From Chaos Comes Happiness

I have been inspired since my last post to "Find the Joy", and wanted to hop in today and tell you about this journey and what I am doing. I have to tell you . . . I can already feel the difference within myself. In two short days, I am already taking more time to stop and be - stop and focus - stop and breath. All of it. The goal, and what my plan is . . . is to post photos of items and moments each and every day when I have FOUND the JOY. My goal is to capture (at least) 100 moments. They will be little things . . . big things . . . anything that has helped me stop the downward spiral that has been happening in my head and has helped me feel joy.   If you want to follow my journey each day - follow me on Instagram here  (side note: you have to have an Instagram account in order to access my Instagram.)  I will also be posting a weekly recap here on the blog.  I am using the hashtag #100JOYFCCH  .  .  . (the FCCH stands for the name of thi...

There are moments in this life when I feel the breath actually come out of my body. When I gasp, and have to inhale deeply, then hold it for a few seconds as the air fills my soul. Moments when I stop, FOCUS, and actually feel my place in the universe. Moments when I am not bothered by the hustle and bustle and chaos of life around me. Moments when I can stop it all . . . and just . . . BE. As part of my "Word of the Year", FOCUS , I am doing a great deal of that lately. These moments, the ones that take my breath away, are so important right now. They are exactly what I need. Moments like . . .  . . . when I am driving down my favorite road and I look at the beauty around me. Even in freezing temperatures and on cloudy days, the snow covered trees looked painted on by the angels in heaven, and it took my breath away. What a beautiful world.         . . . when I catch a tender moment between a man and his daughters, it takes my breath...

What a beautiful week . . . what a beautiful Fall . . . what a beautiful world . . . especially when looking at it from here. My daily journey. Oh, it's been too long since I've written about my road. But it's still there, of course. I don't travel down it daily, as I use to. But I do get to visit it at least two or three times a week. This past week, it was in it's glory. The trees are absolutely gorgeous this fall. My mom and I were talking about them this morning, and determined we have no idea why people talk of traveling out east to see the colors change. The colors are beautiful right where we are. I'm coming down from the hype and excitement of the craft fair. Feeling alive and regenerated in my creative self. I shared some of my art goodies with some of the people at the hospital where I am still doing work at, and it was . . . awesome! One of the ladies stood reading my " Annalee " greeting cards and said, "Wow! I love your ...

s   n   o   w  .   .   .   I took the long way home this morning, so that I could drive down my my favorite road.  Remember ? It is a serene spot in this chaotic life of mine, and it brings me peace each time I drive it. I love this road. I think it would be cool to start a blog with photos of this road . . . just photos. Each and every day . . . to see the seasons come and go. Hmmmm . . . maybe. In the winter . . . it is especially beautiful. As if The Big Man, himself, came down with palette knife in hand, and a big old tube of paint, and christened each branch with the most delicate edge of white. Whether you like the snow, or not, it's beautiful. And Chicago is making up for the lack of it . . . all in one day. They are calling for 6 to 8 inches. That's nothing . . . in my book. But whatever it is, it is already bringing a sense of calm to my psyche. And it's just what I need...

The other day, my friend Touhy told me that she missed my daily journey posts, and it made me smile.  I was surprised that anyone remembered how I used to write about my favorite road. Having her mention to me how she missed my stories made me want to grab my camera and hop in the car. So, a few days later, I did just that. My daily journey . . . has turned into my weekly journey, as I don't travel down my favorite road nearly as often as I used to (when I had a job to drive.) But I do find myself taking this road as often as possible. And just as I expected, my favorite road is changing with the seasons. The last time I wrote about this road was back in July (click here to be reminded). It's funny to read that post now. It was actually 10 days before losing my job. In the post I wrote about the need to breathe, and about how badly I needed to slow down. Funny, isn't it? 10 days after that . . . I was able to SLOW DOWN . . . BIG TIME. Most of ...

While on my daily journey to work this morning, I had one of those spiritual moments. You know the moments, don’t you? Oprah calls it her “Ah-ha” moment, while others might call it a light bulb moment. Whatever it is – I had something like it today. I know I have written about my daily journey many times before – and shared photos with you of the very road where I often say the heavens open up to shine down on me and my car. It’s a wonderful road that I take – peaceful, tranquil, serene. I love this road. My mind was deep in thought as I traveled along road today. I have something heavy on my chest – thoughts of worry and big concern over someone in my heart. “Breathe . . .” I kept telling myself, “just breathe.” When faced with an unknown answer in life, it’s so easy to get caught up in the thoughts in your head. Imagining the worse scenario when you really have nothing to base it on is a situation I find myself in often. This morning, was one of those moments. My mind was r...

