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"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try" 
Week sixteen (October 9 - 15)
Every accomplishment began with a decision to try, from quitting smoking, to running my first race, each step shaped  this journey to shift in places I never imagined while creating a new way to live.
The desire to quit smoking derived from the health issues and my inability to keep up with my kids, flourishing...

"In order to succeed we must first believe that we can" ~ Niko Kazantzakis
Last night my husband hung up my medal holder that had been in a drawer for years. There were always reasons not to hang it, since I did not know where to put it. Recently when I rescued it while cleaning I decided the time was right, this can be the necessary reminder of how far I have come.
This small souvenir of...

Grace is that thing that whispers, "It's dark and hard in there. I cannot make it hurt any less, I cannot make it go any faster, all I can do is remind you that you walked through this before."
Week Fifteen (October 2 - 8)
Heartbreak is the ultimate path to wisdom and healing
I remember it well, how sleep was impossible as I attempted to wrap my mind around the loss that had occurred. A flood...

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."
~John Bingham
The courage to start
A perfect morning for a race with the crisp air delivering a shiver of excitement. The cooler temperatures always help my running, but my intentions were without heavy goals or expectations like previous races. I intended to do my best and run a good race, without the usual...

 "Discovering joy in the journey"
Watching her decline is difficult, the cruelty in the disease of dementia is heartbreaking but now is when I must step forward, savor each moment with her, even as it breaks my heart.
The summer slips away as another season of her life fades with it recalling a recent visit where she was overwhelmed and wanted to escape and now when she barely speaks and I...

"If you can't find joy in the path you are on and what you are working towards, how do you expect to find joy once you get there?"
Joy beneath the fog
On my early morning run the fog moved in blanketing me with an eerie feeling of unknown as it smothered my view. Like the anxiety that often complicates the future, delivering a sting of doubt while searching for stability, forcing admittance...

"Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are"
Write 31 days: Unexpected Joy/Day two
Enlightened by friendship
Sometimes when last minute plans come together they become the most rewarding by filling the space you had not noticed was empty. Today when a group of friends gathered for a morning run we discovered strength together in both mind and body...

“You have been offered "the gift of crisis". As Kathleen Norris reminds us, the Greek root of the word crisis is "to sift", as in, to shake out the excesses and leave only what's important. That's what crises do. They shake things up until we are forced to hold on to only what matters most. The rest falls away.” ~Glennon Doyle Melton
Week fourteen (September 25 - October 1)
As I sift through...

"The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but they seize us" ~Ashley Montagu
I wake early each morning, it is my thing, my habit, my comfort, to begin each day with a mindful practice of slowly becoming. Taking the time to implement pleasure, and allow the slow sips of warm coffee to unite my senses as I embrace the moment with both hands cradling...

Happiness often sneaks in a door you did not think was open 
To coincide with my 52 weeks of gratitude I joined up to write 31 days, where we pick a topic and write for the next 31 days. My topic is unexpected joy and I plan to write from both present and past perspective of the "unexpected joy" that fills my days.
Each day brings the opportunity to begin again and each month gives us a starting...