It is always life affirming, particularly in these times of upheaval, to let the mind rest on goodness, on love. I do this everyday, at the beginning and end. In the morning when I wake up and before I go to sleep, and as you will read, at various moments during the day.

Don’t let yourself get lost in bad news. In chaos. In fear. Feel the sorrow, yes, because that is the effect of having a heart that can break. And then, come back. Come back.

Here is my at-the-moment list:

Sitting outside the dentist’s office after a teeth cleaning and watching the shadows of the leaves sway. If I didn’t know what they were, I would think that magic is afoot.

Peonies! I am loving peonies. I love looking at them, smelling them, picking them. I love that peonies exist. And I love this line from Mary Oliver’s poem Peonies:

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,
with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment,
before they are nothing, forever?

I am loving that I have been with Matt for what seems like forever but is really only 36 years, which is more than half my life.

I am loving the sound of hummingbird wings.

And still, my morning matcha latte. Every day I wake up and say, oh good. I get to have a matcha latte today.

When it is hot, I am loving being hot.

When it is cold, I am loving being cold.

When I am eating Honey Mamas cardamon chocolate, I am loving Honey Mamas cardamon chocolate.

Also my new granola, my old grey sweat pants and the way Izzy pretends to do hurdle jumps over pillows in the morning.

Oh, and mornings themselves. Everyday, a new one. Every sound of a bird, a chip of ruby diamond.

Tell us what you love. Leave a comment about this, beauty, birds, you.