#joyfuljan – Day Thirty-one

For today’s #joyfuljan, I find joy in completing goals.

Today is the last day of this Joyful January challenge. Except for the four days that I was unable to be online due to a winter mishap with my wifi line, I have posted every single day. I’ve also written small stones and did the JusJoJan each day (except for those 4). It brings me joy to set goals and make plans and be able to complete them.

It wasn’t always the easiest to come up with joyful reasons each day, but I have learned over the course of this month that joy can come in the simplest of things, from a cup of coffee or tea, to chatting with family and friends, and even celebrating happenstance moments in my life.

Thank you to everyone who came here each day and shared these moments with me. You too brought joy to my life!

What are you joyful about today? Let me know in the comments.

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Throughout the month of January, I will be celebrating Joyful January with Satya and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home

#joyfuljan – Day Thirty

For today’s #joyfuljan, I find joy in remembering and honoring my mother.

If she was still with us, my mother would be 71 today. A beautiful blue urn sits upon the TV unit which holds her ashes. A picture of her in her late teens or early 20s sits next to it and angels surround both the picture and the urn. I have lit a candle there that will burn all day to honor her.

I haven’t always had joyous reasons to celebrate my mother. We had a rocky relationship and I had been angry with her for years, before and after her passing. I’d like to think that I’ve grown enough spiritually though to let that anger go and remember her for the gifted and talented woman that she was.

My mother could cook anything. She would whip up concoctions with whatever she had handy. She was also an amazing baker and made the best cakes, rolls, and candies. Later in life, she discovered that she could paint and there are ceramics all over the house that display her gorgeous talent. She was also a great storyteller and I’d like to think that this is where my interest and talent in writing stemmed from.

Happy Birthday, Mother. I miss you and love you and rejoice in you this day!

What are you joyful about today? Let me know in the comments.

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Throughout the month of January, I will be celebrating Joyful January with Satya and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home

#joyfuljan – Day Twenty-nine

For today’s #joyfuljan, I find joy in spending time with my dad.

Not just joy, but I also feel incredibly blessed to have this time with my dad. The older I get, the more I realize just how much I admire him. He is a great dad, the best there is. He has sacrificed for his family by always providing for us and making sure we have what we need. And he is a wonderful storyteller. I can listen to his stories forever and never tire of them. I cherish every moment that I have with him now as he is in his seventies and although I pray he will be around a long time, I know our time together is short. There is no greater joy than to be blessed with an amazing father.

What are you joyful about today? Let me know in the comments.

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Throughout the month of January, I will be celebrating Joyful January with Satya and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home

#joyfuljan – Day Twenty-eight

For today’s #joyfuljan, I find joy in planning.

I’ve got a lot of writing projects lined up for this year. So today, I am enjoying the whole planning them out process. I am not outlining or mind-mapping. I generally write everything on the fly. What I am doing is working through what I want to write each month and setting up schedules for them on a calendar. So far, I will be spending 10 months writing fiction and two months writing poetry (one of the poetry months will overlap with a fiction month!). I really wanted to do more fiction this year and hone my skills. I tend to get caught up into poetry and disregard fiction. In order to accomplish this, planning is necessary and it is bringing me a lot of joy today!

What are you joyful about today? Let me know in the comments.

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Throughout the month of January, I will be celebrating Joyful January with Satya and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home

#joyfuljan – Day Twenty-seven

For today’s #joyfuljan, I find joy in watching a favorite science fiction show.

I am a geek over science fiction, but let’s face it, there aren’t that many great science fiction shows or even movies out there. The one thing that really pisses me off is when a great sci-fi show gets cancelled long before it should. This happened to my favorite show Firefly. Fox just never gave it a chance and the fans were pretty pissed-off about it. Thankfully Joss Whedon had the good sense to make a movie, Serenity, to wrap up the show and not leave us hanging like what happens to a lot of good shows. It’s all about the ratings and the big bucks. Not the fans.

So today, I am re-watching Firefly and Serenity for the sixth time and bringing a lot of joy into my life.

What are you joyful about today? Let me know in the comments.

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Throughout the month of January, I will be celebrating Joyful January with Satya and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home

#joyfuljan – Day Twenty-two

For today’s #joyfuljan, I find joy in my very own Winter Wonderland.

