1. Morning walks. The sun is rising earlier, so I never have to worry now about missing the sunrise. Over 20+ years of dog walking in this part of Fort Collins, we’ve gone through so many different regular routes, have so many options. My current favorite is so because with how early we walk it, we hardly see anyone at all, other than critters. No dodging bikes or skateboards, no rerouting because someone has their dog offlead or it’s a dog I know Ringo doesn’t like, no need to deal with any sort of traffic, barely any need to watch out for anyone else on the trail because they just aren’t out yet. I definitely prefer “the road less traveled.” 

2. Taking care of myself. I’m not always so great at this, and having this hernia — a complication of the surgery I had in April 2023, probably happening the second trip I made to help take care of my dad in hospice, which also included my mom who was recovering from a stroke and needed to be lifted, supported, moved, and had a wheelchair that needed lifted in and out of the car every time we went anywhere — is reminding me just how important it is to attend to myself, to look after, care, honor, protect, nourish, soothe, and love little ol’ me.

Watching my parents become less and less able to take care of themselves also reminded me that I have to make an active effort to retain my strength, endurance, and mobility. It hit me the other day when I considered how my primary care physician didn’t insist a hernia repair was emergent or even necessary, but then told me I needed to stop HIIT training, core work, and to not lift anything heavy, and my immediate thought was, “but I want to lift heavy things!” The shift is rather than seeing caring for my physical body, honoring my emotional and spiritual needs, feeling my feelings, and watching my thoughts but not letting them “drive the bus,” as something I “should” do or that is demanded of me by external forces, it is something I do for myself, to give myself the best life, the most love.

3. Snow. It hasn’t been nearly enough, but at least there has been some.

4. Practice. I was especially grateful this week for the practice I got to do with others, both yoga at Red Sage and wild writing with my Friday morning sangha. They are such good people, both groups, and the practice is so good for me.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. Ringo is being his usual annoying, goofy, loveable self (video evidence below), and Eric is just the best.

Bonus joy: eating out, clean sheets, flowers inside in winter, blue sky, sunshine, reading, watching TV, listening to podcasts, streaming content, books from the library for my Kindle, getting in the pool, sitting in the sauna, the hydromassage chair, a better price on a car rental, having taught long enough that I can trust myself to show up and know exactly what to do, texting with Chris and Mom and Chloe’, all the good links Shellie sends me, sharing reels and memes with Carrie and Kari, training with Shelby, naps, peanut butter, a crisp gala apple, celery, every kind of bread, citrus (if we could smell the sun, I think that’s exactly what it would smell like), tuna fish, not putting off what I could do right now, emotional intelligence, therapy (both physical and mental), music and musicians, poets and poetry, pottery, the Pacific Ocean, that no matter how things go in the future I was here to see it before it was gone, finding peace with impermanence, practicing being comfortable with discomfort, easing up on myself, seeing things more clearly, having such good support, a warm shower, curly hair, other people’s dogs and kids, stained glass, watercolor, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.