2021-09-03 14:38
Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash“September days have the warmth of summer in their briefest hours, but in their lengthening evenings a prophetic breath of autumn.”—Rowla… Read More
Blog Directory > Life Blogs > Observations Blogs > Catching Happiness observations Blog >
2021-08-27 13:45
When the world becomes as horrifying and tragic as it feels right now, I tend to despair and retreat. Realistically, what can I possibly do to ease the suffering of people in Haiti or Afghan… Read More
2021-08-13 17:39
Photo by Su San Lee on UnsplashWe had our carpets cleaned on Monday. We prepped for this by moving everything movable out of the rooms to be cleaned—small pieces of furniture, storage… Read More
2021-08-06 15:01
Recently I read the 1939 classic novel Mrs. Miniver (Amazon, Bookshop). And while the society we live in has changed a lot since then, I was struck by how spot on some of the passages were t… Read More
2021-07-30 14:49
And you know what that means. Cue the complaints about the weather. Though actually, even though it is currently disgusting outside, I can’t complain much. We had such a nice fall, win… Read More
2021-07-23 17:02
I’m home from California and pretty much back into what passes for normal routine again. I loved seeing my family and my friend Kerri (see below), but boy, was it a challenging trip. F… Read More
2021-06-25 12:00
“You can’t be happy unless you can also be sad. If you’re defended against feeling pain, those same defenses shut down your access to joy. You have to let everything in.&rd&hell…Read More
2021-06-18 17:00
For so many months I’ve felt confined to a narrow range of activities. For much of the past year, my world shrank to the few miles between my home, the grocery store, and the barn. And… Read More
2021-06-11 14:27
Photo by Denise Jones on Unsplash“Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.”—Saint Augustine Read More
2021-06-04 13:47
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on UnsplashMy favorite thing about summer is more reading time. It’s too hot and humid to do much outside, so why not put my feet up, have a cold drink, and… Read More
2021-05-28 14:26
Photo by Monika Grabkowska on UnsplashIt’s almost that time of year again. Summer. Some of my favorite bloggers are designing their ideal summers and creating Summer Fun Lists. Most pe… Read More
2021-05-21 14:03
“You will always struggle with not feeling productive until you accept that your own joy can be something you produce. It is not the only thing you will make, nor should it be, but is… Read More
2021-05-14 11:30
What a lovely spring we’ve had here in Florida—walks and barn visits are so much more pleasant when I’m not dripping sweat immediately after setting foot outside (TMI?). Al… Read More
2021-05-07 13:22
Photo courtesy Chiemsee2016 via Pixabay“Modern society is defined by an excess of opportunity. We have more information, more products, and more options than ever before. “As a r… Read More
2021-04-30 11:30
Reading poetry is a simple pleasure that I don’t indulge in as often as I’d like. Even though I enjoy it, it sometimes feels too “hard.” I know a lot of people feel… Read More
2021-04-23 11:30
“There’s one!” I pointed. The rest of the passengers on our glass bottom boat swiveled their heads to the rear of the craft, where a large mass floated beneath the surface:… Read More
2021-04-16 19:39
“Nothing is so personal as happiness; each soul is fitted for a joy entirely individual; often a whole life is required to discover it.”—Jeanne de Vietinghoff, The Understa… Read More
2021-03-29 12:55
Javier Allegue Barros on UnsplashIt’s been about a year since the COVID-19 pandemic upended our lives. And it’s also been a year, if you know what I mean. In addition to a pandem… Read More
2021-03-19 11:30
Szilvia Basso on Unsplash“Belief in happiness is not an illusion of youth, as is often assumed, but the experience of a force that grows and triumphs over reality. The more our feeble… Read More
2021-03-05 12:30
Photo courtesy Luiza via Pixabay“If you say ‘yes’ enough, life starts saying ‘yes’ back.”—Saeed Jones, quoted in Last Night’s Reading, by Kate… Read More
2021-02-26 12:30
Early yesterday morning I pulled out my planner/calendar and a small stack of embellishments—stickers, washi tape, etc. Snuggled up in my bed, sipping coffee with Luna sleeping next to… Read More
2021-02-19 12:30
“We’re spread so thin there’s nothing left for us. But here’s the thing: Time alone is as essential as breathing. “Time to check in with ourselves, to sit in th… Read More
2021-02-12 14:31
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash“If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give… Read More
2021-02-05 14:45
Thing sevenRecently I’ve seen a proliferation of blog posts titled “Things Saving My Life Right Now” (see below for links to a few, and click hereto read blogger and author… Read More
2021-01-29 15:33
