Sunshine

One of the things that I have noticed that has brought me Joy during this time of COVID isolation has been the Sunshine.

Sunshine defined as “the sun's light or direct rays”, “the warmth and light given by the sun's rays”, “the light and heat that come from the sun”.

I am grateful that I have been able to work from home and grateful that I have been able to walk out into the backyard and soak in some Sunshine.

I have made it a destination.  I see the Sunshine and I have set outside to stand out in the sun. 

Standing in the Sunshine, feeling the warmth, definitely brings me Joy.  I have never been much of a sunbaker, maybe there was a time in my 20s I would go to the beach and try and get a tan, yet usually I just got burnt.  I am now classifying myself as a sunbather where I love basking in the Sunshine.  It is just for a few minutes, where I am certainly not trying to get a tan - it is more about just that feeling of peace by stopping for a few minutes, closing my eyes and breathing and relaxing.

I also like the big added benefit that when your skin is exposed to Sunshine, we absorb Vitamin D, which I have recently found out is so important for your health.  Looking up on Google tonight I can see that Vitamin D plays a significant role in regulating calcium for healthy bones and teeth, reducing the risk of flu, helping support immune and brain and nervous system health, regulating insulin levels, supporting lung function and cardiovascular health, healing skin conditions and influencing health in relation to the genes involved in cancer development.  Wow reading these benefits will definitely have me outside chasing after the Sunshine.

I have even said to my children - “who wants to come outside and get their Vitamin D today?”.  My little boy sometimes comes outside with me and I hug him and hold him tight and we close our eyes and feel the heat and just stop for a few minutes.

Today I felt the sun calling me and with only a two days left of Autumn, and the days getting cooler, I went outside and just stood in the Sunshine. 

In doing some more reading tonight, I read that just 13 minutes of midday sunlight exposure during Summer three times a week is enough to maintain healthy levels of Vitamin D.  I read that midday is the best time to get Vitamin D, as the sun is at its highest point and your body can manufacture it most efficiently. 

I was also reading tonight that exposure to sunlight is thought to increase the brain’s release of serotonin, the feel good hormone, boosting mood and activating feelings of being calm and focused too.  No wonder I feel Joyful when I relax in the Sunshine.

Being at home has also meant that I can put on a load of washing some mornings which has been a bonus – where I love when I am organised and get the washing on the line or on the clothes racks and they dry quickly in the Sunshine.  This is a bonus for me too as it means less clothes racks inside the house and keeps our living area clear and calm. 

I have loved the Sunshine during the last few months and I will definitely be chasing the Sunshine each day, especially after researching in more details the health benefits of sunlight.

Photos

I love photos.  Photos bring me so much Joy!

The definition of photos is “images taken by a camera”. 

I have always loved having good cameras to take photos and when Emma was in Kindergarten I bought my first iPhone which has been brilliant at capturing photos so easily on my phone. 

I love taking photos.  I love taking a lot of photos.

I love taking photos to capture special days and dates.  This is very important to me.  When it is Birthdays and special occasions I am very focused on making sure we get the ‘perfect’ shots.

We even have a ‘photo tree’, the tree out the front of our home, where I love getting photos of our children and family on special events or special dates. 

Luckily we have a great neighbour and dear friend who knows how much I love photos, and who, on so many occasions, is willing to take photos of our family - as I love a family photos on key events.  And I am always grateful.

My neighbour and other friends and family members are discovering my idiosyncracy of me wanting the photo to ensure all limbs are in the photos - I want feet in and arms in - yes I like the full length photos rather than our family being cut off at the ankles.  I even tell strangers who we might meet at the park or the beach where I ask them to take a family photos and I say “thanks so much and could you please do a full length and make sure you get in our feet too” and then we have a laugh with my hubby about it.

I know I drive my children and husband crazy wanting to take photos yet I love capturing the special days and special moments in time.

I love taking photos of my children.  I love taking photos of my husband with my children.  And I love when my husband takes photos of me with my children.

