Image by Eric

1. The particular light of the sky in winter. Sunrise, sunset, the moon, midday, dusk — so many colors.

2. Vacation. I decided I needed another week, even if it might mean working extra later to make up for it.

3. Clementines (I can’t stop eating them), kale salad, chocolate chip cookies, honey smoked salmon, asiago bagels, Good Earth sweet & spicy tea, peppermint tea.

4. Ringo and Sam, the sweet spot. As happens when you hike — you work really hard, hike far, and at some point there’s this place that you finally get to that’s some sort of magic, I call it the sweet spot — there’s a place you get to with dogs when they are grown up enough but still young enough and healthy. I am enjoying it now because I know from experience how brief it can be, even if it’s years.

Image by Eric

5. The confidence to try new things. I haven’t always had it, as an introvert and HSP was just too anxious and timid, but I’m experiencing a funny extroversion right now, specifically in how I move my body. Training myself, teaching yoga, running again, trying new classes, applying for new opportunities.

Bonus Joy: Netflix (and smart friends with good taste who recommend more good stuff than I could ever watch), a morning walk with my boys, snow tires, wool socks, good gloves, ice scrapers, the way Ringo makes us laugh, how sweet and easy Sam is, hugging Eric for a full 20 seconds (I heard that is how long it takes to trigger some good biological something that I can’t remember the name of right now), drinking tea in the late afternoon, yoga, sweet friends sending me mail, reading.

1. Apple pie oatmeal, one part oats and one part pie. Asiago bagels. Clementines. Roasted vegetables. Breakfast burritos.

2. A chance to reflect and contemplate. I spent some time yesterday morning working my way through the prompts I shared with you. I got really clear about what I wanted the next year to feel like, where I wanted to focus my energy, effort, and time. I also realized there was one pretty big thing I need to let go, and even though it’s going to be really hard it’s clearly right, can feel in my gut that it’s true.

3. A whole new year. I know that you could see it like a moment in time that doesn’t have any inherent special meaning, but I choose to see it as a moment in which I can pause and then begin again.

4. Eric taking the dogs running when it’s too cold to walk. I haven’t been running in a long time, so I can’t go with them. Usually we share the walking, but I haven’t been able to go in the morning for the past week because of the weather. I’m so grateful that Eric is strong enough, kind enough to do it for me. I think he’d probably want me to tell you he likes it — but even for a guy who is in good shape and likes it, every morning for a whole week in the super cold when you usually don’t is rough.

5. Self-Compassion Saturday: the eBook. I’m so happy to finally have it done, to be able to offer it. And I’ve gotten such good feedback. Turns out, even though it was a whole year after the project ended, New Year’s Day was the perfect day to give it away.

Bonus Joy: laughing with Eric, afternoon walks, teaching yoga, reading, new calendars, blank notebooks, texting with my brother, a movie and lunch with a friend, a writing date with another, a fresh start.