Category: There’s Something About

There’s Something About Thursday–Shadows

Janyre2 Comments

It’s time for one of the two Thursdays of every month where I give a nod to the things that make us stop and say, “There’s something about . . .”

Shadows

This is something I wrote awhile ago and it fits perfectly with one of the characters I’m working on . . . and to be honest with me sometimes.

There is something about shadows —that absence of light— that kids instinctively fear. Adults have a more educated view that thinks the dark patches really can’t hurt us. That there isn’t anything hiding inside trying to get out.

But if I’m honest with myself, there’s still something about the dark.

Perhaps the kids have it right.

But if there are shadows, Continue reading “There’s Something About Thursday–Shadows” →

There’s Something About Deadlines

Janyre5 Comments

It’s time for one of the two Thursdays of every month where I give a nod to the things that make us stop and say, “There’s something about . . . ”

Deadlines Twitter

It’s spring break week here in Michigan.

I’m joining my friends, neighbors, and family in the water. Theirs is of the Florida-like, warm water beach variety and mine is, unfortunately, strictly metaphorical.

My fabulous kids are home and doing a great job of entertaining themselves while I work. So it isn’t their fault that I’m near drowning and the sharks are circling.

I have an overloaded schedule.

We’ve all been there. We’re happily going through life and we think, “Yes, I can take that project on . . . and that one . . . ” and then suddenly: Continue reading “There’s Something About Deadlines” →

There’s Something About Tuesday: Ordinary

Janyre3 Comments

Ordinary

I can hear the whir of the dryer just under the sound of the kids playing soccer in the front yard. Dinner isn’t made. It’s five o’clock. And I can’t make myself worry about it. I’m having too much fun watching the kids laugh as they chase the ball—my girl with focused determination and my dude with antics and laughter.

The sun is breathing the first heat of spring and my skin soaks it up. Sometime within the last few days the daffodils have shot out of the ground and the buds have tipped, nearly bursting with their glorious yellow skirts. And the robins, frogs, ducks, heron, and other fair-weather friends have returned in full force creating a symphonic cacophony of summer sounds.

I can’t get enough.

Except,

In two months time it will all be so ordinary. And it’s a shame that the wonderful ordinary will go unnoticed.

I’ll be tempted leave behind the wonder when the everdayness wears the glory thin.

Tweet This

So today, I challenge myself along with you to remember. Remember the blackness of the ant crawling across the sun warmed deck. The fluffiness of the first dandelion gone to seed. The smell of fresh air and dirt stained kids.

Savor today. Taste and see that it is good.

Tweet This

Now it’s your turn. Share your favorite wonderful ordinary with the rest of us…

There’s Something about Thursday: Two Ways to a Better Home Life

JanyreLeave a comment

There’s Something about Thursday: Two Ways to a Better Home Life

Changing the way you look at your daily life, because there’s something about the way you think.

It’s Thursday, the day we stop and wonder, giving a nod to the things that make us stop and say, “There’s something about . . . “

 

2 Ways to a Better LifeA quick trip through the medical research in cyberspace will have you convinced that your brain is an amazing creation. Extremely powerful.

In addition to keeping your body functioning, there is research that proves a correlation between positive thinking and lower stress, healthier bodies, etc. All done with your brain. Who knew?

But positive thinking is a little easier said than done when you try and bring it home. Continue reading “There’s Something about Thursday: Two Ways to a Better Home Life” →

There’s Something About Bravery

Janyre4 Comments

BraveryAwhile back, I spent the weekend with a good friend who had moved away and some other women who I didn’t know well, but I still consider friends.

We spent a lot of time telling the stories of our lives. I didn’t think about it at the time, but, as I look back, I’m struck with how brave each of these women were and are.

Several traveled with friends when they were young. One moved out when she was seventeen. One scuba dived with sharks.

If I had asked them to tell me about the bravest thing they’d ever done, they would have told those stories.

