Curiosity Fuels Our Inner Joy

Curiosity fuels our inner joy by offering different viewpoints than our first default observation. Using the photo above, what comes to mind? What do you feel in your body? Where do you feel something in your body?

How Curiosity Changed My Perspective

The first night I settled into my North Carolina home, the image above was just like the photo. Yet I didn’t see it. Rather I saw a hideous green security light streaming into my bedroom that ruined my night sky view. The light had been there before, but it wasn’t as high or as bright. My default observation was anger and resentment. As the days went by, my curiosity grew. I stopped by the house and met my neighbors, a lovely family of four who are renting while buying their own lot to build on. The father is a police officer, his marked vehicle a fixture during his off hours.

I never asked about the security light. Afterward, it didn’t seem important. In fact, that night was the first time I noticed the heart on my ceiling as I was lying in bed, recalling the day. It was extra bright due to the full moon, which I captured just before. The blue orb I’m so familiar with now has a green hue. If you are familiar with the chakras, green is associated with the heart chakra. Perfect.

Tips for Cultivating Curiosity

The next time your feel sad, angry or upset about something outside yourself, I invite you to try these actions.

    • Excuse yourself to a comfortable, safe location
    • Sit, stand or lie down
    • Close your eyes or lower your gaze
    • Take one or two deep breaths
    • Ask yourself, “What am I missing in this situation?”
    • Gently open your eyes fully
    • Slowly move your head and shoulders back and forth
    • Notice the objects in your view, stopping for anything especially pleasing
    • Be open to your intuition
    • Practice patience with yourself, then others

Curiosity fuels our inner joy when we invite it in.

Learning to Love Where You Live

Learning to love where you live may sound silly. Perhaps you answer, “Of course, I love where I live!” But do you really?

Learning to Love Where You Live

Loving something is more than accepting the situation. It’s feeling gratitude, joy, and happiness within your heart. Furthermore, it is feeling this within your body. For me, I feel an expansion of lightness in my chest.

In my last location, I spent a lot of time dwelling on what was ‘wrong’ with my space. It was only through the pandemic’s isolation that I realized my attitude needed to change.

Steps Toward a Change in Attitude

  1. Make a list of everything you appreciate about your situation
  2. Commit toward spending time everyday enveloped in at least one appreciation
  3. Check in weekly to notice any positive change
  4. Express gratitude for any progress

Moving to a New Home

This is the stage I’m in. Not only did I choose this home, I felt it chose me. Yet, my commitment was lacking.

Once it was clear to me that something different was needed, a way to connect with my home came into my life through one of The Healing Hummingbird’s videos on YouTube. As I stood in the center of my house, I spoke this affirmation from Louise Hay …

“I bless my home with love. I put love in every corner and my home lovingly responds with warmth and comfort. I am at peace.”

Watch Meredith’s video for other ways to connect to your house with love.

Making a House a Home

This process is different for each of us.

For example, I bought a hummingbird feeder to invite any late migrating birds for a stopover outside the dining room window. With every meal, we enjoy watching the ruby throated hummers drink deeply from the feeder.

And don’t worry about keeping them in your area too long. You can read more about it on the Cornell Lab website. In fact, here’s the recipe for making your own hummingbird nectar.

It is the People You Meet

It is the people you meet that matter most. This is true throughout life, whether on a trip, settling in a new location, or choosing to stay in the county where you were born.

It is the People You Meet in…

The Library

Ashe County A historyWhile seeking help learning about the local history, I met Lee. She and I found common ground with our family names. Actually, my older sister was named for aunts on each side of my parents’ families. Similarly, Lee’s name is a combination of her two grandmothers, ‘Little Elizabeth Ellen’, a perfect diplomatic solution. Pictured is the local history book Lee pulled from the reference stacks, a delectable, detailed history.

Mt. Jefferson State Park

Great lobeliaHoping to find a recommendation for a plant identification book, I chanced upon Wildlife Officer McIntyre in the park office. As I explained my deep appreciation for wildflowers, he was busy writing notes, his blue-green eyes smiling above his mask.

Sharing my photo of a roadside flower near my home, we keyed out great lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica. Consequently, my copy of Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, is on the way. Another employee showed me how to use my own photos for easy identification in iNaturalist, now an app on my iPhone front screen.

The NEIGHBORHOOD

Neighbors are easy to meet when walking, either for personal exercise or combined with your dog. Sugar and I walk daily along the road in front of the house.

The South Fork of the New RiverWe’ve met Joe and his dog, Bailey, our closest neighbors with a home on our street. Walking the opposite direction, we met Alex and his rescue dog. As rural residents, we are each eager to open our mailbox for the mystery contents. That’s how we met Scooby, the German Shepherd, and his owner, Alex, at an intersection of the South Fork of the New River lined with a row of mailboxes. In fact, the FedEx truck was also there. Yes, we love our delivery people too.

May you enjoy the people you meet this week!