Skipping From A-Z

News Flash! Arwen admits to being wrong.

Yellow flowerToday I go back in time. Not way, way back–but to just a little over two years ago. I was in Little Rock with my then beau. We were walking around the beautiful grounds at the Peabody Hotel. He took a picture of some tiny flowers.

In my head I thought, “Well that’s a delete…that camera can’t take good close-ups.”

As you can see from the picture, I was wrong. So it was a reminder that I need to wait for the outcome. I need to stop hurtling from A-Z without stopping for the experiences that come from start to finish.

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Today’s affirmation:

I experience life in each moment. I breathe in the here and the now of this moment. I feel my lungs fill up with breath and joy. I feel my lungs push out anticipation. I anticipate happiness. I embrace life. This moment of this day is perfect in every way. Loved and loving, I love each of you.

Seek joy, y’all!

Yellow Flowers, Poe, 2012

Losing, Loving & Living

Today’s card is not a card but a picture I took. My love and I were walking by the river Sunday morning. we came into a small, secluded area where we saw this. A skirt. A napkin. A cork. A glass.

I can only assume that good times were had by all.

It reminded me to live with abandon. There are situations that call for sex in the midnight grass. There are situations that call for being so enamored of someone that you forget your proprieties…and your skirt. Even a lovely skirt like this one.

In extrapolating this situation, I had to grin thinking of that walk back to the hotel. How did she get back in? How did she manage to not be seen? Did her partner wrap her in a jacket?

Today, do one thing with abandon. Throw caution to the wind. Tell your inner editor to shut the F up. Don’t worry about what others think. Just do something for you and you alone.

Live with abandon. I can see this being a very good thing every now and again. You?

“Losing it in Little Rock”, Picture by Stephanie Arwen Lynch, 2012

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Monks, Moods & Missions

Today’s card is not a card but a photo of a lovely monastery near Little Rock, AR. I was there last week with a large group of friends–some of whom I call family. When we drove past this place, I thought it looked so serene.

I tend to get in a very reflective mood after these gatherings. I think about where I’ve been and where I am now and where I want to be.

I ran across something I wrote in 2010. Interestingly enough, that was when I first began to really see that my Joy Seeking emphasis was making a real difference in my life.

9/3/2010 Affirmation

I will love myself by living up to my expectations.
I will love myself by speaking with deliberation.
I will love myself by understanding that I have flaws and it’s what *keeps* me human.
I will love myself by engaging with other who are on a path of joy.
I will love myself by loving my friends without judgment.
I will love myself by staying in my own hula hoop.

Who is family in your life? Who is on the same path of joy seeking that you are on? Who encourages you to be the most amazing you possible?

Seek them out. Gather with them. Create intentional communities of fellow joy seekers. Let everyone in who is intent on finding joy.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Marylake Monastery, Arkansas