Always Another Opportunity

I'm thinking about the week to come and am remembering that intention and awareness help cultivate happiness.

My kids have been spending the last few days together in Chicago. They're flying back to Philly tomorrow, and my daughter will spend the week here. I last saw her the first week of June, when an unexpected trip back east enabled us to connect in North Carolina for three days together at the beach. Tomorrow I'll pick them up at the airport and take them to dinner, and then at the end of the week my daughter and I will drive down to see my mom. We'll spend another three days together. Two moths in a row. I'll take it. 

I'm thinking about what other moments of happiness I can create just by paying attention. My column is due for the paper this week. I love writing, so there's a chance at happiness. I love my new job. More happiness. I get to spend my week doing work I love. And there's my daily writing for my blog this summer. That's more work I love and get to do. 

I just connected with a friend and made plans to get together in a few weeks.   

I'll probably take a look at how I'm managing my self-care and all the other things I haven't been paying attention to while I've been focused on starting new work. Maybe do a life inventory and check in around how the ways I've been living have been contributing to my happiness. I'm thinking also about what I'd like to do on vacation later this summer. Things are different with a new variant of Covid that's been spreading, so I have a chance to explore car trips this time that don't have me in dense populations. Another opportunity for creativity and cultivating happiness.

A Hundred Years of Happiness is a daily writing practice that opens a landscape of discovery into my own human experience. 

Katherine Cartwright has been blogging since 2012, and each year brings new wonders. She asks big questions of the small things in life.