Sun Day/Peace

A Tribute to The International Day of Peace. Please Live Peace, Be Peace, Push Peace, Vote for Peace and Meditate or pray for Peace. These wars in Ukraine and Gaza just can’t continue!

Last night I had the Strangest Dreem by Ed McCurdy

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

I dreamed I saw a mighty room
The room was filled with men
And the paper they were signing said
They’d never fight again

And when the papers all were signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
And grateful prayers were prayed

And the people in the streets below
Were dancing round and round
And guns and swords and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

Sun Day

Sun Day is a day of action on September 21, 2025, celebrating solar and wind power, and the movement to leave fossil fuels behind. Solar energy is now the cheapest source of power on the planet – and gives us a chance to actually do something about the climate crisis. But fossil fuel billionaires are doing everything they can to shut it down. We will build, rally, sing, and come together in the communities that we need to get laws changed and work done.

Joy

Celebrating May, a great month to be outside.

Trillium in the woods

May Joy

The smell of lilacs permeates the air.

The chickadees cardinals and orioles sing at their hopeful best

My beautiful niece is married

A swallowtail butterfly lays eggs on the blooming golden Alexander.

Golden Alexander is a swallowtail host plant

Every tree shows its own personality,

The first hummingbirds in my yard,

The freedom of biking to events and just for fun.

A season of hope,

Columbine and wild geranium bloom,

The violets are radiant!

Hummingbirds follow the blooming Columbine.

Discussions about what to do with dandelions. And even the first dandelions bring joy!

Be mindful, pay attention, get outside and see our beautiful world!

“Dandelions are one of the earliest flowering plants in spring, dandelions provide food for pollinators such as bees and butterflies, rabbits, birds and deer, just to name a few. The dandelion also helps below the surface by feeding the soil with its deep root structure.” unknown source

Yea, It’s Spring

Happy spring, the sun has returned

It’s a beautiful world. Spring is a gift.

The world is always turning to the morning!

March 20 is the first day of spring, International Day of Happiness and Nowruz. Nature has given us the beauty of spring. Be sure you spend time outside every day to appreciate our beautiful Earth. Ancient people celebrated the first day of spring thousands of years ago!

For the Northern Hemisphere, March 20 is the first day of spring. But for 300 million people around the world, it’s the beginning of a new year, too. Nowruz—which means “new day”—is a holiday marking the arrival of spring and the first day of the year in Iran, whose solar calendar begins with the vernal equinox. Nowruz has been celebrated in Iran and the Persian diaspora for more than 3,000 years. Its roots are as a feast day in Zoroastrianism, a religion practiced in ancient Persia that viewed the arrival of spring as a victory over darkness. The holiday survived the Islamic conquest of Persia in the seventh century and the decline of Zoroastrianism’s popularity, and it spread across the globe through the diaspora of Persian people throughout history. (Here’s how Persia became the world’s first true empire.

It is hard to celebrate much happiness with such chaos in the world. Try to spring clean your brain and think about mental health for yourself and those you love. Be good to yourself and be good to the entire world.

How can you spring clean your brain?

5 Ways to Calm Your Anxious Brain – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

If you are spring cleaning your brain you need to reduce it’s exposure to plastic https://health4earth.com/2025/02/08/plastic-in-our-brains/

This year’s theme is caring and sharing. Make your own happiness special! Go for quiet walks and watch for changes around you as we transition into spring. The birds are returning and the lake near my home is almost losing its winter ice! Soon new buds will be on the trees.

Today also sees the launch of the new World Happiness Report 2025, which explores the variations in happiness around the world. The United States falls to a record low in happiness.. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-drops-to-record-low-in-2025-world-happiness-report-see-global-rankings/ar-AA1BgYsy?ocid=BingNewsSerp

Work for peace. Peace for Ukraine, the Middle East and conflicts in Africa.

A Day of Service

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that!” Martin Luther King

Be kind!

