Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~ Hans Christian Andersen

Sunshine, freedom and a little flower!

I’m happy to say that the last two weeks have seen my state of mental health improving, by no means am I yippy skippy happy, but I’m doing better and the weight or haze that was hanging over has seem to lifted. Continuing to work the basics does wonders for you and some other really simple things have helped, all described in the quote above.

Sunshine. One of the beautiful things about living in California is that right now, while the rest of the country is absolutely freezing we’re starting to see consistent days in the 60’s. It’s still chilly at night, tonight will be in the 30s, but for a lot of the country 30s would be the daily high. As I talked about in my last post on the basics of happiness, one of the things I’ve been making sure to do is to get at least 20 minutes out in the sun every day. Happily the weather has cooperated and here in the normally overcast Bay Area we’ve had sunny afternoons almost every day. This has allowed me to get at least 20 and some days even 40 minutes out in the sunshine. It’s amazing in the winter how much of an impact that sunshine can have on your mood.

Freedom. I think most people see and understand the insanity of the political situation happening in the United States right now. Freedom, something we take for granted is now in many ways in doubt. So it definitely warmed my heart today to see students on our campus participating in the January 30 walkout and protest. It’s starting in some ways to feel like the 60’s all over again.

Flowers. The beauty of the end of January and beginning of February in California, at least along the coast, means that trees and flowers start to bloom. We are lucky to really see spring here by mid-February so only a few more weeks of cold nights and mornings. Of course this type of weather only solidifies the reality of dressing in the Bay Area. In the mornings it’s in the 40’s, so hats and gloves and big sweatshirts, by noon time it’s in the 50’s so gloves and smaller jacket, by 2PM it’s low 60’s and light jacket time and as the sun starts to go down you reverse the process. But the upside of the weather is that when I’m out for my walk the citrus trees are full of ripening fruit and everywhere there are flowers. So below are a series of some of the recent flowers I’ve seen, enjoy. ~ Rev Kane