Tag: Happiness

What Gardening Taught Me About Life

Every spring, I take a trip to buy some beautiful flowers to plant in my garden. I always debate over buying annuals or perennials and somehow, I always end up going with annuals. Seeing my flowers come back every year would be nice and a money-saver, however, there is something special about going to pick out different varieties and color combinations each year.

Around the middle of May, when frost is no longer a threat, I go out to the garden and dig up the dirt, remove any weeds, trim the bushes and plants, and then lay down a fresh layer of new dirt. Once this is all done, I head to the store to bring home the flowers!

Pure Happiness

Flowers, plants, and just gardening in general bring me so much joy, it is so therapeutic! I find so much peace while being in nature and digging through the earth. The beauty of nature is indescribable, it is amazing and always leaves me in awe!

My beloved grandmother adored gardening as well as my aunt, maybe I got the passion from them! I tend to go overboard with wanting many plants and flowers, but space is limited, so I just pick out three or four of the flowers that strike me the most.

A Reminder

A week ago I planted my garden! I dug a deep hole in the fresh dirt and then squeezed the sides of the plastic flower pot that it came in to wiggle the flower and its roots out. I then placed the flower inside the hole and covered it up with fresh dirt, making sure to pack the dirt all around the sides to secure the plant in place. I did this with all of the flowers and once I was done, it was time to give them a shower! I took the garden hose and sprayed them down, giving them a good soaking of water.

It is amazing how we are reminded of certain aspects of life and ourselves as we go about our daily lives. When I was gardening, I had a deep thought cross my mind. The combination of the dirt, soil, and sun allows the flower to flourish. Without these basic necessities, the flower would not be able to live and thrive to its fullest potential.

The dirt and sun are there daily; however, water is not a guarantee. When it rains, the flowers get plenty of needed water, but when there are days or a week without rain, I need to water them myself. To a point, the flowers have to rely on me to take care of them.

Application

So, how does this apply to human life? When we are given positive surroundings and the means to survive, we flourish. When we have fresh air, water, food, shelter, love, and money to make ends meet, we can live comfortably. Just like the flowers that have their own requirements, when ours are met, we can blossom into the beautiful people that we are.

Just like flowers need to rely on someone to water them when the rain is absent, we may also need to lean on others for support.

If we are not happy and not thriving, it might be helpful to look at the conditions in which we live. Some can be changed, and others cannot for the time being, but the answer may lie here. As human beings, when we are happy, it generally means that our needs are being met!

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A Recipe for Life

Think of your favorite recipe. Maybe it’s for chocolate chip cookies, zucchini bread, or a delicious pasta or salad. The recipe calls for certain ingredients and not only that, but a specific measurement of ingredients and sometimes in a very specific order. All of the ingredients together turn into whatever you are desiring to eat!

The ingredients can be tweaked and modified, and you can still reach the desired outcome in several ways. There are even many different recipes to make the same type of food. There are numerous ways to get to the end result. What if I told you that life can be the same?

A Little Bit 

Life is composed of many different aspects. We have a desired goal or dream and an idea of how to get there, but oftentimes, we get there in the most unexpected ways. Sometimes we may not reach our desires at all, or they may be partially met.

Many of us have a desired life path. We want certain things out of life and perhaps even in a certain order. Often, the desired outcome doesn’t always turn out the way that we wanted it to. Just as with cooking, we can add a little bit of this and a little bit of that trying to create a masterpiece, but it can turn out to be something that we did not want or even expect.

Many Tries

Just as there are many ways to make chocolate chip cookies, there are many ways to reach our desires in life, or at the very least try. Sometimes we may have to make sacrifices and let go of certain dreams, but there are ones that are within our reach, we just have to have the mind and heart to get us there.

The recipe for life is not concise, nor is it one size fits all. The recipe for life needs to be tried, tested, modified, and redone over and over again. Sometimes life will be sweet and other times salty. There will be periods of time when the ingredients that we mix together won’t work out well and we must try again…maybe even for a third or fourth time.

Reminder

Thankfully, life can oftentimes give us many tries to perfect the recipe. We can keep trying and trying again until we have what we sought to find. There are many ways to try and approach what we want out of life. 

I’d like to think that there is no wrong path. Sure, we may end up where we don’t belong, or where we don’t want to be, but I truly believe that in the end we always end up where we are meant to be.

There isn’t one path, but many. They may all lead us somewhere different, but in the end, we hope that we will be happy once we reach the final destination.

Do you have a recipe that needs tweaking? A little modification can go a long way!

The Year That I Found the Golden Egg

Growing up, the holidays were always held at my beloved grandparents’ house. All of us would travel to their house for good food and great company. I have so many beautiful memories of celebrating the holidays with them.

Every Easter, my sister and I would wear our Easter dresses to Church mass and then mom and dad would take us to our grandparents’ house for lunch and a celebration. We would start Easter by talking and socializing with each other, then we would gather around the large family table full of food. There were so many of us that we actually had to sit in three different rooms while we were eating. I sure do miss those days.

Each family would bring a dish or dessert to share. I remember rice crispy treats, chocolate egg candies, jelly eggs, pasta salad, ham, greens, deviled eggs, and potato salad to name a few. After lunch, it was time for the Easter egg hunt!

