What I Learned – March 2019
Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, Richmond Virginia
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It was interesting to reach over my daily reflections in March and list what I learned (or was reminded of):
- Be more protective of my creative time. If I pay bills, cook, take a walk, go shopping, or visit with friends during my peak times, I won’t feel like writing or working on my photography later.
- To appreciate good health – my husband had two retinal surgeries in March and we’re still waiting to see if he’s had permanent damage or not to his right eye. We expected to have surgery on his left eye, but the surgery on his right eye was an unplanned surprise.
- Be careful in choosing a daily practice for my One Little Word, which is explore. I chose to do a scripture study, which I very much enjoyed. However, I was writing too much in my journal and didn’t do it consistently enough. I plan to continue with this study method, but probably not daily. Next year, I’d rather do something fun and light.
- I want to have a larger life. I want to have more fun, be more lighthearted, and not so serious all the time. I have no idea how I’ll do that, but it’s on my goal list for this year. I’ve worked on this over the years (one year was so bad, I had trouble putting together 25 accomplishments for the year!) but would like it to be more natural and not having to remind myself of it all the time.
- If you feed a beagle enough green beans, he will lose weight. He’s lost four pounds since last fall and is looking much better. I guess I need to start eating more green beans. . .
This picture was post processed using:
- Topaz Studios BuzSim and Winter Fairytale
- Daily Textures by Jai Johnson from the February 2019 collection
- OnOne’s Big Softy vignette and Courtney border
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I am a backyard adventurer, philosopher and observer, recording my life in journals and photographs. Visit my blog at www.livingtheseasons.com.
Living The Seasons 
Charlee: “Wow, I’m glad mama and dada don’t feed us green beans!”
Chaplin: “I’m not even sure what green beans are, but I’m pretty sure they’re not tuna!”
Thank you as always for visiting. I will try to find some tuna for you next time. . . it’s much better than green beans – provided you’re not too fat like a beagle!
It’s funny how life can get so very serious, isn’t it? Sometimes, I’ve noticed that it can be enough to recognise that you haven’t been having as much fun as you’d like to have and that naturally resets the balance. If it’s not enough, the next step is to do something fun – and make it the tiniest possible fun thing you can. What might the most ridiculously small fun thing be you could do? Go do it. Action is key – if you wait for motivation to strike you might be waiting forever. Go for it!
Louisa – thank you for the very thoughtful comment. Having fun just doesn’t come naturally to me and working all these years as a CPA did not help that either.
I totally agree that recognizing it is the first step. And for me, redirecting my thoughts when I’ve gotten way too serious. Thankfully my husband is quite the clown, so being morose isn’t likely to go on very long before he does something over the top stupid just to break it up.
I do agree though – I need to go for this. Sooner rather than later, too.
Thanks for stopping by!
Nancy
Great reflections from your month. I need to try the green bean thing too.
They work! The vet and I talked about it though and it does make for a pretty boring diet. He doesn’t need to lose weight, but I sure do.
I give our dogs bits of raw butternut squash. They were tired of the snap peas and green beans. But! I had pickled green beans in my bloody mary and they were awesome : )
Too funny! I’ve not tried pickled green beans and for sure not in a Bloody Mary.
We were doing pumpkin for a long time, but it doesn’t agree with the digestion of an old dog. The green beans do a better job of firm poops.
You learned a lot in March! I so agree with the first point. I had to be firm about that as the first year I was retired I did not protect my creative time and began to resent the day to day chores and obligations. I love the photograph. Such a calming scene.
Thanks for the lovely compliment! As we are now in the last half of May, I am so NOT doing a good enough job of protecting my creativity. I’m not even writing in my journal. I need to get this all going again.