Ride High in 2023

Oh my, 2023 feels already rich with promise and delight, wouldn’t you agree? The New York Times has set us up with the 7-Day Happiness Challenge, and The Brain Revolution Podcast shared the Harvard Business Review article “Why Purpose–Not Passion– Should Guide Young Professionals.”  Between the two I am feeling that January will be an avenue toward brighter days. Sure, those House Republicans are (currently 10 failed Speaker Votes in) trying to undermine the functions of government. But let’s face it, anyone who actually voted for Lauren Boebert or Marjorie Taylor Greene in the first place, so that they could remove the metal detectors from the Capital building before doing their job, is getting exactly what they wanted. Pure and Total Chaos with a capital C. Maybe it’s the high school teacher in me, but their strategy seems like a recipe for disaster propelled by their narcissistic bragging rights first and foremost. I teach thinking skills coupled with empathy for others that these privileged folks clearly skipped over in their education. So, until those paid public politicians actually stop giggling over their antics and get to work, I will continue to shut them out of my daily and instead feel all the love and gratitude from the core of my family and friends who really do care about me and my best interests. Good plan, right? I propose a conservatorship of your own heart.

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Radical Joy

There is an abundance of sorrow on this small Earth, of that we might all agree, but there is also, at least here in northern Vermont, the ability to find joy quite easily in May. In the buds and flowers and leaves and warming temps and that fabulous blue sky hovering like sapphires above each and everyone. I am not ignoring the staggering horrors dropping like thick fog, but I am asking that mess to push aside for this day to feel a joy so big it overpowers. This week joy seems to be what lots of people reminded me to feel too: an unfiltered, possibly even a radical joy.

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Good News Headlines

Sure, headlines these days are not generally constructed to make you smile… (with the exceptions of Governor Gavin Newson handily beating the likes of talk show hosts & reality stars). Most headlines these days grab my stomach and twist it tighter. Flood, drought, misinformation, cynicism, division all churned into fear dominate every media push. But there is a Good News Movement that is shaking the negativity off for a few wonderful moments. Not to ignore the ills, but in the spirit of shifting the focus, I thought I’d share my Good News of the week. Of course that starts with my favorite activity…

 Woman is Still Swimming in Open Water in Chilly Vermont

After a Cold Swim a Woman Celebrates with a Hot Shower

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