Photo by Siora Photography on UnsplashI’ve been trying to cling to some vestiges of normalcy in these far from normal times, so as I’ve done for the past few years, I’ve ch… Read More
2021-01-22 14:31
I was in my car Wednesday when on the radio I heard the voice of 2017 Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman reading her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of President Joe… Read More
2021-01-15 12:30
Things continue to be slow around here. As expected, not much has changed since we turned the calendar from 2020 to 2021. In case you need a little encouragement or food for thought during t… Read More
2021-01-08 17:30
Photo by Aron Visuals on UnsplashEven though I’d like to dive into the New Year with gusto, I’m finding it slow going. Nothing much has really changed yet, and most of 2020&rsquo&hell…Read More
2021-01-01 12:30
Photo by Jessica Lewis on Unsplash“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New… Read More
2020-12-21 14:30
I’ve been reading everyone else’s end-of-the-year favorite book lists, and OF COURSE I have to chime in. Because reading has been, and will always be (I hope and believe) a const… Read More
2020-12-11 12:30
Photo by Karly Santiago on Unsplash“For a long time then I seemed to live by a slender thread of faith, spun out from within me. From this single thread I spun strands that joined me t… Read More
2020-12-04 12:30
Photo by Lukas Medvedevas on Unsplash“For just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real lif… Read More
2020-11-30 14:45
No surprise, this year I found the Gratitude Challenge…challenging. But I managed to post photos on Instagram 15 days, if I include today’s post, which will go up later. It&rsqu&hell…Read More
2020-11-27 12:30
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not. Remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”—Epicurus Read More
2020-11-20 12:30
Photo by Andres F. Uran on Unsplash“Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadnes… Read More
2020-11-13 12:30
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless.”—Mother Teresa Today is World Kindness Day, and I can’t think of a time when we needed kindn… Read More
2020-11-11 13:22
“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow; but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thin… Read More
2020-11-06 12:30
Photo by Kawin Harasai on Unsplash“To wish happiness for others, even for those who want to do us harm, is the source of consummate happiness.”—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche Read More
2020-10-30 11:30
“As a word and a strategy, resilience honors the unromantic reality of who we are and how we are, and so becomes a refreshingly practical compass for the systems and societies we… Read More
2020-10-23 11:30
In the spirit of last week’s post, I thought I’d focus today’s Link Love on mood-boosting topics. Here are a few links I’ve found encouraging, funny, or helpful recen… Read More
2020-10-16 11:30
My favorite dogIf you subscribe to the Happy Little Thoughts newsletter (and if you don’t, why not?! It’s free, contains material not found elsewhere on Catching Happiness, and I… Read More
2020-10-12 12:47
I’ve been in a very dark place recently. Even though I avoid click bait and the most outrageous headlines, it’s impossible not to see how much suffering and hardship people are e… Read More
2020-10-09 11:30
Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash“I am made for autumn. Summer and I have a fickle relationship, but everything about autumn is perfect to me. Wooly jumpers, Wellington boots, scarves… Read More
2020-10-02 13:19
Photo by Alex Geerts on UnsplashWell, we made it through September. Fall is sort of here. This weekend I expect to be sweeping off our lanai and helping my husband in the yard. I’m doi… Read More
2020-09-25 11:30
Photo by Marko Blažević on UnsplashIntroduction by Ted Kooser: Tolstoy said, “Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness… Read More
2020-09-18 15:39
Like most people, I’ve been staying close to home this year. I haven’t visited my mom in California, or met up with my friend Kerri for a road trip…and I miss it. At… Read More
2020-09-11 11:30
Photo by Pickawood on Unsplash“The biggest lies I tell myself are ‘It will just take a minute,” and “I’ll remember that.’ “It’s rare that anyt… Read More
2020-09-04 12:19
Eugene Delacroix“How are you? Are you ruling your imagination? That is the important thing: we are happy when we believe ourselves to be so, and if our minds are set on the opposite ex… Read More
2020-08-28 13:36
“I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, ha… Read More
2020-08-21 14:14
August.Or, as I like to call it, “Ugh-ist.”Never my favorite month. Except for the birthdays of some loved ones (hi, guys!), August is a month I just try to survive, and I have a… Read More
2020-08-14 11:30
