Each month I post a list of things I think about that will bring me joy, either personal joy or seeing the joy it might bring to someone else. Some of the things are personal and just for my joy, but I always also try and remember the theme of my church many years ago.
I am Methodist and our ministers are appointed by the conference, so having the same one for ten years is a long run. Our minister of a couple of decades ago had "It is a blessing, to be a blessing"as a recurring theme in his sermons for years. I have tried keep it in the forefront of my brain ever since, and found, over time, it truly is a blessing to be one. So some of my joys are simply the joy that I can do something for someone else.
So now May has begun and I got caught in a time vortex and am just now getting around to even thinking about what might be joyous this month, much less actually posting it. Here it is, a little late.
1. Expand my horizons
a. read 4 books (1 from a different genre. History perhaps?)
b. read articles from 4 magazines I do not normally read.
c. listen to that opera i keep skipping
d. listen to a Ted talk each week
e. try a new beverage weekly
f. try a new food weekly
2, Quit being so tragically unhip and explore instagram
3. Find a podcast to listen to regularly
4. Visit Vulcan and take a photo of his bare butt
5. Finish planting everything
6. Visit family members I haven't seen in a while.
7. Have a small dinner party
8. Have neighbors over for drinks and/or dessert
9. Take flowers to someone
10. Listen with full attention
11. Take food to someone having a hard time
12. Learn a new song for the piano
13. Have an at home theme meal
14. Volunteer
15. Paint, draw or sketch with charcoal
16. Take a seriously old clothing item and remake it into something "new"
17. Try an unnatural hair color
18. Swim
19. Send sympathy and thinking of you cards as situations dictate
20. FaceTime 5 times with the most beautiful girl in my tribe
21. Go to a movie by myself (popcorn optional)
22. Reconnect with someone who has been out of touch
23. Forgive everything that needs forgiven
24. Apologize and ask forgiveness as needed
25. Read a psalm each day (King James Version because the language is so beautiful)
26. Have the first cup on coffee on the screened porch as much as possible
27. Try to get more sleep (Note to self: Go to bed by midnight)
28. Have a few hours each week for some self pampering
29. Have Mom up to eat, weekly
30. Take Mom to visit some of her friends
31. Practice patience with Mom.
32. Visit a small town near me
33. Start exploring restaurants from one of 2 lists: the best restaurant in each county or the 100 best dishes in Alabama
34. Be kind
35. Do something for someone, expect nothing in return (anonymous is best)
36. Learn a new craft
37. Eat something chocolate every week
38. Keep a list of everyday unexpected joys
39. Tell my closest friends how much I appreciate them
40. Marvel at a glorious sunrise
41. Enjoy the quiet beauty of a moon rise
42. Be grateful for huge sky expanses both at home and at the lake
43. Practice gratitude
44. Write stories for Pip
I am Methodist and our ministers are appointed by the conference, so having the same one for ten years is a long run. Our minister of a couple of decades ago had "It is a blessing, to be a blessing"as a recurring theme in his sermons for years. I have tried keep it in the forefront of my brain ever since, and found, over time, it truly is a blessing to be one. So some of my joys are simply the joy that I can do something for someone else.
So now May has begun and I got caught in a time vortex and am just now getting around to even thinking about what might be joyous this month, much less actually posting it. Here it is, a little late.
1. Expand my horizons
a. read 4 books (1 from a different genre. History perhaps?)
b. read articles from 4 magazines I do not normally read.
