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Our 2026 Program Calendar is now available. This year marks another important milestone in our history as we launch new programming, products, and more in celebration of Br. David’s 100th birthday.
Meditation, meeting friends in heart, playing music or singing; walking in nature; solving problems and asking for support if possible and if solving is meant to be. This then is truly restorative, only sometimes not meant to be, which is to be accepted then.
Coming to this website, going to Mass, going for walks in nature. Walking on the beach year round, sailing, going to a music event.
This winter doing some crafts and doing chair yoga when I can find a class. I Also enjoy a good drama series or movie on netflix!
Come to think of it,
I have spent much of my life alone,
even when there have been other people around me.
As a child
I loved exploring the woods and fields around my home,
crawling through culverts,
and collecting things . . .
a found crayon,
pieces of bird’s eggs,
stones,
bits of this and that,
broken off of something larger,
and the occasional seashell.
Today
I don’t think a mother would allow a young daughter
to do these things,
but the world was a little different in the 1950’s.
As I grew older
I loved to read and to draw,
paint and make things out of whatever material might be around.
I taught myself to play on the piano when no one was at the church,
inviting my friend Martha
to come with me one day.
I remember she brought thumbtacks
and we stuck them in the hammers that played the piano keys.
However,
it was discovered the next Sunday,
during the children’s lesson period,
when the pianist began to play ‘Jesus Loves Me’
and it came out with a honky tonk flair.
Being creative,
trying new things
has always restored my love of Life,
grounded and centered me . . .
all of these things I do,
I do for myself
and not to please anyone but me.
It’s after I’ve done them
that I can share them with whoever I choose.
They renew my wonder and awe
of everything the Universe has to offer.
I realize
that I haven’t been doing any of these things lately,
and feel the lack in my soul,
so this is a good reminder
to make space for them again . . .
they are as essential to my mental and spiritual health
as the air that I breathe. ♥
Sparrow, I grinned as you shared your piano story. How tender! Your childhood wanderings reminded me of many Mary Oliver poems. Yes, those were different times when us girls could meander in Nature. .
🙂
You and the church piano and Martha! So funny, Sparrow!
🙂
Sparrow, Please make space for those creative things. We never know when the ability to do them may be taken away.
I desperately
want to,
dear Carol Ann.
It’s this lovely old house and property
that hold me back. ♥
I use several restorative practices. I’ll name a few.
*The main one I use is sleep. If I start feeling tired or overly stressed out, I take a nap. For me there is nothing like the healing power of sleep. But there are also things that I can do that work more as a preventative to getting run down and overwhelmed. I use several of these as well.
*I try to start my day by coming to this website to remind myself of what is really important to me, and to help me remember to be conscious of my behavior, my body, and my emotions. Staying conscious is a challenge, but daily reminders help.
*Walking is important to me. I walk to keep myself healthy and also because I enjoy walking. It also helps me to breathe more deeply.
*I would like to meditate and do yoga each day. I’ve said the same since I was in my twenties. 😇 I’m a sporadic meditator and yoga practitioner. I know that it is always available to me.
*I spend time with my cats because I love them and because they are cute, soft, pretty, persnickety, and funny.
😸 Elizabeth Anne
😸 Bert
😸 Coco
😸 Calliope
They are just the best!
Sending love to all and happy Monday!
I love your cat names! So cute
Thanks, Robin Ann.♥️
Mary, the sleeping part you talked about sounds exactly like Ngoc.
Getting outside for a walk or run, taking a hot shower (in winter), talking to friends, drawing.
Drea, hot showers are nice around this time of the year. Fortunately, it’s been warm up in the Twin Cities. Enjoy it while it lasts. Another cold streak is bound to happen at anytime. It’s a matter of when.
Loc, definitely–I’ll be taking advantage of our warm weather to get outside and run today.
The Paw Mu advice zen goals are my restorable practices, because they keep me grounded. Taking responsibility is an area that’s going well for me, because I know my shortcomings, what to work on, and get to it right away. Trusting my people has been an area of struggle, but fortunately, I’ve just recently cracked the code over the last couple days that will serve me well. Disliking for ambiguity is the intersectionality despite many contrasts. The inner world is new and complicated for them, particularly the older Asian adults. Simplicity is a shared value. Both sides strive to reduce inner conflicts.
The practice of trying to carry both or multiple views at once is high risk high reward. It either greatly works or it turns into a total disaster if gone wrong. This is where my yearly zen goal of building from the root comes into play. There’s a better chance of succeeding with the 3rd path. Even then, I still choose foundation. Pick a side while still seeing the other. I try to stay away from playing both sides when I can, because it’s exhausting, people-pleasing, and only creates more inner conflicts which is highly frowned upon in the Asian community, especially among older adults as mentioned yesterday. Most of us don’t have the techniques to pull off the 3rd path and come out of there strong.
The fact that I have things that I can do, to help alleviate anxiety, stress, and depression, is a miracle.
Now, these things require action. Which is a good thing and a difficult thing. I think that doing something (anything) is helpful. But, getting going on that thing can be difficult when I’m not doing well. I think we’re all aware of this situation.
I try to be regular with my practices, but the truth is, I drift away and come back. But, I’m trying to be better. I am much better than I used to be.
So, the practices are, meditation, yoga/stretching,
walking, reaching out, and really, just breathing.
Coming back to the breathe has been such a balm, and it’s always there. I can do it any time.
And of course this practice. This practice has been a game changer for me. Starting my day with gratitude practice is so helpful.
Thank you all that practice here and thank you to the good people that keep the light on at Grateful Living. 🙏
I agree that starting my day with gratitude has helped a ton.
Routine and no routine.
Accomplishing the to do list.
Looking at a beautiful photograph or art piece.
A good joke.