Photo by David Brooke Martin on Unsplash“If our happiness is dependent on anything that’s transitory, we must always search for new things to keep us happy.“For all of us… Read More
2020-08-07 11:30
Photo by Carolyn V on Unsplash“Happiness is a state of activity.“This is a tremendously powerful thought. Thinking of happiness as something we do, as something we actively parti… Read More
2020-07-31 18:28
“I don’t know why it’s so hard to remember that our fears rarely materialize, and that in bracing ourselves for the impact, we create the impact. If only we could let go an… Read More
2020-07-24 13:55
I’ve spent more time than usual with my computer over the past months, and I have a handful of happy things to share today. So here goes:I so much want to travel somewhere, but until I… Read More
2020-07-17 11:30
Photo by Hayley Maxwell on Unsplash“Sometimes, life doesn’t just throw you lemons, it throws you grenades. Personal struggles, transition, illness, loss of loved ones—these… Read More
2020-07-13 12:43
Photo by Vicko Mozara on UnsplashI’ve had a hard time coming up with a Summer Fun List this summer. Nothing much seems like fun, to be honest. It’s doubtful that the places that… Read More
2020-07-10 11:30
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash“What we perceive as limitations have the potential to become strengths greater than what we had when we were ‘normal’ or unbroken…… Read More
2020-07-03 12:00
Photo by frank mckenna on UnsplashIntroduction by Ted Kooser: I was once on Deer Isle, Maine, on the Fourth of July, and attended their own town parade. Deer Isle isn’t big enough to m… Read More
2020-06-26 11:18
Photo by Nathan Lemon on Unsplash“….we often serve others best simply by honoring what we care about most. ‘To find our calling,’ wrote theologian Frederick Buechner… Read More
2020-06-19 13:20
Photo by Javardh on Unsplash “Perhaps middle age is, or should be, a period of shedding shells; the shell of ambition, the shell of material accumulations and possessions, the shell of… Read More
![How Are You Feeling? [Check One]](https://cdn.blogarama.com/images/posts_thumbs_site_id/2407/240715-1467351112.w320.jpg "How Are You Feeling? [Check One]")
2020-06-12 14:01
Photo by Jakob Søby on Unsplash“It’s exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness; it can also be confusing, disorienting, and painful.”—Adrie… Read More
2020-06-05 19:30
It feels inappropriate, to say the least, to write about the things I was planning to write about this week—simple pleasures, everyday adventures, my summer fun list and summer reading… Read More
2020-05-29 11:28
Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash“Books are more than doctors, of course. Some novels are loving, lifelong companions; some give you a clip around the ear; others are fr… Read More
2020-05-22 21:09
I’ve been feeling disappointed in myself lately, that I haven’t “achieved” more during our stay-at-home order. I haven’t taken this time to think deeply about m… Read More
2020-05-15 14:49
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash“Wealth is the power to choose.Financial wealth is the power to choose how to spend money.Social wealth is the power to choose who to h… Read More
2020-05-08 11:30
Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash“Spring comes on its own schedule, but we can also participate in its regeneration. We can plant seeds and cut flowers, we lighte… Read More
2020-05-01 11:30
Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash“One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.”—Krishnamurti Read More
2020-04-24 11:30
Photo by Edwin Hooper on UnsplashI’ve been trying to figure out why I seem unable to get anything of note accomplished. Could it be because the world has gone mad? For i… Read More
2020-04-17 13:54
“Be gentle.Rest often.Soften,soften,soften.”—Chani NicholasSoften is one of my chosen words of the year. I didn’t expect it to be this essential Read More
2020-04-10 11:30
Lost in the frenzy of coping with the Covid-19 situation is the fact that April is National Poetry Month in the United States. Several times on Catching Happiness, I’ve posted about in… Read More
2020-04-06 13:59
A little bit of spring from California a couple of years agoLife continues to feel surreal. Most of us are down to visiting the grocery store and staring at our own four walls. My big outing… Read More
2020-04-03 11:30
Image by Kari Shea from Pixabay“Chasing petty happiness pushes greater happiness out of reach.”— Gretchen Rubin Read More
2020-03-27 15:57
Seen on my walk this morning“We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong.The amount of work is the same.”― Carlos Castaneda Read More
2020-03-23 17:19
Are we there yet? With much of the US (and the rest of the world) either “social distancing” or “sheltering in place,” all you extroverts and work-outside-your home f… Read More
2020-03-20 18:47
“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more… Read More
2020-03-17 12:41
