Happy Sunday! Hope you’ve been enjoying a beautiful weekend!

Yesterday, I talked briefly about a desire to focus more on the positive, and the first day of a new month seemed like a great time introduce a new series I’ll be doing here on the blog.

I don’t know about you, but a lot of my least favorite feelings start with the letter  “J”: judged, jaded, just so_____.

One J-word I am working to bring more of into my life, however, is joy.

I first got the idea while writing an article for a Chinese medicine newsletter about food for summer, when we take care to nurture the small intestine and the heart as we embrace the heat and the expansive energy of the season. In each season, there is also an association emotion to address the balance (or imbalance) of in our life. For the summertime, that emotion is joy.

Since it’s now safe to bust out the summer whites, every Sunday, I’ll be posting a weekly gratitude journal of sorts—a small collection of joyous things.

So, let’s get started:

1.) After seeing Amanda’s “Thinking Out Loud” post Thursday,  I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I let my toenails be naked. Seriously, maybe the last time I had no toenail polish on was…age 10 or something? Just wanted to see what it was like.

2.) The other day I mentioned I’ve been finding feathers everywhere again—heads-down pennies too. This morning, as I was walking down the street wondering who was sending me these things, I popped into a coffee shop just in time to hear the end of the White Stripes’ “Little Ghost.” Very funny.

What’s especially weird about it is that the day before, I’d posted on Facebook about a dream where my sister and I were coaxing ghosts out of mirrors in my childhood bedroom. She was sending them “into the light,” and I was letting them dance with me.

At times, I struggle with letting things go, so maybe that’s what I’m supposed to get out of it?

3.) On another note, this blueberry ginger jam from the farmers market is awesome! Anyone who gives me s*** about sugar/pectin/whatever, you’ve got bigger problems if you need to go out of your way to food-shame someone else.

4.) My Gemini spotify playlist and the transition of “Sparks” by the Who to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now,” in particular. It just works.

5.) Renewing my membership with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and signing up only for the practice groups that made me excited and tingly-feeling instead of the ones I feel I “should” sign up for. I’ve been curious about the integrative & functional medicine nutrition group as well as the women’s health one for some time now, and I can’t wait to learn more this year.

6.) Hot yoga. I went three times in the past week—I didn’t even realize how much I’d missed it.

What’s brought you joy recently?