We often find what we're looking for.

World Record Hug, photo by Mail Online

Joy reigned in London at the St Pancras train station as the Guinness world record for a group hug was broken.  In all, 112 people, many of them strangers, hugged each other for 60 seconds.

Now that’s what I call spreading joy!

Read the Mail Online article.

Sunlit leaves, mml 2009

My favorite thing about fall is watching the leaves change colors. It always amazes me. I am continually struck by the sheer beauty of vibrant patches of red, orange and yellow.

When the sun shines, lighting up the leaves in brilliant fashion, I find myself mesmerized. It is a simple, lovely sight in a complex pattern of people, places, and perspectives.  It centers and quiets me, this open-eyed meditation, and for as long as I can spare, I stand and soak it in.  Gratefully.  Joyously.  Reverently.

Cookie Monster by Google

I love how Google changes their logo online all the time to celebrate or acknowledge milestones in our culture. It shows a vibrant, flexible and (dare I say) fun group of people are behind the powerful search engine.

Today, as I went to search for something online I was greeted by this wonderful image of the Cookie Monster.  I grew up with Sesame Street.  Cookie Monster, Grover and Big Bird were good friends of mine.

This fabulous image of the insatiable, hairy blue monster that lives and breathes for cookies (not unlike myself, I must admit) immediately brought a wide and genuine smile to my face. And not just because he’s really cute and cuddly and we share a common cookie-bond.  Flashing somewhere in my brain was peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, sleeping bags on the living room floor and my own first furry creature – my childhood dog, Ari. (The airedale – only she was black and brown, not blue.)

It felt like coming home.

Sesame Street, for me, equals peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and all that is good and sweet and pure.  And, I suspect, it equals those things for millions and millions of others.  How do I know?  Thanks to Google, I know now that this is the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street.  And after 40 years of broadcasting, Sesame Street has won 122 Emmys and been aired in over 140 countries. 

Wow. That’s a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwich memories.  And a whole heap of joy.

Love in chalk - mml 2009

Taking advantage of the sunny day, my daughter grabbed a bucket of chalk and went to work on the driveway. I expected a flower or two.  Maybe a self-portrait.

Imagine my surprise to find I love my (spelled MI if you’re 6 and learning phonetics) mom and I love my dad carefully scribed there instead. I beamed, of course, and told Taryn how much I loved the message and her artwork.

“I put from Taryn and Kellen,” she said with pride. “And I drew a line from you to dad cuz you guys love each other. And we love each other, so we’re all connected.”

“Yes, we are,” I agreed. I just love it when such sage-like wisdom rolls right off the tongues of children.

We are all connected. Every one of us.

Sokol Blosser Winery Tour

Anyone who knows me knows I love wine.  Love wine. Love the smell. Love the taste. Love the fun glasses you drink it out of. Love it. Last weekend I discovered something that makes wine even better:   Drinking wine while on a tour of a winery with friends.  Super-duper love it.

Our little party of 8 enjoyed tastes of Sokol Blosser wines while touring the winery and getting a fabulous education. Our wonderful guide, Jenna, told us about how the Dundee Hills evolved, what makes the soil great for growing grapes, and why Pinot Noir grapes have inspired movies.

We sipped, listened, oohed, ahhhed, sipped some more.  We walked on the soil, gazed at the view, smelled the yeast, and waved off a zillion fruit flies. We laughed, we drank, we learned.  We were together.

It was a great and wonderful thing.

Kids jumping - photo by Michele M. Larsen 2009

There are a few things I believe absolutely.  That our lives are defined by the choices we make is one of them. That we have the opportunity to make choices in every moment is another.

We get to choose what’s important to us. We get to choose how we feel and what we see. We get to choose whether we enjoy our lives or suffer through them.

If happiness is a choice, it’s within us.  In every moment of every day.

And that’s an awesome thing.

Surfin' With Steph, Fox 12

In addition to weather and reporting on Fox 12, Stephanie Kralevich regularly does a wonderful segment highlighting interesting websites called Surfin’ With Steph.  This week, ISpyJoy.com was fortunate enough to be featured.  (Yay!! Our first time on TV!)

See what Steph has to say about ISpyJoy.com.

Check out other websites she’s featured.

Joy (in sand) mml 2009

The secret to living the life of your dreams, is to start living the life of your dreams, at once, to any degree that you possibly can.

– Mike Dooley, Notes From The Universe

If I had a dime for every time I felt like I had to wait for something to begin living my dream life, I’d be pretty darn rich.  I still catch myself feeling that way often, even though I know better.

I have to remind myself that I don’t have to recreate the Big Bang. I can begin small, bit by little bit.  The real power isn’t in the magnitude of the action, it’s in taking action. To any degree I possibly can.

My dream life is spending my days spreading joy, optimism and inspiration to millions.  It’s the millions part that trips me up. But, today I blog (one little bit), tomorrow I’ll greet the teachers at my kids’ school with smiles and hugs (another little bit), and the day after that I’ll perform a random act of kindness (yet another little bit). Eventually, all my little bits will turn into millions of people.

That will be a pretty sweet day.  I hope I realize it when it happens.

Cause: You're Beautiful

Can you remember the last time you were around a woman and found yourself thinking how lovely she is?

This happens to me often.  Sometimes while I’m listening to her talk about something she loves. Sometimes when I see her fully engaged in a task.  And sometimes when she laughs.

In each of these moments these women are in a place of confidence and joy.  I am always struck by how beauty follows those two traits.  And how much this trinity lifts me up.  Every single time.

Toni Childs, award-winning singer, songwriter and actress, has built a website focused on celebrating the true beauty that lies in all of us, and the magic we create when we live that beauty.  On CauseYoureBeautiful.com you can see an affirming music video of the Grammy-winning song Because You’re Beautiful, and you can send a link to that video to 10 women who might need to be reminded of their true beauty.  There’s a page where you can declare who you are and what you want to create in your life.  And there’s a page with 25 inspirational men and women who will share their personal stories over the next twelve months as living examples of expressing their lovely, unique selves to the world.

I am thrilled and honored to be one of the 25 Toni chose to encourage and inspire people to live their beauty. Along with the other writers, I’ll be updating my page each month with a new article on my experience of choosing joy in my life.

What we focus on expands. Expanding the confidence, joy and beauty in the world would be a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Butterfly on rocks

Did you know that a chrysalis is what  butterfly emerges from and a cocoon is what a moth emerges from?

Until tonight, I thought a chrysalis and a cocoon were the same thing. I only discovered the difference by reading my daughter’s first grade leveled reader about Tim the caterpillar.

Tonight was Taryn’s first night of real homework.  She was proud and excited to have work to do outside of class.  She loves to learn.  But I think that’s only part of why she’s eager for homework.

For two years now she’s watched me spend time every week night during the school year doing homework with her big brother. It’s quality one-on-one time. And until now, homework has been yet another one of those things that “you’ll get when you’re older.”

Tonight was Taryn’s turn.  We sat ritualistically at the dinner table side by side. We read, we discussed, we spelled. We made check marks.

This is some grownup stuff. And though my dear daughter didn’t say a word about this sign of her coming of age, we could both feel it.

How joyous–and appropriate–that tonight we studied metamorphosis.

My little girl is anxiously anticipating the arrival of her wings.  What she doesn’t yet realize is that this is not her first set.  And it is far, far from her last. She will have the joy of coming of age many times in her life.  And I will have the joy of watching her unfold.