a difficult thing to do considering my livelihood requires me to plan the future a year in advance everyday and follow through with that plan. i keep trying though. i practice stopping all that i am doing and just breathe for a few moments because i don't do that much of the day. i focus on the experience that breathing creates in me. that is a wonderful thing. i also just go sit out on the fire escape that's outside my office door and stare at the sky. that is a blessing. i love to eat my lunch out there too when weather permits. folks i work with thought i was a little nutty but then they tried it, and now they are hooked. i prefer to keep it a secret but then that wouldn't be very me. i like to share joy.
finding the joy thing - not difficult at all. there is so much around us each and every minute to find joy in. the problem is that many folks have such high expectations of what is considered joyful that they miss all the beauty that life provides. take for example my thoroughly cherished daily brainless activity - watching the melange of birds eat seed on our porch wall every day. we have sparrows, wrens, cardinals (mr & mrs), woodpeckers(mr & mrs), junkos, chickadees, mourning doves, squirrels of course and the ever menacing persistent pigeons. we also have a new guest - the coopershawk.
they have got to be the most excited creatures i have ever seen - all because they have food without fail every morning (& all day for that matter). i anthropomorphize everything (literally everything). so i have created all kinds of brilliant scenes in my head of who's who, the chitter chatter that they deliver and the constant state of flux they are in over whether it's safe or not to go the dish to eat. it's pure comedy every day!
now another way i find joy is in nature. i could spend endless days and weeks perusing botanical gardens of any kind. i am in love with mother nature's creations and i always will be. since i don't exactly have the time to meander for the rest of my days in a garden, i bring it to me. many of you have seen the fruits of my labor each summer on our porch.
come christmastime are the cacti that bloom first with bright fuchsia flowers all over brightening up all corners of window they face.
some of my favorite flowers are narcissus (paper whites) for their intoxicating fragrance they give off at night and amaryllis' . the later are simply spectacular. they are a bulb that you purchase in fall from a good supplier. the ones you get at your grocery store really don't do the genus justice. i buy 6-7 of them and they come just before thanksgiving. they don't require much at all - simple pot, light watering, sun and warmth from the south or west window.
i have included this years beauties below. i stare at them in amazement every morning when i am eating my breakfast. i am overjoyed with their sheer beauty and how they elegantly unfold themselves atop this 2-3ft high stalk. they deliver 5 blossom heads per stalk and if i am lucky i get 3 stalks! i am so grateful each time i gaze at them because i am stupefied as to how there can be so many flowers and plants - i mean millions of them. and they are ALL beautiful.
that brings me joy. i make it last through the end of january and then i move on to the tulips and hyacinths to get me through the winter to the ever joyful Spring!
find joy in all things small and simple just as much as you do the big and complex.
enjoy! be well - marlo
zombie
white nymph
temptation
red peacock
naranja
flamenco queen
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