c. listen to that opera i keep skipping
d. listen to a Ted talk each week
e. try a new beverage weekly
f. try a new food weekly
2, Quit being so tragically unhip and explore instagram
3. Find a podcast to listen to regularly
4. Visit Vulcan and take a photo of his bare butt
5. Finish planting everything
6. Visit family members I haven't seen in a while.
7. Have a small dinner party
8. Have neighbors over for drinks and/or dessert
9. Take flowers to someone
10. Listen with full attention
11. Take food to someone having a hard time
12. Learn a new song for the piano
13. Have an at home theme meal
14. Volunteer
15. Paint, draw or sketch with charcoal
16. Take a seriously old clothing item and remake it into something "new"
17. Try an unnatural hair color
18. Swim
19. Send sympathy and thinking of you cards as situations dictate
20. FaceTime 5 times with the most beautiful girl in my tribe
21. Go to a movie by myself (popcorn optional)
22. Reconnect with someone who has been out of touch
23. Forgive everything that needs forgiven
24. Apologize and ask forgiveness as needed
25. Read a psalm each day (King James Version because the language is so beautiful)
26. Have the first cup on coffee on the screened porch as much as possible
27. Try to get more sleep (Note to self: Go to bed by midnight)
28. Have a few hours each week for some self pampering
29. Have Mom up to eat, weekly
30. Take Mom to visit some of her friends
31. Practice patience with Mom.
32. Visit a small town near me
33. Start exploring restaurants from one of 2 lists: the best restaurant in each county or the 100 best dishes in Alabama
34. Be kind
35. Do something for someone, expect nothing in return (anonymous is best)
36. Learn a new craft
37. Eat something chocolate every week
38. Keep a list of everyday unexpected joys
39. Tell my closest friends how much I appreciate them
40. Marvel at a glorious sunrise
41. Enjoy the quiet beauty of a moon rise
42. Be grateful for huge sky expanses both at home and at the lake
43. Practice gratitude
44. Write stories for Pip
I do love your list.
ReplyDeleteI am in a planting frenzy (over 1500 spring bulbs). I hope to get them all in before May is half over. I hope to be still walking when I finish.
Gratitude is a gift which keeps on giving. You, and your Minister are right about being a blessing - but it seems such an arrogant/presumptious thing to claim.
1500 bulbs!! I know I wouldn't be walking after that.
DeleteAll those bulbs! My knees hurt just imagining that.
DeleteThe intent of being a blessing is never about any self importance, but rather thinking of givin instead of receiving. Rather than being stingy with our time, talents,and even money we need to understand our biggest blessings are received through giving.
I think that spending time with your mother sort of negates the need to do some of these things since you are being a blessing to her. Same with listening and being with your husband. Some people forget those close in order to make a splash somewhere. Go to bed by midnight? Are you mad? Eat chocolate every week? Why not every day? Go ahead and be unhip.
ReplyDeleteGood list.
I am unhip. No doubt about it.
DeleteI have been tired and out of sorts for a couple of months and I am pretty sure going to bed at 3 or 4 and waking by 7:30 has something to do with it.
Add heart disease to being out of sorts. Read what a lack of proper sleep can do to your heart. I do not even try to be hip, much to the consternation of young people I know around town.
DeleteDo you use this list as reference to consult when you want to think about what to do? Because there's way too much on there to do in one month. Maybe it should be your quarterly list.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I write thiis to get some joyful ideas in the forefront of my thoughts. I think about it a couple of days and promptly forget about it until the end of the month when I see what I did and didn't do
DeleteI understand where Anne is heading. Listing out all the things that woudld bring her joy, whether it is all accomplished or not, is the point perhaps. I tend to overly state what I will or want to get accomplished, but in that, I find a certain calm, and know if some things are checked off, I will have been successful.
DeleteI am more of the like to get everything checked off my list type person, so an overly ambitious list would bring me more anxiety than joy. But it is certainly a good idea to think about things that would bring you and others joy. We get lost in other things sometimes and forget to focus on joy.
DeleteMy other in law wrote the story of her life for her grandchildren and children. It is not the same as sotires for pip, but I think someday they will all appreciate that she did that. Your list gives me joy and I will nab a few to focus on for myself.
ReplyDeleteI think writing your life story for posterity is a fabulous idea. I think of some of the things I would love to know about my grandparents that I will never know. Since Dad was dealing with a time stamp the later part of his life he enjoyed talking to us and filling us in one his life. It is something I treasure.
DeleteI love this post!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteWonderful Joy list for May! I, too, like the King James version for the language (and it's the version that I have). I like that concept of it being "a blessing to be a blessing to others". I need to remember that! Here's hoping you have a joy filled May.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bless! I get so much more from giving than I could ever get from receiving.
DeleteAnne, your list inspires me! I should try coming up with my own. My daughter is leaving for summer work in a couple of weeks and it's going to be so hard not having her here. Maybe a list of activities I can do alone will make her time away go by faster.
ReplyDelete