I love taking the photos where everyone is smiling and I always say to my daughter “happy eyes” -and my girl knows exactly what I mean - when I say it, my daughter smiles, her face lights up and she has a sparkle in her eyes. 

I also love capturing the moment, like when my children open their Christmas presents or doing an Easter hunt. 

Or it could be me simply taking photos of simple moments such as my boy loving eating his spaghetti the other night. 

I try to remind myself to be in the moment and enjoy the moment rather than always being behind the camera - and often now as I take a photo I look above the camera to really enjoy the moment

too. 

I love when I check photos and see that I did capture the perfect shot.  Seeing a great photo definitely brings me Joy!

I love taking photos of nature when I am out and about on my daily walks.  I love taking photos of food and my cooking creations.    

I love seeing other people’s photos too where they are capturing a moment or big smiles on a special day.

I love looking back at photos and remembering these special times with my children. 

This week was the first week back fulltime at school, ending homeschool.  I took the day off as I knew it would be busy getting my children to school plus it would be emotional and I just feel exhausted too and decided to take a break.  As I was doing my daughter’s hair I said we will take a quick photo at the photo tree.  When we got outside it was starting to rain yet my daughter raced to our photo tree and put on her “happy eyes” smile and I took some snaps.  Throughout the day I felt flat, missing my girl, so I looked through the photos from our homeschooling days and felt joy as I looked back capturing some of these moments.  The time in isolation with my children was a special time and I am grateful for the time we had together and loved I took photos.

It also brings me Joy that my photos upload so easily to iCloud and are safely stored which brings me peace of mind too.  I just need to get a plan and put some time into storing all of my other photos.

Photos bring me so much Joy.  I am also grateful for the photos I have from my childhood which trigger memories of my life.  And I love looking at the photos of the life of my Parents too - where I know they are Joyful when we sit down and look at photos together.

Taking photos and looking at photos and making photobooks with my photos bring me so much Joy. 

Autumn

Getting outdoors each day for a daily walk has been so important to me and I love the Season of Autumn.

Autumn is “the season between summer and winter, where in Australia it begins on March 1 and lasts until May 31, marking when the days begin to shorten as it cools towards winter”.

The main highlight for me of Autumn are the beautiful Autumn trees - I love the changing colours of the leaves, where it is the most beautiful sight walking around my neighbourhood and seeing yellow, orange and red leaves.  On my daily walk there are so many beautiful Autumn trees and I love just looking at them and enjoying their beauty.  My favourite tree in Autumn is the Liquid Amber - as I love that the leaves look like hands.

I love the different times of day and seeing the light on the Autumn trees, where the other evening, just as the sun was going down, an Autumn tree, dressed in red leaves, looked magnificent with the remaining light of the day.  I also love being at the base of the tree and looking up through the leaves, looking up to the sky.

In all of these moments of appreciating the beauty, when I am in complete presence, I feel Joy. 

In previous years Autumn for me has been about being out with my children too, picking up Autumn leaves and throwing them in the air.  I love taking photos of my children amidst the Autumn leaves.  We even took some beautiful photos of our family out and about in Autumn 2018 and I made a photobook, where looking at the photobook brings my Joy.  I love remembering the special times, precious memories that live in my heart.  I absolutely love the photos of my children and family and I feel so blessed.  Although we haven’t been out much this Autumn, due to the coronavirus, we will get back out there again.  And when I have been out with my children, I always like to point out the beautiful colours of the Autumn leaves.

In our backyard we also have a tree that is deciduous and I love looking out of my daughter’s window or our back door and seeing the beautiful Autumn leaves. 

I am not a big fan of the cold, where in Autumn we are feeling the weather definitely getting cooler - yet I love putting on my scarves.  In fact this is when I really appreciate my material scarves the most and as I write this words, I think that I will buy a few more - as I have always loved material from when I did sewing classes in Year 9 and 10 at school - and yes the wearing of scarves is definitely bringing me Joy and keeping my neck warm. 

Autumn for me this year with the cooler weather is also about me making soups and I have loved experimenting and looking up recipes and making soup.