Today is the National Day of Service. Read about it here

What are you doing this week? Pick up litter, donate to a food self, visit someone who needs to be visited, send a thank you note or a letter of gratitude to someone, and ..smile.

“Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” Martin Luther King

February Fun

We all are in need of some serious fun! Isolation and this pandemic have gone on for too long. What can we do to help our mental attitude? Every day when you wake up smile and make a simple plan for something that you find to be fun, play a game, play with your children or pets and laugh. Or spend time outside and enjoy the beauty of nature, breathe and smile. Or call or text someone, and laugh, but never make fun of anyone but yourself!

The Actions for Happiness calendar has ideas for connecting. Make it fun!

Being kind will make you happy!

February Challenges

The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving with passion and compassion and humor and style and generosity and kindness.”
— Maya Angelou

Happy February, the days are longer, it will warm up this month and the celebration of Valentines Day! It is exciting that after almost a year some schools are going back to in-person learning. The challenge of many this month is to get vaccinated from COVID, and I wish you luck!

February is also important for Black History Month. How can we all work for a more just and equitable world?

The Action For Happiness calendar follows with ideas to challenge you to stay connected. Lets all renew some friendships, and challenge ourselves to spend more healthy time outside.

Earth Day Wonder

On this 50^th anniversary of Earth Day let’s celebrate our Earth. We ate all in this together, and it’s a wonder how interconnected we all are. Who would think the entire planet could work in solidarity for one thing, healing! Our forced isolation has begun to heal the Earth. The air is clearing, the waterways resting, and wildlife is happy to have quiet and some of their habitat back.

Our Earth is an amazing place, and on this Earth Day think about the wonders of our beautiful planet.

what a Wonderful World — Wonders of our Earth

“There’s wonder everywhere, if only you look for it. Look for it. It might be in a tree outside your window, in the patch of sky you can see if you crane your neck, in the herbs you’re growing, in the nest the swans are building on that open stretch of marsh across the street.” Sam Sifton NYT

All these wonders are connected. We can make the world a better place when we work together in solidarity. Can something good come of this awful crisis? May science, justice and kindness transform our world into a new beginning. Take 3 breaths for peace, and celebrate wonder on this Earth Day!

11 actions for the planet during a pandemic

Spiritual Sunday

What ever your spiritual practice, nature can heal us. Today find beauty and love whether through the gospel, through a poem or picture, time outside or a meditation. Dare to dream. Spend the day doing what you love and finding beauty in your day. If the weather permits go for a long walk. What do you love? how can you have more of what you love in your life? Find beauty from your walk or from your window. Wishing you peace.

Unplug today! Your Daily Good is to spend a day without screens! Can’t make it a whole day for one reason or another? We get it. What about an afternoon or even an hour? Spend the day doing something you love. I hope that is time outdoors with no phone.

Take three deep breaths for peace on earth.

Friendship February

Welcome to February!
See the Actions for Happiness calendar below. I’m wishing you kindness and happiness in February.
Friends are the sunshine of Life!

Choose to Be Happy

March 20th is the International World Happiness Day. This year, 2018, Finland has been declared the world’s happiest country. Read about it here. Finland is followed by Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. It amazes me that these cold Nordic countries tip the balance of happiness, obviously there is a lot more than long dark winters for happiness! These countries that are more environmentally savvy and conscious and consistently top the list of greenest countries. Clean air, clean water, renewable energy, and reducing plastic pollution are their way of life.

Happiness suggestions from me and Actionforhappiness.org
1. Do things for others and volunteer your time
2. Take care of your body, go for a walk, eat fruits and vegetables
3. Pay attention and live your life mindfully
4. Learn new things, and lose yourself in something you love
5. Have goals or things to look forward to
6. Everything won’t go the way you want, but happy people bounce back and are resilient
7. Look for what is good and smile
8. Accept yourself, be comfortable with yourself and who you are
9. Be part of something bigger than just yourself
10. Get outside and enjoy our world! 11. Listen and be thankful!