Embracing the change in seasons

Just as seasons change, our moods and emotions fluctuate. A state of perfect happiness is not sustainable or realistic. Life ebbs and flows, and I want to be open to all my emotions. You see, emotions are merely data points. They tell us what is going on. So, even when we find ourselves in a state of sadness or melancholy, that is not bad. It simply is. The invitation is to lean into whatever you’re feeling and ask yourself what’s going on that is causing that emotion?

Given everything that is going on in the world – especially of late – it is fairly easy to become negative, despondent, sad, even angry. And yet, when we treat our feelings as facts, we allow outside factors to dictate how we feel on the inside.

The real challenge is to remain in a state of equilibrium regardless of what is happening in the outside world; to choose our response to life, even though there might be reasons to feel unhappy, frustrated, angry, and so on. […]

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Embrace life the way a 4-year-old would celebrate Halloween

Back home in South Africa, we didn’t celebrate Halloween as children. And moving to Canada didn’t really entice us much to start celebrating it. However, this year has brought so much uncertainty, heartache, anxiety, frustration, and disappointment, and if we’ve learnt anything from this year, then it’s that nothing is a given, and that we don’t have as much control as we imagined. My daughter also turned 4 this October, and it’s the first time that she actually understands the concept of Halloween.

We’ve been learning the months of the year and when she realised it was October, she immediately made the connection that October was the month of Halloween. She lit up with excitement at the thought of celebrating Halloween. So, we decided that this year we would “celebrate” Halloween, by allowing her to have some fun with it. […]

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