Reaching out.
Journaling/writing is a major go-to and for many years music, especially singing. But, I have had to accept the loss of my voice and the grief from that loss rears its head from time to time. I used journaling to deal with that and wrote a poem not too long ago. I am also very thankful for my Reiki training as I combine it with deep breathing exercises to balance my Chakras most days. Anxiety has plagued me all of my life so I often tense my body without even realizing it. Finding gratefulness.org several years ago taught me to practice “Stop, Look, Go” and blessed me with companions on my spiritual journey. I am so thankful for all of you and for Br. David and the grateful living staff. I share the poem I wrote to grieve the loss of my voice.
Lament of Loss by Carol Ann Conner
Some of us have a booming voice.
Others speak with a lilt.
A few are given the gift
of song, but the day comes
when it is gone.
This happened to me
It’s like the song
being violently stripped,
ripped
from my very being.
Love always sang to me
through me,
filling my aching heart
so many times when hope
could not be found.
The laughter, the tears,
the promise, the fears,
The total vulnerability
That resonated
in each tone.
Images of audiences
that still thrill me,
still inspire me
and fill me
with awe and gratitude.
No longer the singer
of the song,
No longer the voice
that’s forever gone
but the music lives on, and on.
Such a beautiful honoring of your voice, and your history, Carol Ann. ♥️
Thank you,
dear Carol Ann,
for sharing these very painful parts of you . . .
you have touched my heart.
I hope that you still sing for yourself
with love . . . ♥
Thank you, Sparrow. I feel your love and compassion.
I hope you do,
dear Carol Ann . . .
I really care.
something in my soul
reaches out to yours . . .
I think we are kindred spirits. ♥
Beautiful, Carol Ann. This must be a painful loss.♥️
Yes, it is a painful loss but I have lots of joy filled memories.
Such a wonderful gift to have a good singing voice. I can imagine you must have wonderful memories! I’d love to hear about them sometime.
Thank you.
I address my basic needs first, do I need food, shower, sleep? Once I get those taken care of, I listen to music and dance. Or maybe I phone a friend or my sisters. I like to practice my banjo or get crafty and color/paint/collage. Writing poetry or reading. And for that, I am grateful 🙏🏽🧡
Your words warm my heart.
I enjoy the time I spend answering the daily questions here. Like Carla, impromptu singing is one of my restorative practices; I sing when I’m happy and even when I’m feeling down. One secret I’ll share is that my participation on this site isn’t just about practicing gratefulness, but also about learning natural English that I can’t find in textbooks.
I find adjectives challenging because they can’t always be visualized, which makes their definitions harder to grasp. Today was very helpful because I learned a new word from Carla: ‘impromptu,’ which means doing something without being prepared. I’ve needed this word to describe how I sing while doing chores, but I didn’t know how to say it until now!
Happy Monday, everyone! 🌸
It’s wonderful to have a learner’s mindset. Thank you, Ngoc, for the reminder. ♥️
My Ngoc, I love the daily questions here too. We get to put out our thoughts and learn from others.
I’m so happy that you enjoy the site. Since you’re here, we have more to discuss from our and others’ answers. Happy work day!
Especially more so with you being on your 3-week winter break.
NGOC, I’m glad that our posts can help you learn words and expressions that grow your English vocabulary. I have a young immigrant in my life who has expressed the same thing. She wants to become an interpreter and is always asking me about a word or an expression I’ve used in our conversations.
Thank you so much, Carol, for supporting the immigrants like us. Learning another language in adulthood is not easy. And the opportunity to connect for help is truly appreciated. Happy holiday!
The teacher in me would say A+. I can see your growth during this year. At first your posts were short and now you are giving more expression to your ideas. Well done. I love your curiosity. I would tell my students to find a ten dollar word. This also helps with adjectives. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Yram, for your motivating words. My English started at my local Adult School. All of the teachers there helped plant the roots of my English. I just went to search for the definition of “find a ten-dollar word.” Is the phrase mean going for more challenges to get to improvement?
Yes
Quiet.
Good sleep.
A day well spent.
Deep satisfaction from following my own road map.
Breaking routine.
Moving my body, sometimes rigorously, sometimes gently.
Flying solo for a bit.
Mary Mantei, I got great sleep last night. Ngoc being on winter break certainly helps. More quality time benefits both of us. Having talked about in my answers and responses to other people before, when she’s either busy for extended stretches, out of time, or in Vietnam like last summer for 6 weeks, I used backstage politics as a coping method to protect myself from being babied by my root people. I wasn’t actually doing well. I was using more of emotional inflation which is using corruptive cheating string-pulling strategies which is why I found myself more fatigue during those times. Because I can easily see both sides, it’s entirely possible that I used backstage maneuvering more than I needed to as well. There’s always both sides to the story, or 3, in most cases or even more.
Indeed, Lov.
I like the idea of breaking routine as a restorative practice!
Ah, yes… sleep! How could I forget that one?
🙂
Painting
Prayer
Gratitude
Meditation
Breath
Exercise
Yoga
Thanks for the reminder. I am unable to paint right now and its my #1. I needed a reminder of the other avenues.
Prayer, meditation, walks and exercise all help restore me. Reading, coming to this site and even getting lost in a favorite movie can be restoring.
Yes, a good movie!
Yoga – meditation, asana, pranayama. Going for a walk in nature. Holding hands with my husband. Listening to music. Preparing meals. Floating in the ocean on a calm day. A nice epsom salt bath. Staring at the sky, especially at night 🌃
Yes! Floating in the ocean on a calm day. Except I do this in an upright position, squatting down a bit. The ocean (Mother Ocean) still carries me. Thank you for reminding me of this, SunnyPatti.
Oh yes, the epsom salt bath … good reminder.