Blue Sky Days

This week we are having a series of warmer than usual, sunny bright

I am treasuring this short respite from winter we have been blessed with. November is typically the cloudiest month of the year here. So any time I see a blue sky day in November is a win for me.

When you combine the shortening day length with cloudy overcast skies day after day, it’s a recipe for mild depression for me. So I intend to spend as much time outdoors enjoying the mild weather and sunshine as I can.

Even with the blue skies the world of nature looks starker these days with most of the leaves already fallen. But I still find beauty. It’s just a different kind of beauty.

A Different Kind of Beautiful

If I can find beauty in the stark November landscapes I can also find beauty in life no matter what happens.

“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”
― Anne Frank

We all have been experiencing election fatigue from the news and speculation and worry that surrounds us. Here’s the place I finally landed that helps me to stay sane and optimistic: After doing my part and voting I am holding hope that whatever happens will be what is right and necessary for us and for the world. If things need to fall apart before they fall together then let them fall. I will be here to do whatever I can create a patch of light, love, caring and compassion. And if things have already fallen apart and are ready to fall together I’ll be there to help everyone who is working to create a better world.

Cattail marsh backlit by afternoon sunlight

Here’s an interesting tidbit from an article I read this morning in ProPublica. It turns out that optimism bias may be a survival mechanism that all of us need to embrace.

Optimism bias is a pattern of thinking that causes our brains to see future outcomes as rosier than they really are. It transcends gender, culture and age. And it turns out to be incredibly helpful in most situations. There’s only one subset of the population that doesn’t experience optimism bias, Konnikova said—people suffering from depression.

“This [optimism bias] is actually something that’s very psychologically protective,” she said. “It ends up that seeing the world as it is makes you clinically depressed.”

— ProPublica article, “How Your Brain tricks You Into Taking Risks During the Pandemic”

While I do not want to close my eyes on the injustices, sorrows, and challenges that we face, I need to focus on taking care of what is within my own sphere of influence in my family, neighborhood, and community. I’m not suggesting that anyone ignore what is going on. But I do think that focusing on the present moment and what is happening right now in this minute helps to keep a balance. A minister I once knew said that he meditated with a Bible in one hand and newspaper in the other. That seems to me, to be a wise way to proceed.

Maybe if we all spent a little less time listening to the news and more time out in nature we would all feel better. I know I do. Enjoy the blue sky days this week.

Wishing you hope, peace, and beauty today and always.

May you walk in beauty.