It is not happiness that makes you grateful; it is gratefulness that makes you happy. ~David Steindl-Rast

Happy Sunday, Journeyer!

This week has been all about you!

I have dedicated this entire summer while I’m on break to learning and growing The Five Facets so that I can better serve you in your endeavors to heal your heartaches big and small.

One of the topics I’ve been mulling over for years is how to condense our headline slogan. What we’re really about is even wordier than the tag line we’ve chosen: “Live your best personal, professional, and philanthropic life, even in the face of adversity.”

A mouthful, don’t you think?

But for the life of me I haven’t been able to come up with an alternative. Until recently. The last week of school to be exact.

Life was a bit chaotic and as is often the case when my muse sends me information, I was driving.

I did what I always do when I have inspirational attacks like that, I grabbed a quartered piece of recycled paper, jotted down the note at a stoplight, then tossed it into a pile of papers on my desk, and forgot about it.

That’s the beauty of great inspiration, the kind that latches onto our passion, it usually stays with us, only to resurface again.

Last week I remembered. This week I began incorporating the new tag line: Be Well. Work Well. Do Well. Even in the face of adversity.

We can do it, Journeyer! With the right resources, we can do this. And who has better resources than YOU? Including everything YOU are born with?

All you have to do is learn how to harness the power of what you already have in order to live life with more passion, productivity, and purpose.

When I think of that for myself, I feel freer.

In addition to the tag line, I took several other steps to serve you better.

I completed my Reiki Level II certification and am proud to be able to offer this healing practice.

Journeyer, I first heard of and received body energy work within the past four months. I can honestly say that it is life changing. There is something magical in the Integrated Energy Therapy® and Reiki hands-on healing practices.

If you’re not familiar with these healing modalities, hands-on isn’t what you might think. It’s a gentle touch and it’s specific. For all of you who feel uncomfortable about being undressed in front of someone–I know I avoided therapeutic massage for some neck issues for years because I was so embarrassed by my body–these modalities are performed with you fully clothed.

The best part of it all? Energy is universal, which means I can perform this work remotely, with you on the west coast, in Europe, or wherever you happen to be. I think that’s one of the most beautiful things on the planet, Journeyer.

I know how it made me feel and I can’t wait to share it with you!

In order to do be able to serve you, though, I have to have a way for you to get in touch with me, to know what services I offer, and to be able to access them. So this week I’ve been adding our offerings to the website. It’s a slow process, Journeyer, but you and healing a world of hurt are so worth every second of my time and effort.

In doing all of this so that I may serve others, I am being where my passion is, which feeds my happy and makes my work so much easier and more productive, and I am doing and giving everything I have to help others heal their worlds of hurt.

Be well. Work well. Do well.

Even in the face of adversity, Journeyer.

I can hardly wait to share these new things with you!

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In addition to learning and growing so that I can serve you better, what else fed my happy this week?

I’ve been eating breakfast and doing a fair amount of my work out on my three-season deck that looks out over the surrounding hills.

Listening to the harmonic tings and chorus of my wind chimes and the ever present birdsong keeps my spirits soaring and my happy fed to overflowing.

I continue to get outside, taking Me, Myself, and I for walk with my pooch, Patches.

If you struggle with taking the time to nurture yourself, try what I’ve been doing. I’ve been including myself as one of those “others” that I’m always taking care of and treating with generosity.

Now, instead of saying I am/need/want to take the dog for a walk, I say I am taking Me and The Dog for a walk. I have ADDED myself into the equation.

It might sound a little silly, but it’s a simple and beautiful way to make a change in our life.

ADDING healing is the piece the world needs to heal its heartaches big and small and I am honored to be able to offer it to myself, to you, and to our global neighbors, Journeyer.

So honored…

Gratitude feeds my happy.

This concept is gaining wide exposure with people like Gretchin Rubin, best-selling author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before.

While looking for a gratitude quote from this happiness queen, I came across this saying from a monk whose passions include interfaith dialogue and the interaction between spirituality and science.

[Tweet theme=”basic-white”]It is not happiness that makes you grateful; it is gratefulness that makes you happy. ~David Steindl-Rast[/Tweet]

I am grateful for you, for your courage to heal your heartaches big and small; I am grateful and honored and always tickled pink for your presence here, one or twenty-thousand, I am grateful for YOU.

I am also grateful for the abundant sunshine and the bright blue skies that have filled this summer’s skies.

I am grateful for the birds and the bees and the butterflies that I see and hear from my summer office space and out on my daily walks.

I am grateful for the colorful wildflowers, be they massive or microscopic, that appear on the paths and in the fields of my daily outings.

I am grateful for the modern technology that affords me opportunity to carry a tiny phone that captures these magnificent moments when I don’t have my large, digital camera at the ready.

I am grateful that I was able to help a family member who needed help this week.

I am grateful for my faraway nieces and nephews who have sent me recent photos of their vacations and their new family photos. I love that we have such a bond in spite of the vast physical space that has always been between us.

I am always grateful for random acts of kindness and those I’m thinking of you notes.

I am grateful for my teachers, all of YOU, for you, Journeyer, are also one of my many teachers. Whether or not you know it, I learn from you when our paths cross, be it in person or on social medial.

I am especially grateful for my most prolific teachers of recent, the Clarity gals. If you’re anywhere in New York’s Twin Tiers or Southern Tier region, they’re definitely worth the trip. A special shout out to Christy for the magic that she brings to my life just by being herself.

Dan Millman of The Peaceful Warrior’s Way and numerous other books and workshops.

Doreen Virtue and Joanne Walmsley for sharing their works and passion for Angels and Angel numbers.

Drew Barrymore. I saw a picture of her with Gretchin Rubin while I was searching for that quote. Drew has always filled my happy and my inspiration. Her infectious smile radiates love and kindness and joy.

And though I haven’t read much about her, I know the umbrella theme that is triumph over tragedy and addiction. Seeing her image instantly makes me smile and feel inspired. We can do this, Journeyer.

EACH of us has the power to transition from conflict and grief to reconciliation and healing.

Each of us has the capacity to be happy to live our best lives, to be well, work well, and do well, even in the face of extreme adversity.

In my search, I noticed that Drew has a book out called, Wildflower; adding it to my reading list.

Speaking of reading, I have both of Rubin’s books sitting in my queue on a shelf…maybe it’s high time I take time to do a little more book reading…

As I wrap up this week’s Happy Happens contribution, one of my regular hummingbirds sits on the perch outside my office window. These days, they stop there first, looking into my window, as if to say Hi and Thanks! before dropping down to feed from the supply of homemade nectar I make for them.

They drink and then they head out on their next bit of being, and working, and doing.

What about you, Journeyer? We want to know what fleeting moment(s) fed your week’s happy and invite you to share something in a comment below!

Until we meet again,  yours in hope, healing, and happiness,