But what captured me wasn’t the exciting actions of their youth, but how they dealt with the junk life inevitably deals out: Continue reading “There’s Something About Bravery” →

There’s something about Brokenness

Janyre1 Comment

BrokennessThroughout my life, I’ve traveled past myriad straight, even people—the perfect, solid fence posts. Each guarding a territory, surrounding, protecting, being useful.

But it’s those people that have been pushed over, beaten down, broken that mark the landscape, draw my eye, quietly call for additional investigation.

What is it about the people that have faced the worst life can throw at them and—slightly crooked, bent, perhaps chipped on all sides—still stand? What is it about them that makes them stand regardless of the compelling forces around them? What is it about their combination of grit and brokenness that makes them beautiful?

To be fully honest, my deepest desire is to avoid the things that might strain me. But I know full well the impossibility of that hope.

And so knowing, I study the standing broken, hoping beyond hope that when life comes, stomping, beating, blistering, that I too will stand. Beautiful if broken.

There’s Something About Accountability

Janyre2 Comments

AccountabilityI didn’t want to write today. The last two posts were a little hard for me to write. I was walking lines, trying to step carefully, not sure if I had crossed over or not. That feeling of insecurity, combined with the busyness of the holidays and starting the first round of edits for my novel, has left me a little done in.

But I made a promise to you and myself that I would purposefully look for, see, and celebrate the good things. And that promise forced me to look today.

To see the gorgeous sunrise and watch in wonder as the sun’s spark slowly spread from a tiny spot to flames spreading from horizon to horizon.

To hear the laughter in my sister’s voice despite the hard things she endures.

To feel the heat in my home and good food filling my stomach.

So today, I thank you. Whether you know it or not, you are my accountability, my outside-myself-reason to keep finding beauty, to keep writing, and frankly, to not play it safe.

Today you helped me find the beauty in the world so filled with amazing things, I often miss the overflowing and take it for granted.

So if you took my challenge earlier this week and decided to not play it safe, what are you doing to be sure you will actually take that step? If you’re willing, I would love to know what your dreams and hopes are for the coming year. Maybe we can help keep each other accountable.

There’s something Magical about Thankfulness–an early Thursday Thought

Janyre5 Comments

Thanksgiving Is MagicI know that everyone and their brother is blogging about Thanksgiving this week. But I couldn’t resist. Being purposeful in noticing things in life is why I started “There’s Something About . . . ” Thursdays.

And yes, I know it isn’t Thursday, but I’m betting most of you would be in a turkey-induced coma if I waited. . . I promise you’ll live through my breaking of tradition.

Over the last few years, I’ve come to realize that the more I notice, the more good things I see, the more thankful I am, the more good I see . . . . It’s a delicious, magical cycle of goodness. Can you tell I’m a little addicted?

Science is catching up to what people of faith have known for centuries:

Tweet This

Thanksgiving is magic!

Continue reading “There’s something Magical about Thankfulness–an early Thursday Thought” →

There’s Something About Thursday–Life

Janyre2 Comments

There's Something About LifeI recently realized that I’ve made a massive shift in the last few years. The tectonic plates of my life have created an earthquake, and my easy way of moving through life has been destroyed.

You’d think I’d be reduced to tears at seeing my old way of life crumble. But I’m not. I’m glad.

Even though the commitment to look at my life, really look, is sometimes hard, it’s also really good.

I find myself looking at the sky, my kids, the rain, listening to the swell of the wind or the music on my radio, and I’m in awe.

There’s something about life. You know?

That got me thinking about how to be purposeful in recognizing the things that make me stop and wonder. I want to commit to at least every other Thursday giving a nod to the things that make me stop and say, “There’s something about . . . ”

There’s something about Thursday. We’re almost to the end of the week. Maybe it can become a time where together we find that something to think about.

Maybe you can notice and wonder with me. So for today, how would you complete the sentence: There’s something about . . . ?