Hunting for Eggs

Before the egg hunt started, my aunt announced that for that particular year, there was going to be a large golden egg filled with extra treats and some money. I remember glowing with the thought of finding the golden egg, but I knew the odds were so small because there were so many of us. We all grabbed a bag and headed outside to see how many eggs we could find and what kind of goodies and surprises were inside. My eye was on the prize, but I carried on knowing most likely it wasn’t going to be me. We found so many eggs that day. Some were so well hidden that it really took a very close look to find them.

I kept walking around the grass and finding eggs. One by one, I put them in my basket and kept walking in hopes to find that special golden egg. I found all of the colors in the rainbow but not the golden egg. I looked behind a little tree and there nestled behind its branches was…the Golden Egg! I remember being so surprised that I had actually found it. The odds were so small, and I just wasn’t thinking that it was going to be me. I remember smiling from ear to ear and being overjoyed that I had found this special little prize! Besides the extra goodies inside, I didn’t think too deeply about finding them, but today as an adult, my reflection on this memory has taught me three things.

  • To win, you have to play. It sounds simple, but had I not even gone out looking for eggs, I wouldn’t have found the special one at all
  •  Even when the odds are against you and you think that there is a slim chance of getting what you desire or seek to find, you can! There is always that hope. It may or may not work out, but at least you tried. One never knows what might happen just by trying
  •  Things happen when we least expect them! I was going about my day collecting multi-colored eggs when BAM! I found the golden one

Life

When the odds are against you in life, don’t give up. Keep going and keep trying. You never know what you might find if you try. Something beautiful and totally unexpected might be just around the corner!

Finding A Balance

Although balance is extremely important, it is very hard to achieve…at least for me. There are so many things in life that require our time, attention, and devotion. There are so many things that we want and have to do. With 24 hours in a day, it is up to us to manage it all.

Life is all about trying to accomplish what we want to and having time left for ourselves to do whatever makes us happy. Whenever these scales are not balanced, it leaves us feeling unsettled and unhappy. We strive for a happy medium.

Overdoing

I tend to overdo things in my life. I push myself and push myself until I am burned out with no energy left to give. I have a hard time recognizing when I need a break. I get onto autopilot mode and just keep going. Sometimes, I wish that I had 8 legs like our octopus friends. Imagine what we could accomplish!

We give our energy to our families, relationships, work, and our goals. We leave little time for self-care and self-love. We don’t set aside enough time to do the things that we love and that brings us comfort because something always takes precedence. What truly is worth our happiness and health? We need to take this time back!

When All Else Fails

When the plan that you made to get your life back on track and to have that balance that you seek doesn’t work, there’s one thing that I try to remember and that is to PAUSE! Take a moment, a few days, a week, even a month to just pause and give yourself a break. This pause allows you to reevaluate your life and see where changes are needing to be made. There is nothing worth jeopardizing your well-being.

Sure, there will be sacrifices that need to be made and some things in life may have to take the back burner, but it’s all part of the process to a happier you.

It’s Not Over

Life has many ups and downs. It will take us down numerous paths, detours, and roadblocks. Life has a way of taking us on an emotional roller coaster. It ebbs and flows, it’s great and it’s depressing.

We never know what life might hand to us. In some ways that’s scary, in many ways that’s thrilling and leaves us with much hope.

Despair

Unfortunately, sometimes in life, we will have moments of despair. We may feel like we have lost hope, we are depressed, and feeling lost and broken.

In these moments, it’s hard to see any good at all. It’s hard to see the positives, the silver lining, and it’s hard to practice gratitude.

Life Happens.

As we go through life, we encounter many things good and bad. During the happy moments, we feel full of life and on top of the world! Maybe we just got married, had a baby, got a job promotion, and moved to a new area. We feel full of life. Things are going our way!

On the flip side, we have times when we feel that the world is against us, we feel like we don’t matter, and that everything is going wrong. We might be grieving the loss of a loved one, have been laid off, or ended a relationship.

It’s Not Over

Our world might be crashing down around us, and we feel that it’s over. The job loss changes everything, grieving a loved one is debilitating, and the loss of a relationship really weighs on the heart. At that moment, we feel that everything is over, it’s too much to bear.

It’s not until much time has passed that the clouds can lift and we can start to see life in a different light. Hope comes back stronger and we feel like we will be okay, we can keep moving forward and tackle anything in the way.

Transformation

Although we never forget. Time has way of healing and making things feel less intense. It’s sad to see our loved ones going through a rough time, but it’s a beautiful thing to witness others who were deeply sad or upset become whole again. A smile returns to their face, and they have picked up and started moving forward.

Witnessing this transformation in life is a beautiful thing. It shows how strong the human mind is, and how much strength we all have as human beings even throughout our darkest days.

A Little Motivation 

Think of all that you’ve been through in life and here you are! You’ve made it. Sure, it wasn’t easy, but you did it. Life is ever-changing, we will have many highs and lows. Each time we go through something stressful, devastating, or traumatizing, we grow that much stronger. We realize that we have what it takes to pull through.

In closing, I leave you with a quote that I have always found to be encouraging and true:

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

   -John Lennon