Life Updates of a Larger Magnitude

Half of Lent has passed me by and I don't feel the silence in my soul like I normally do (when I'm being consciously reflective).  So for today's MM I decided to start reading a book they gave our on Ash Wednesday - Resisting Happiness by Fr. Matthew Kelly.  It comes with homework.  Here is today's: Key Point: Find out what makes you happy Action Step: Identify three activities that increase your happiness.  Write them down. Being active - exercising, dancing, training Spending time outdoors making memories with my family.  Specifically camping, swimming, exploring. Building things So I wanted to get super specific on these because it's easy to be vague ("Being healthy makes me happy.") but vague is not necessarily actionable.  That's why I chose being active.  When I get more sedentary I get unhappy.  It doesn't matter what my body looks like.  My mind projects an image of bleh over it when I'm sitting on my buttkins all day. ...

Hey peeps! It's my favorite time of year! We're actually about 8 days into the 40 days of Lent, and I apologize for the slowness of my annual post.  This year I don't feel like Lent is a strong top-of-mind thing but more a steady undercurrent.  I didn't pick one thing to do (my favorite in the past has been daily Mass attendance.  This year I've been really sticking with the Miracle Morning thing from 7a-8a, so I feel like I'm already punching that deliberate reflection ticket.)  I've been trying to add more conscious acts of kindness (take food or flowers to an elderly neighbor, give to charity), but I think the thing that has stuck with me so far this season is this article I read a few days ago summarizing the Pope's message to "give without worry". My favorite quote was,  "Then he posed a greater challenge. He said the way of giving is as important as the gift. You should not simply drop a bill into a cup and walk away...