It's Thanksgiving week, my birthday/honest calendar week and I sit here writing the random thoughts in my mind while looking out my front window at the snow falling on a grey early Winter morning. If I were to let the grey overall dampen my mood, I'd be sunk before I even stepped out the door. On the pine tree directly across my very humble abode, the snow catching on the needles is beautiful. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was sitting out on the patio writing through the coffee, looking at my Sunflower plants and watching the birds.
It doesn't seem that long ago that I thought of myself more as a dog person, and now there's a cat living here - matter of fact, she's sleeping curled up behind the laptop I'm writing this post on. I give a lot of thought to how different having a cat is compared to owning a dog. The more thought I give to both experiences, the more I realize that one isn't any easier, nor any worse than the other - they're simply two different pet/owner experiences. The more people comment on my switch, the more it seems that many people only focus on one or two good - or not so good, points. I'm of the opinion that the deck is equally stacked. Both experiences add more joy to life than doing without either one of them.
Both animals are interesting creatures. It's been many years since I've had to play any role in being responsible for a cat. I guess you could say that all of this is rather new to me, but it's nothing unique in any way. So there's all this to enjoy...and a few things that maybe aren't so enjoyable that go along with signing up for pet ownership. If you're not an animal person, there's no sense in trying to explain any of it - the why it's all worth it, the joy it adds to a life...you either get it or you don't. It's all about what you focus on. More on that in another post, I need to motivate myself for a good workout today, then get a thing or two done around here before I go into work. This day will be what I chose to make of it, and I'm shooting for wonderful. Who cares what the weather is doing?
Winter in Northeast Ohio tends to bother people a lot - yet none of the weather in these parts comes as much of a surprise, and all of it has its own type of beauty. For as long as I've called this area home, to piss and moan about even the worst of the weather, doesn't make much sense to me. If it were to bother me that much, then perhaps I should move. Mind you I'm not talking about tornadoes or floods, just any notion that the changes in our weather is anything that I should let sour my moods and make less of any day - because our days are gifts. All of them, not just the sunny ones.
My coffee tastes exceptionally good this morning. I've made it a goal to eliminate most of the sugar in my daily life, but in the Winter months I find it rather difficult not to cave and cheat a bit more often - case in point, pumpkin donut holes. How bad can a few tiny morsels of a donut be? Seriously, I mean I've had two this morning while I made two different kinds of fruit/vegetable juice....one with sweet potatoes, golden beets, turmeric, carrots, celery, ginger and lemon, the other a green juice w/celery, kale, spinach, cucumber, ginger and jalapeño. I'll drink this stuff throughout the next couple of days and then I'll grind up more vegetables and drink them.
I just got a new recipe for a different juice that I want to try a couple of times a week - more on all this in another post too. My point is that I'm looking for the positive things on this cold, grey day - and they're everywhere, right in the middle of the grey and cold. Why give the cold or the grey any props? I know that in a few minutes, I'll venture out. I have a warm coat and hat to keep me warm, a car that has all wheel drive and heated seats, a gym less than two minutes away, the desire to exercise more all the time, the awareness and desire to eat healthier all the time.
All of these things and more, I'm grateful for - they exist despite the grey/unpleasant areas in my daily life. They're all good things, and things I've sought out. Sometimes it's chasing the good things down like a Cheetah chasing down a Gazelle - do you want something better? Or do you want to lay still and just hope it comes to you? There's a reason that Cheetahs can run 70 MPH when they need to - to get to the nourishment they need. Be the Cheetah, chase down the things that nourish your soul. Or don't - focus on the grey, the cold or the things that may suck, but they're out of your control. For me, those things will be there and I just need to deal with them as best I can. Metaphorically speaking, if I'm chasing down the things that nourish my soul, I usually run right past the things that suck and don't even notice them.
So I cheated and had a few bites of a donut this morning with my coffee. The vegetable juice will cancel out the moderate amounts of sugar I put into my system, the power smoothie that has a ton of good things in it - including oatmeal, will fuel the workout I'm about to leave for - and the workout will make me feel better about all that will come afterward on this cold, grey day. And I will look favorably upon this day. I know of people who are facing things that suck and they simply cannot get away from them, and while I can't make any of that go away for any of them, I can stop and think about all there is in my life to be grateful for - and know that in the blink of an eye, I'm any one of those people. So all I can do on this day, or any other really, is to pay attention to what I'm focusing on, and wish for others all the goodness that I wish for myself. And I need to remain grateful. Every week and the days it contains, made up of moments...well, that's the journey and I need to be grateful for the journey.
There you have it, my thoughts as I write through my coffee. I wish you all peace. Chase down the things that nourish your soul. Peace, good people.
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