cheerful lights of the Christmas tree. In the summer, when we had cookouts, there was plenty of space for guests to walk around. Projects could easily be spread out on the floor and assembled. But in the back of my mind, I felt guilty for having failed at decorating because I didn’t have a properly furnished house like my mom always had.

This year, I’ve put a higher priority on self-nurturing, along with reading some blogs and books about minimalism. And I have decided to give myself permission to keep my house a comfortable place for my family, even if it might not look like a decorator’s showplace. What really matters is how we feel when we’re at home!

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.

Last September, I bought three lavender mums from a Junior Rowers fundraiser and planted them in my front garden.  When we had such a bitterly cold winter, I thought there was no chance any of them would come up this year. But much to my surprise, I discovered that there was one survivor.
 

It’s tiny—about the size of my hand, and I have small hands. But it’s thriving anyway, with plenty of buds getting ready to open. I see it as a reminder of how life goes on. Even when we feel that we’re too stressed and overwhelmed to do anything, we may still find ourselves blossoming in unexpected and beautiful ways.

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 my daughter’s puppy loves to play in the backyard, where she can find plenty of sticks and other fun things, she quickly gets hot and tired in the “dog days” summer heat! So she comes inside after a while, drinks some water, sits on the register to cool off in the air conditioning, and then barks for someone to open the door and let her back outside.
 

Puppies don’t need to be reminded to take time for self-nurturing; they instinctively have a good sense of when they need to rest and cool off! That’s something we humans could benefit from cultivating, too, instead of letting ourselves get “dog tired” with all the distractions of our busy modern world.

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.

Last week I bought a salt crystal lamp to brighten an area of my house that doesn’t get much light. The lamp is now sitting on a shelf that previously held a small plant and a fountain. Neither of those items was well suited to that location; the low light meant the plant didn’t grow much, and the fountain caused some peeling paint because it was too close to the wall and there were occasional splashes.

As with any purchase in our consumer world, buying the lamp left me with the question of what to do with the things it had displaced. The best spot for them, I decided, was a corner of my kids’ study. That area was invitingly clean after some clutter got removed, and it looked like it could use some fresh new energy.
 

The poor little plant definitely needed a new pot and fresh soil. I bought a larger pot and then filled it in around the edges with some cuttings I took from another plant, to make the arrangement look more leafy and cheerful. Then I put down a natural-fiber mat to absorb any spilled water. The plant seems to be enjoying its new home, and the fountain gives the room a better look too!

Although people tend to think of redecorating in terms of huge, expensive, time-consuming projects, it doesn’t really need to be that complicated. Just rearranging a few small things can leave the house feeling much more pleasant!

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 got the sprinklers set up today because the weather has been dry, the grass is turning brown, and the lawn service company just did the yearly aeration. Also, while I was outside, I watered the gardenia that I keep in a pot next to my garage (shown in my June 12th Nurturing Thursday post).
 

That got me thinking about how we notice when our yards need watering, but sometimes we overlook the signs in our personal lives that tell us we’re in need of more nurturing. When we don’t take care of ourselves, we’re probably not going to look in the mirror and think that we look parched like the grass, even though we really do look tired and stressed. Just like our yards, we need to “water” ourselves regularly.

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.