It's officially the Summer!

(...and has been for over a week, work with me here...)

Kayla Newhook and I are celebrating Summer 2016 with a weekly dose of positive quotes and uplifting pictures. Follow along here or start a practice of your own:

Find a partner (text, group chat, email, whatever).
Pick a frequency or day of the week.
Send one quote and one picture.
Pause.
Smile!

In this challenging world, cultivating the positive requires practice. We're always resolving to conquer things like self-care, eating well, meditating, and the like. However, smaller steps do more to encourage these larger shifts.

In fact, I proved my first quote right - I haven't blogged since April. I've been going through some personal, emotional shifts and blogging became the task that is never started (up again). My progress slowed. I utilized some of Gretchen Rubin's cues, such as accountability and convenience, to reignite my interest in posting through this project. One small text to Kayla, lead to pictures, lead to being late, lead to not wanting to drop the idea entirely, which ultimately lead to this post and me writing again.

Break the big tasks down to the smallest, most accessible steps - which could be simply writing it down, texting someone about it, or even just setting a reminder in your phone!

Happiness is built on progress and oftentimes progress starts very small. Take comfort in Whitman's words and know that moving toward sunshine always involves wading through a storm.

While I've been in a bit of a storm, I try to focus on the small things I have done. Cleaning, cat care, speaking kind words, letting myself rest, and enjoying the gorgeous sun are all ways I've embraced life - even while feeling like my spirit baby over there - the one aaaall the way to the right, 'just leave me here, this couch is the only thing holding me up'..... because I know this ebb will flow, again.