Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: Reach for the Rainbows

There are days when it seems as if the old adage of “when it rains, it pours” is so true that there aren’t enough umbrellas and galoshes to protect you from the deluge.

Don’t allow yourself to get swallowed up by the storms in your life. Redirect your focus to rise above the rain. Reach for the rainbows.

When you dedicate energy to seeking the good in each difficult situation, the hold that those sorrows and fears have over you is lessened. It’s easier to flow through the experience until you can see the sunshine again.

Today, this week: Reach for the rainbows and they will be there for you.

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: The Ordinary, The Extraordinary

Allow your day to pause for a moment. Think back to some of your fondest memories. Do they center on big accomplishments and grandiose endeavors? Are they about big purchases and major rewards? 

Or are they about small experiences, simple pleasures and little droplets in time that may have seemed insignificant then but left a big impact that still resonate with you now?

Small things. Ordinary things. Simple things. That’s where the extraordinary moments of joy can be found.

Truly, some of our greatest joys come from our most ordinary moments. 

Today, this week: Cultivate joy and find the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: Fuel Your Happiness

It’s natural to occasionally have a bad day or succumb to a sour mood. The good thing is that you don’t have to remain stuck there. Happiness is an inside job that you can manage at any time.

How might you adopt a happier mindset? It doesn’t take much—just a shift in your focus and energy. Fuel your happiness through kind words, a grateful heart and a joyful spirit.

Your happy, joyful, grateful, kind energy will automatically be shared with those around you. Lift your day and that of another.

Today, this week: Choose happiness.

In Bloom

If there's ever a month that conveys the hope of spring, it is April. For those of us who live in south-central Wisconsin, spring often takes several weeks after its official arrival in March at the vernal equinox to make itself truly known. 

April begins, of course, today with April Fool's Day on the first. Sometimes, April does fool us by hanging onto March's lion-and-lamb tendencies -- first hinting at warmer weather, then clobbering us with one more heavy, wet snowstorm.

As April gets used to itself, however, it gets over its last-attempt winter tendencies and becomes what it was intended to be: the month of blooming joy. 

From the wood violets and Virginia bluebells to the tulips and daffodils, April settles in as its colorful and happy self. It is the month when nature's palette moves from gray and tan and brown and white to red and yellow and deep purple and bright green. It's as if everything awakens, and with that awakening, April decides to put on its best finery and make an appearance.

April is also the month of warm sunshine and refreshing raindrops. Both are needed for this month of renewal.

At this time of year, I can no longer stay inside, content to simply look out the window. I've already done 90% of my spring cleaning during the deep, dark winter months. I surely don't want to waste a single day or minute of glorious April stuck inside cleaning. 

April is meant for long walks, big dreams, deep breaths and blooming energy. Soak up its loveliness.

Welcome, April! 

Affirming Words: Celebrate All That is Good

Consider adopting these Affirming Words for this month. Say them often to yourself -- whenever you see yourself in a mirror, when you get out of bed to start the day, whenever you need a little pick-me-up:

The hope and the promise of this day are evident everywhere. 

I celebrate all that is good. There is much to celebrate.

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: Time to Grow

Just as the grass is beginning to grow, the trees are budding, and the early spring flowers are starting to lift their heads out of the soil, we, too, have opportunities to rise and shine during this glorious season of growth and renewal.

Today is a new day. Today marks a new week. Look for opportunities for your creative energies and ideas to form. Look for ways for you to grow as a person.

Today, this week: Be Spring! Bloom! Grow!

Seasonal Sprinkles: Spring's Here!

Spring has officially sprung today!  

With the vernal equinox, the birdsong seems louder, the sky seems bluer and the leaves begin to sprout on the trees. 

Now is a time of new beginnings, a time of renewal, and a time when nature leaves its quiet mode and bursts forth with color. 

This is indeed a time of new life, an opportunity to explore our own renewals and to raise our voices in jubilation for all of our blessings. 

Happy Spring!