Autumn this year has been about isolation due to the coronavirus, as we have been at home over March, April and May.  I remember studying the Heroe’s Journey at College and feel that Autumn represents a Crossing of the Threshold - particularly evident this year where we have been propelled into an unknown life, outside our current comfort zone.  Joseph Campbell in his book ‘Hero With A Thousand Faces’ talks about the threshold being a “point of no return”, where “we cannot go back to the way things used to be”, where we need to “move forward”.  This is how I am feeling, where Autumn has definitely been a time of change, committing to change and experimenting with new conditions.  And as temperatures drop, and leaves fall, Autumn illustrates for us a sense of letting go and I am feeling at peace and Joyful with new opportunities.

Challenge

Back in mid April I set myself the Challenge to be able to solve a Rubik’s Cube. 

I love the word Challenge and the experience of a Challenge, defined as “something new and difficult which requires great effort and determination” and “a Challenge is something that puts you to the test”.

I started watching youtube clips on the Rubik’s cube and found “The Easiest Tutorial” and I kept watching the 4 parts over the next 24 hours at different times of the day.  I was so excited when I solved it!  I felt such Joy that I met the Challenge and immediately did a victory dance around the house and took photos of me holding up the completed cube and text some photos to my brother and two friends. 

During this coronavirus isolation time I love getting out each day walking - I love the exercise, the fresh air and just getting outdoors.  A couple of weeks ago I set myself a new Challenge of wanting to run around the block.  When I was in my late 20s I was a very good and fast runner and I loved running - it was a big part of my life.  I love the feeling of running.  And I love a Challenge.  And so I started out just trying to make it to the first corner.  When I made it up the hill to the corner after a few days, I was so happy and had an instant feeling of Joy.  And then a day or two later I was able to make it to the next crossroad, and then a day later up to the next corner.  Each time when I Challenge myself and run a bit further I feel so much Joy.  It definitely takes mental strength and positive self talk to keep myself going and running, to strive towards the Challenge.  I’ve now made it about 3/4s of the way up the third street and I can’t wait to turn the corner for a homebound run.  I love when I am running and I look ahead, and think I’ll run to the next tree or run to a sign, and I put on the sprint as if I am an Olympic runner and run as fast as I can - and I get a great feeling of Joy. 

It was also great during the week when my Manager sent an email to everyone at work with a Marketing Challenge.  It was between 1-3pm and it was based on the number of calls and a number of key results.  I started around 1:15pm as I was homeschooling, yet I was then organised, focused, determined, committed to doing my best.  The next day I found out that I won the Challenge which was exciting and I also won a $100 voucher.  

I love seeing my children meeting a Challenge too.  I remember last year when my son was trying to learn to hop and he kept trying and kept practicing and he was so proud of himself when he met the Challenge and I was so Joyful too.  And then the last few weeks my daughter, who is very competitive, like me too, was skipping and had a Challenge to skip backwards as many times as she could, and forwards too, and she was really happy at the effort she put in and the result she was getting as she kept practicing her skipping. 

And then the other day it was a tough day - it was definitely a Challenge - an unexpected parenting moment that involved a lot of cleaning.  When I went to bed that night, it would have been so easy to focus on the stress of the day - yet as I lay there in bed exhausted, drifting off to sleep, I realised that it can be about the perspective I choose – where what I achieved that day could be the same as any Challenge that I set myself - where I then had a great feeling of “Yes I did it” and I felt Joyful.

Basics

Basics, defined as “the simplest and most important facts, ideas, or things connected with something”, “something that is essential”, “the most important aspects or principles of something that you should learn, think about, or deal with first".  

Due to the coronavirus, my children and I were totally in isolation for 6 weeks, homeschooling and working from home - where we are still homeschooling and I am still working from home.  I am blessed that my Hubby has been doing the shopping, and I’m very grateful to him.  We have had slight movement over the last couple of weeks, out to buy my daughter’s school uniform, where my daughter is back at school one day and today we visited a friend.