After re-reading my blog posts the past few weeks, I've decided that it is time to move on, my dears. Time to look at the good . . . turn off the drama . . . take deep breaths . . . focus . . . affirm . . . and be grateful. I can't take total credit for it, though. On Saturday, I had a therapy session at the Scrapbook Cellar . Yes . . . we scrapbook, we create, and we "therapize" (I thought I was so clever coming up with that word, therapize, this very minute. However trusty google has found that Urban Dictionary claimed that word long before me . . . therapize: to perform therapy on someone .) In any case . . . "therapize" is EXACTLY what the cellar girls and I do. And Saturday was a particularly GOOD session. My dear friend Peggy (from " Small Steps to Giant Leaps ") shared a great idea with us in starting an "Affirmations & Gratitude" journal. The idea is simple, and something that you have probably heard of before . . . ...

Dear Sunday Driver, It was Wednesday . . . what the heck were you doing out yesterday? Ok, let me start over. That wasn't very nice, was it? I apologize. Greetings, dear Sunday driver. I hope this letter finds you doing well after hibernating this winter. My, how brave you were to head out of the house yesterday. I was so surprised to see you on the road. Although, I must tell you . . . I wasn't happy that you pulled out in front of me on the main road from my home . . . the one with the 45 mph speed limit. You do see that there is a 4 and a 5 on that speed limit sign, don't you? It's not a 3 and a 0. It's 4 and a 5. When you put them together . . . that's 45. And wow . . . when I am traveling at that speed, having your lovely Buick pull out in front of me going 30 is NOT FUN. But how lovely to follow you on that l.o.n.g. trek of road this morning. I must say - your car is looking lovely. Surely you have kept up with it well and haven't ha...

I've been thinking a great deal about my Word for 2011,  putting much more time and thought into it than I ever have in previous years. You remember ... this is THE word by which I hope to focus much of my life on during 2011. THE word to help me live an enriched and rewarding year, and will remind me to make good use of this life of mine for the 365 days in 2011. But somewhere along the search for  THE word, I became rather confused.  So, I called upon my spiritual advisors for some help. I feel quite blessed to have a number of spiritual advisors in my life. One is the Big Man upstairs (and, no ... I'm not talking about Santa. Or PG.) Anyway, I shared a few of my thoughts with the Big Man on my ride to work yesterday. While doing that, I took a photo of that daily journey road that I've shared with you before. Here is my peaceful route as it greeted me yesterday. . . Crisp. Quiet. Calm. A beautiful moment with plenty of time ...

I've had a headache today. All.day.long. One of those “I wish I didn’t have to work today and could just lay my head down for the next 5 hours” kind of headaches. It’s probably because I stayed up until 1:30AM watching CNN, and then woke up at 5:30AM to start the day. This is my body’s way of saying, “HELLO!! You NEED to go to sleep earlier!!! We don’t like it when you keep us up so late.” Ah, well. Driving to work this morning, I took my lovely favorite road. I wrote about it a while ago (click here to be reminded). Here’s a picture of it this morning . . . Yes, things are changing here in Chicago. The wind is blowing and leaves are falling all over the place, and I’m ready to hunker down for the winter (I know, crazy, isn’t it?) My neighbors laugh at me this time of year, as I diligently work at pulling out tomato plants and sunflowers, cutting down hostas and lilies, and putting lawn furniture away for the winter. I’m definitely closing up shop . . . and I love th...

This is the road I take to and from work every day. While there are probably 30 other ways I could go, I've come to love this short stretch of road, and I choose to drive this route every single day. It's beautiful . . . almost my zen like place where I can clear my mind and forget the chaos of home and focus on the day ahead. It is planked on each side with such lovely trees that feel as if they are reaching out to hug me each morning and afternoon, as I head to and from my job. In the morning, when this picture was taken, the sun beams down between the branches, as if a message was coming straight down from the Big Man Upstairs (aka. God). I always feel like he is sending me a message when I see those sun rays between the leaves. So so heavenly. No matter what time of year I drive down this road, it speaks to me. In the Summer, the foliage fills every open space, so much that you can't see very far into the woods as you driv...