Luna and I are working at homeHere in the U.S., things are getting weird. Fights are breaking out over toilet paper, businesses and schools are closing, and a new term has entered our vocabu… Read More
2020-02-28 16:10
Photo by Siora Photography on UnsplashI don’t know why, but I love Leap Day (February 29). Maybe it’s because it’s like being given the gift of an extra day… Read More
2020-02-21 22:21
Lisa Unger with yours trulyIt’s been far too long since I allowed myself either an artist’s date or a Field Trip Friday, so today I rolled them into one and headed to Tampa for a… Read More
2020-01-31 18:41
Photo by Brett Jordan on UnsplashRegular readers of Catching Happiness know that I usually choose a Word of the Year to guide me. This year is no different—in fact, I ha… Read More
2020-01-10 13:00
Photo by Vika Fleisher on UnsplashIs it too far into the year to tell you Happy New Year? It feels like 2020 has gotten off to a sleepy start for me, personally. I had one wri… Read More
2019-12-30 16:50
A few of the decade's journals!Honestly, until I started seeing it everywhere, I hadn’t given one minute’s thought to the end of 2019 being the end of a decade! Now I feel like n… Read More
2019-12-02 13:50
You blinked, didn’t you, and now it’s December. At least, that's how it felt to me. the end of a year always seems to accelerate out of control.I just wrapped up the 2019 Gratitu… Read More
2019-11-08 14:53
Ten years ago Monday I pressed Publish on my very first blog post.Since then, a post has gone live on Catching Happiness 1,095 times, including today. That’s a lot of words!Over… Read More
2019-11-04 15:31
Photo by Illiya Vjestica on UnsplashGuess what? There’s a special Catching Happiness milestone coming up this week. I normally post poems and quotes on Fridays, but sinc… Read More
2019-11-01 14:16
For the past nine years, Dani DiPirro of Positively Present has hosted an annual Gratitude Challenge in the month of November—and I've joined in most of those years. I can honestly say… Read More
2019-10-28 13:19
Photo by Todd Trapani on UnsplashStill waiting for fall to make an appearanceBathing and clipping Tank this week, since he’s grown a lovely and unnecessary winter coat a… Read More
2019-10-25 12:00
Oh to be in New Hampshire...Rumor has it that it’s fall. Tell that to Florida’s weather. I’m sure those of you shoveling snow already want to shoot me, but I’m still… Read More
2019-10-21 13:17
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”—Henry MillerAs I was pressing Publish on last Monday’s “Simple Pleasures—Art a… Read More
2019-10-18 12:00
“What, then, is a traveling mind-set? Receptivity might be said to be its chief characteristic. Receptive, we approach new places with humility. We carry with us no rigid ideas about w… Read More
2019-10-14 15:06
Our continuing travels in Maine…After Acadia and Bar Harbor, we began a leisurely drive down the Maine coast. I had made a list of places that sounded interesting, and we decided to e… Read More
2019-10-11 12:00
“We cherish things, Japan has always known, precisely because they cannot last; it’s their frailty that adds sweetness…. Autumn poses the question we all have to live with… Read More
2019-10-07 13:40
One of the planned highlights of our trip to New Hampshire and Maine was our time in Acadia National Park. We spent two days exploring the park, and nearby town of Bar Harbor. We had made re… Read More
2019-10-04 12:00
Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash“Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.”—Samuel Butler, The Way of All… Read More
2019-09-30 14:36
“Why do they always teach us that it’s easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It’s the hardest thing in the world to do what we… Read More
2019-09-27 15:18
Covered bridge over the Pemigewasset River, Flume GorgeMy husband and I just returned from a 10-day trip through New Hampshire and Maine—a trip intended in part to celebrate our 30thwe… Read More
2019-09-23 12:00
It’s the first first day of fall, and I’m enjoying some time off from blogging. This post, from Sept. 2016, is still one of my favorites. Do you have any simple pleasures yo… Read More
2019-09-20 12:00
Photo by Balazs Busznyak on Unsplash“Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than a moving plane, ship or train. Th… Read More
2019-09-16 12:00
Photo by Jade Seok on UnsplashDo you smell it? Pumpkin spice is in the air! Summer is about to give way to fall—at least in my imagination. Time to wrap up summer and mo… Read More
2019-09-13 12:00
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash“I know it sounds like a cliché but you do get to meet some awesome people traveling around the world. There's so much negati… Read More
2019-09-09 23:12
Photo by Adi Goldstein on UnsplashThis week I’m celebrating a milestone birthday—55—“double nickels,” as they say. I wanted to write a post like… Read More
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