I have noticed that it has been some small household tasks, the simplest, essential, the Basics, that have brought Joy to me.  They are small things that have brought me Joy - a ‘yes’ feeling, a sense of satisfaction, a warming in the heart, certainly a sense of peace, from which Joy sings.

I love opening the venetian blinds in the morning to let in the light and welcome the day.

I love making the beds each morning, so that each time I go up the stairs I see my crisp white quilt cover and my room all neat and tidy and my daughter’s room all made up too. 

I love putting a fresh hand towel out every day, downstairs in the laundry and upstairs in our bathroom. 

I am enjoying being on top of the washing, doing one or two loads in the morning - feeling satisfied that I am doing my best at home.  And I love taking the clothes that need washing (that are left on the bathroom floor) downstairs to the laundry each night.

I love buying fresh eggs from our neighbours across the road, which come straight from their pet chickens in their yard, and I love making poached eggs for my daughter for breakfast.

I feel Joyful making my son’s lunchbox, making it with love, wanting him to have a healthy lunch that he will enjoy - and I love seeing it empty when it comes home.

I love getting our weekly delivery of fruit and vegetables - I find so much Joy in opening it each week to see the colour and goodness and the variety in one box.  And I love having our fridge and fruit bowls full - this definitely brings me Joy.

I am also finding Joy in taking up a habit that I saw my Dad do every day – wrapping our rubbish rather than throwing everything in plastic bags, even the plant based plastic bags that are degradable – although now as I Googled to check the spelling of degradable, I’ve just discovered that degradable bags are just as bad as regular plastic bags (will have to chat with my Hubby).  I love having a bowl and putting in the rubbish and food scraps after each meal and then getting out a sheet of newspaper, wrapping up the rubbish and taking it outside to our bin.  It brings back memories of my Dad doing this each night.  The memory and the actual job are bringing me Joy.

I’ve never been great at routines or great at keeping my children in consistent daily routines, yet I’ve found that these small household tasks, that are simple and back to Basics, that are becoming routine to me, are bringing me Joy.

Intention

Today has been a Joy Filled day.  From the “Happy Mother’s Day” greetings from my two beautiful children, perfecting the poached eggs for my girl, and a surprise visit from two kookaburras where I love the sound of their laughter, which takes me back to my childhood.  Of course it was so special being spoilt by beautiful presents and lunch organised by my Hubby, and I love the handmade cards that bring so much Joy to me and the excitement and Joy of my children.  Plus I love dancing around with my little boy and both of us being in a state of Joy.  These are precious moments that become memories that I treasure in my heart.  Plus I love my hubby taking photos of me with my children - this definitely brings me Joy.

It will be my daily Intention to bring in more Joy into my life and the life of my family.  I love the word Intention, “a determination to act in a particular way; something that you want and plan to do; your goal, purpose, or aim”. 

Due to the pressures of workload, for the last 6 months of last year, I found myself in a state of survival and exhaustion, which meant for me high anxiety and stress and a sense of 'fight or flight'.  This year I am determined to be different.  I don't want to be overthinking or overworking, or not having time to feel the Joy or missing the special moments, or getting caught up in the negative parts of the day or worries.  And so this is my journey to discover what works and what I need to put in place, to minimise stress.  I want to move away from a sense of ‘survival’, and the feeling that it is such a struggle. 

I have found and believe that even in the stress there are always moments of Joy, when you are present in the moment and when you actively look for them too.  My goal is to collect and help create these moments of Joy, like precious pearls on a string. 

Sometimes Joy comes as simple moments, yet they are so big and bright that they can fill my heart and colour my day despite the stress of the day.

I want to set a clear Intention for the year. When I am sitting here this time next year I want to have achieved a strong sense of feeling Joyful for most of my time - in a day we experience so many emotions yet I really want Joy to colour most of my waking hours - even it is just a few precious moments that can be the highlight of each day where I can move my thoughts to the special memories to recapture the Joyful feeling.  

Today I am setting the Intention - I Choose Joy!