The snow has been gently falling since around 7:30 am. It began with small flakes, barely falling and has increased to big fluffy flakes and near-blizzard conditions. I love snow and the biggest joy for me is when it is first falling and the world around me is silent, white, and at peace.

What are you joyful about today? Let me know in the comments.

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Throughout the month of January, I will be celebrating Joyful January with Satya and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home

#joyfuljan – Day Twenty-one

For today’s #joyfuljan, I find joy in snow.

Finally! The weatherman had been threatening us with snow for weeks and this morning I woke up to a gentle blanket of snow. What joy!

I lived in Oklahoma for nine years and all we had was ice ice ice. Too much ice that often left trees cracking all around me in the still of the night. Last winter was my first winter back home in Virginia and we had a couple modest snowfalls. No ice. It was a joy to see. Snow is silent, calm. Ice is hectic, loud, dangerous. Give me snow anytime.

The weatherman is predicting more snow this weekend, beginning tomorrow night. Up to two feet of it. I hope we get all of it. We are well-stocked here at home. Plenty of food, wood for the stove, coffee, and so long as our water doesn’t freeze, we will have water too. There will be no reason to leave the house. I can just sit comfortably and watch the snow and be filled with JOY.

What are you joyful about today? Let me know in the comments.

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Throughout the month of January, I will be celebrating Joyful January with Satya and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home

#joyfuljan – Day Twenty

For today’s #joyfuljan, I find joy in reading other bloggers.

I stopped blogging some time last year. I even deleted the blog that I had worked so hard on for a few months. It was stupid and silly of me, but I’d lost the trust of a blogger I’d grown close to and there was no way of getting that trust back. So I stopped everything for many months. I was just too sad and depressed. When I decided to begin blogging again, instead of creating a new blog, I just came back to my old ones. I have a modest following on all three of them, so I figured this was good enough. I was weary though of getting too close to anyone again and although I am still a bit guarded about that, I do find a lot of joy in reading others’ blogs. There are some amazing poets and fiction writers on WordPress. And there is a lot of advice on numerous topics to be found here too. I will stay in the moment of joy as I read and just not allow myself to get too close to anyone.

What are you joyful about today? Let me know in the comments.

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Throughout the month of January, I will be celebrating Joyful January with Satya and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home

 

#joyfuljan – Day Nineteen

For today’s #joyfuljan, I find joy in my boring, uneventful life.

Yep, it’s true. From the time I get up until I go to bed, I pretty much know what is going to happen. There are relatively few surprises and for those who know me well, they know I hate surprises. It’s not that my day is all planned out or that I follow a set routine, because that is not the case. I do shake things up now and again, but on my terms and no one else’s terms.

So why would a boring life bring me joy? I once had quite an adventurous life. Always on the go. Always getting into trouble. Always searching for something and never quite knowing what IT was. This lifestyle of mine caused me a great deal of stress and anxiety. I would have manic episodes and then crash and burn into depression. I was a mess and suicidal. I took so many prescription drugs just to barely survive.

Now I live a calm, drug-free, quiet life. And this brings me more joy than any crazy adventure out there. Besides, if I want adventures, I will watch them on tv or write about them. And when they are over, I can just tuck them away and go back to my peaceful and boring existence.

What are you joyful about today? Let me know in the comments.

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Throughout the month of January, I will be celebrating Joyful January with Satya and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home

#joyfuljan – Day Eighteen

For today’s #joyfuljan, I find joy in my snuggy.

It is bitterly cold today, like in the 20s outside. Frost covers my windows. Even the sun is having a difficult time shinning brightly today through the clouds. Our house is heated by a wood stove that is in the middle room of the house. That room and the kitchen stay toasty warm, but my room does not. I have a small heater, but even at full blast, it is merely warm-ish in here, bordering on cool-ish. So my joy today comes from the snuggy blanket that my ex-husband sent to me in the mail. I am sure you’ve seen these little blankets. They are similar to robes, but worn backwards. But not for me today. Today I am wearing mine like a robe snugged close to my body and a heating blanket covering my legs. Still, even with both of these and the heater, I am still chilled. Today may be a snuggled down into bed kind of day.

What are you joyful about today? Let me know in the comments.

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Throughout the month of January, I will be celebrating Joyful January with Satya and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home