The cherry blossoms just yesterday evening (see above) are ever so gradually beginning to reveal their beauty, and with rain in the forecast for the weekend and a weekend-at-home scheduled to tinker about the garden, I am quite giddy. 

Simple pleasures. Mother Nature's evanescent seasonal gifts and surprises. When we take notice of such moments we begin to build a truly wealthy life. Why? Because it isn't guaranteed, but because we have honed the skills of paying attention in the present, we are assured to find the beauty of life despite all that we have no control over. 

I have a robin that visits my bird cafe in my sunshine garden this spring. The first time a robin has ever visited, let alone regularly stopping by. Each afternoon he stops by to grab a nibble and just recently he began feeling even more comfortable as evidenced by his grabbing a sip at the bird bath. As I shared in April's A Cuppa Moments, this is quite significant to me as I have never seen a robin visit any of my home's bird feeders over the the course of adulthood, and yet this year, a robin decided to stop by. As a robin symbolizes rebirth, hope and renewal, I took this as an auspicious sign of a new opportunity I am grateful to have presented and I the courage to seize that has better aligned my life direction with my true self. 

Now some readers may think this is complete nonsense, and that is okay. Regardless, as I share in episode #327 of the podcast, when we begin to rehabituate our mind with positive moments and experiences, thus positive thoughts, we change how our mind sees the world and the events that occur, and thus we engage with the world different and as you might have guessed, the world begins to respond to us differently. Simply put, when we change our minds for the better, our lives and the world we have the opportunity to engage with changes for the better as well. 

This is not to say unwanted events will not occur, but we will have a stronger mind to navigate them well and not be held back or stymied. In fact, we will be better able to see the opportunity for growth, strengthening of skills we had not yet needed to use, etc..

Just last week I returned from my first trip abroad to France and England. Taking the opportunity to travel for 10 days, my mother joined me visiting both countries for the first time in her life. I had never traveled with a family member before to my beloved destinations, two destinations that have changed my life for the better and bring me to life the moment I return. However, I also for the first time had to use skills I typically don't have to use when I travel as I usually travel alone - compromise, listening to what the other person needs and also using my voice to express what I need making sure I do so in a loving, yet clear way. 

All of this is to say, that while we may want our lives to run smoothly and without hiccups 100% of the time, in all truthfulness, the only way a life runs that way is to go-along and not express ourselves sincerely or to always travel alone, and in the latter it is actually not the case as we actually have to use our voice constantly because no one else will speak for us if we do not. So my point is, it is often the hiccups and unwanted moments that hone our abilities to better be able to cultivate the relationships, the moments and thus the life we want to live. For how is anyone supposed to know what brings us to life, what enables us to be our best if we don't express it, and the same can be said for those we love and wish to see truly happy? And how are we to know who we want to spend our lives with and where we want to spend our lives and doing what if we don't put ourselves out there and gauge the response? We must listen and get to know ourselves and then find our voice, express it with calm strength paired with loving kindness both to those we are speaking to and in honoring what we need. In so doing, we give ourselves a helpful roadmap of who to continue to travel with and who to say au revoir to, and that makes all the difference when it comes to living a life of fulfillment that includes connecting with the world beyond ourselves. 

Now to the newsletter! This month is quite full, and full of MANY style posts, one post which just became the top viewed post by readers for this entire year. So I won't dawdle on any longer. Wishing you a wonderful first day of May, and until Tuesday May 31st, I will see you on the blog.

—Shannon

~To explore every post you wish to read, be sure to become a member to one of the two tiers - BASIC or TOP as non-members can only read five posts a month (it will reset on the first of each month - tomorrow!).