Happy Sunday, Journeyer!

I hate to admit it, but it has been one strange and bizarre week, one that feels like the full moon energy has a death grip on me that won’t let go.

Sometimes Life’s Puzzles are hard.

It might have a little something to do with the return of not one, but TWO little chickadees to what had been our almost Empty Nest.

It might have a little something to do with the resurgence of Hormones that always came a knockin‘ on my door around the first of every month; one who always brought along Fatigue and Ornery, and who is now accompanied by the old flame I thought was long gone, Hot Flash.

It might have a little something to do with the turn of the seasons and the shortened periods of sunlight.

It might have a little something to do with the interrupted sleep that has plagued me all week long, a rarity as I’m someone who normally sleeps like the dead.

It might have a little something to do with rising before the sun comes up, which totally messes with this gal’s normal circadian rhythm which is to go to bed around one in the morning and rise about eight, long after sunrise.

It might have a little something to do with feelings of rejection based on a business associate’s decision.

And it certainly has something to do with feeling stuck and blocked at every proverbial turn.

This sense of dis-ease doesn’t usually linger like this any more, which makes it all the more unsettling and makes me all the more cranky.

I just can’t seem to shake this feeling of wanting to lay down to sleep and not wake up for days.

Everything feels cluttered, disheveled or dirty…my emotions, my thoughts, my car, my house…

So how and where the heck do we find happy when our days look like THAT?

I can honestly say, and with certainty, that all we have to do is look at it like a puzzle.

And then there’s Life’s Happy Puzzles.

This morning I decided to do something about my mood with a little de-cluttering in our pantry, where I found a rogue puzzle piece and the inspiration for today’s post.

Growing up, it seemed like my mother always had a card table up with a puzzle in progress.

I’ve tried to follow that tradition with my own family, albeit a little more haphazardly. Like mostly during winter. And it didn’t really take root until my children were almost grown.

But I digress.

You know that feeling you get when you just can’t seem to find that one piece  you need to connect all those other parts you’ve assembled?

And then the excitement you get when you think you have it figured out, only to discover that the piece isn’t the one, but you do find it’s rightful place in the jigsaw?

And you smile.

And then the elation that bubbles out of you when you do finally find it? That piece that has ALL the colors in it?

Yes. It’s like that.

Grief and Happy are both akin to a puzzle.

Each block or hardship or rejection or restless night is but one piece of the image our suffering paints.

Every single sunrise (even if it is on the wrong side of my body’s time clock), sunset, starry night, cool breeze, Cardinal’s song, passing butterfly, and stroke of the cricket’s wings comprise our Life’s Happy Puzzle…

Every waft of a fresh rain, newly mowed grass, Fall leaves, or food that makes your mouth water and your nose hairs dance while every delicious morsel makes your taste-buds sizzle…

Every hug or kind word or muscle massage or color or lyric that moves us in positive ways are pieces that combine to form our happy.

Those are but a few of the things that Spirit sprinkled onto the path of these past seven days, the more subtle pieces of the puzzle, the ones that we tend to put off finding a place for until last.

They are the ones with hues that are much the same, seemingly innocuous amongst those with bold color and striking lines.

And yet, we find satisfaction with each interlocking piece we connect.

 

[Tweet theme=”basic-white”]”Finding those vibrant, interconnecting pieces to our life’s puzzles keeps us navigating through those difficult designs.”[/Tweet]

My Life’s Happy Puzzle for the week of September 26, 2016 also included a few of those bold, and exhilarating elements.

I am honored and jazzed to have been invited to write a column for the #BeREAL series over at HastyWords.com. If you’re not familiar with her, head on over because she’s doing some fabulous work connecting us with one another, with ourselves, and using our stories to heal.

One of the things I’ve learned through my journeys through tragedy and triumph is that I feel at my best when I can BE REAL with myself and others, even when I’m faced with some life adversity.

In fact, what I’ve learned through my work and connections with you, my neighbors who are ready for resolution in your hard stories, is that all of us are most successful when we are able to BE REAL, authentic in how we are feeling and in what we want and need.

The story is fresh, raw, and as real as it gets, Folks, and you can read Getting REAL in the Face of Adversity here. It goes without saying that Hasty and I appreciate all the comment and share love you can give us!

Another exciting bit of news is a collaboration with Sharon Ehlers of Grief Reiki®, LLC.

Sharon is a fellow journeyer who lost two loved one to suicide and after thirty years in the corporate world, decided to help heal worlds of hurt. She is co-author of Grief Diaries: Loss by Suicide and is a Reiki practitioner.

Sharon has been sending Reiki out onto the world for some time now; once each week to help you sleep well as the week comes to a close and at the beginning of each week to give you a head start to a good week.

We’ve teamed up so you can receive DOUBLE THE REIKI AND DOUBLE THE HEALING HEALING, Journeyer! She from the west and I from the east, are uniting every Monday and Thursday and sending out Reiki from coast to coast!

Visit us on Instagram @thefivefacetsofhealing and @griefreiki so you can tune in to the energy healing!

And then, on Friday, I received a phone call from Dave Roberts, one of our many healing allies, who told me that my application to present The Five Facets of Healing workshop Beyond Bereavement has been accepted to the 2017 Good News Center’s conference, Navigating Through Grief: Hurt, Hope, and Healing!!

I have to say I was honored when Dave invited me to apply and am looking forward to partnering with other healing allies who will be coming from all over the country to share their stories of hope, healing, and happiness.

Mark your calendars for June 8-9; Utica, New York!

With that, I’ll bring this Happy Happens edition to a close. But before I go, I’d love it if you’d share some of your week’s puzzles with all of us!

Until next time, yours in hope, healing, and happiness,