Big projects call for shifting my joy practice into high gear. My joy doesn't naturally climb in the face of adversity. I make the shift because feeling good matters. When I put my attention on what's needed to find my way to joy, I get there faster.

Abundance is in community. Thank goodness that community, like gratitude, always stretches further than we might ever have imagined.

What I love about life is how we often get to "do over" the parts we had no control over, the parts that didn't go so well as a kid.

She flies to the rooftop over my outdoor office, shouting her appreciation for the peanuts I left out.

We never grow in isolation. Our thoughts and words have runners. Like the strawberry, we leave before us and behind us tiny ideas in the heads of others, baby thoughts that expand and become things.

I think of the thousands of seeds we cast daily in our celebrations and grievances. The seeds of dreams planted in our psyches and in the psyches of others as we share our dreams with them.

Balancing the brain's negativity bias by celebrating 3 wins turned things around.

I don’t run out of opportunities to practice joy in my life. Priming sets me on that path in the morning and reminds me of my joy along the way.

Transformation isn't always easy or comfortable. It is inevitable. When you choose to take charge of your growth, the discomfort is easier to manage. The clarity feels welcome.

What a wonder nature is, and we, as a joyful part of it. We may be fed by beauty so many times—as we gaze, as we harvest, as we create food, and as we are fed by it all.

I had to overcome the “why me?” I could scarcely believe it was my job alone to turn this around, but what were the options?

Glimpsing the warmth of motherhood can bring both sweetness and ache, if those feelings are incongruent with the ones we've had for our moms. Or perhaps they're incongruent with the feelings we've had about ourselves as mothers. Parenting is no cake walk, for sure.

Hope makes the challenge manageable until we can get to the sweetness on the other side. Sometimes it's a long time coming.

Presence alone is not all-powerful. Repeated presence cultivates awareness—who is around me, and what do they need? Who am I, and what do I need?

Working for yourself amplifies every life lesson. Each mistake, every celebration, every learning is magnified across days and weeks of intentional living. On all fronts, choice is everything.

The best part of having friends is the string of real-life-moments that hang together like pearls, just below the collarbone. Moments of wonder, reflection, and self-reflection. Right there at the heart.

Just the same way that my focus on vulnerability before had birthed a terrifying idea, the focus on abundance now brings light. Not immediately, and not without effort.

Will I doubt myself and decide I've done something wrong to warrant this? Or will I lock eyes with Abundance and recognize every bit of it that comes my way?

We talked about open-ended questions recently—we’re both cultivating skills here. I know she’s not only looking for an open-ended question to ask me, but one that relates to my inner experience and is something she has an interest in.

These small catastrophes are woven like beads of light into the tapestry of our lives. They shine a beam on who we are and what our relationships can be.