Where did the time go - What makes your hours pass like minutes

 Here's a quote for us to think about ...

"What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? 
Here lies the key to your Earthly Pursuits."  Carl Jung

Hi & Welcome

It's that time of year for creating new memories and remembering some past ones, even maybe one of those You totally forgot about ... 

Those things we did as kids or later often came from Santa's delivery or other gifts you got for Christmas.

The books, bikes, dolls, paint kits, microscope skates clothes tools and more.

Did you make clothes for your doll and learn to sew.

Did you paint by number or learn on your own.

Did you ride your bike to check out the neighborhood or find new friends.

Did you get a musical instrument and learn to play or find out you like to sing or maybe start up a band ...

Did those tools create new hobbies or open up other opportunities. 

I still remember those toy trucks, wagons and tiny cars our son got and he's still driving - now big machinery.

I remember my daughter setting her dolls up to teach them something, she's still teaching.

Warning - You may remember lots of things and now have to go shopping.

PS. What are those things where time passes by for You, that doesn't feel like work even if it is ?

Gardening painting baking writing walking drawing pottery reading knitting playing music ... Share some of yours in the comments below. 

Have a great day and thank you for your visit.

Dona Anderson

Links for sharing with others below. 

💖This was one gift of many from a best friend 
so I make sure it's part of every Christmas. 

                                                           

New posts on Tuesdays.

Can't Wait - visit the archives.

Everyday Places to find JOY even during Covid

Joy
Feelings of Happiness,

Delight, Pleasure.

 Welcome and Thanks for your visit today.

Dona Anderson                              

                                                                                          

Some of life's joy comes just in a smile, watching the sun rise, or looking up to the stars ...

It happens when seeing your family, your pets ...

It happens watching others grow and succeed or watching your Team Win.

It happens in the garden as the spring flowers and the trees  grow & bloom. 

It happens with that slice of the first ripe tomato. 

Other things may need to be planned like a vacation, a special dinner out, an unexpected visit or sending a special note to a loved one.

It may be something to look forward to in the future like date night the next weekend whether you're young & dating or an older married couple. Or it may be a visit with one of your friends.

Everything isn't always spontaneous - lots need to be planned ahead and looked forward to so our brain has little bits of joy or a quick smile appears because we have something in the future to think about.

Remember those special outings when we had to go shopping for a new dress & shoes - and then the day, doing our hair, maybe our nails. getting dressed up with all the makeup ... We might have been feeling that good nervousness or good stress at the same time as Joy.

What's on your calendar that you're looking forward to?

Don't feel bad if there's nothing much...

That's OK

Because now you get to decide what you'd like to do and plan to do it.

My calendar has been pretty blank this last year too but I did manage to be able to get to a Tai Chi class most Mondays and do some Music lessons when we could meet. 

A good attitude is also very helpful, getting in some exercise and enjoying the  time to laugh more or work on a special project that you love. 

And, as we had to stay home more instead of going to activities I wrote snow in my calendar one day or some online links to check out, or the few days I exercised (I had to remind myself I did it) or the one time we went out for lunch that month.

Other things may not have been on the calendar but we did have a wonderful Christmas Dinner for 2, a cheese fondue for New Years and other wonderful meals. (probably too many)

We got to enjoy sitting on the front porch for an hour or so on many sunny winter afternoons. Loved the morning sun rises and the birds singing and coming to the feeders everyday. 

Loved watching the spring flowers rise up to bloom and the trees fill out again. 

And now the garden is filling up and our eyes imagine all the wonderful things to come. 

JOY - Happiness Pleasure Delight

PS. from the photo above,

"Everything is amazing when I

receive the gift of another day to 

see the love and kindness in your

Sweet, Sweet Smile ..."

Message in photo is from my book

Moving Forward from the heart.

Information on the Resources page

Take Care!

Hey - like spices? check out this post from the archives.

This years Summer of Music starts on July 6,

I love it and hope you will too.

                                                                       

Links for sharing with others below.

Visit the Archives for over 650 pasts posts for you to view, save and share.

Here's one for you to start with.

How many Self Care Moments do You need??

Important Question

yes, I do Love these 

One Rose Wellness Messages

Dona Anderson

One Rose Wellness Messages

a few words to help open the

Body, Heart Mind & Soul

In these Weekly posts I share with you
a little bit of this and a little bit of that,
as you'll discover.

Subscribe to Dona Anderson by Email

Let's start with a couple of deep

breaths to Relax

Photo message - Simply, One Breath At a Time.

and then
Say to yourself,

I give myself 

permission to rest

to become quiet,

to simply be here ...

Do you get nervous or fidgety when you have a moment with nothing to do?

That extra minute before you run out the door to work, the silence on the phone, the waiting time for an appointment and lots more ...

Sometimes when I've been out at shows and visitors stop by and see the words Permission to Rest, they kind of chuckle and then as it's taken in say to me ... 

Yes, we do need to give ourselves Permission and it's hard.

Please make time to support your own Personal Wellness.

Little changes can add up quickly ...

One Rose Wellness Cards

105 One Rose Messages all from the pages

of Simply, One Breath At a Time

Find more related posts at the label below

One Rose Cards

I hope you enjoy the Gifts of my work and the other things I find to share with You in my weekly posts.  

It truly is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. 

Some of which you won't find anywhere else. 

Even my Photo's often help bring it all together.

I like to put some messages on my photos. 

Enjoy the beauty of this time,

this place, this breath ...

My Joy comes from seeing visitors here daily from all over the World and when

others take my resources home or to their work to help themselves and others. 

Another thrill is when someone borrows a book from the Library and then sends me a note or one lady was at a yoga workshop in the eastern states and someone there had a copy of Simply, One Breath At a Time that she looked at and after had to find me for a copy. 

Loved it when a lady last fall let me know she had bought my book 9 years previously and still uses it all the time. 

Or a Yoga teacher now has lots of things to share with the class or a therapist can read a few lines or do some simple breathing to calm and relax the session. 

And this one - A friend shared that she loved to pick a One Rose card to start her day and have something to ease her grief and think about that day. 

 PS. Our World needs lots of Healing and Kindness. 

Please HELP however you can. 

Thank You!

Thanks for your visit and for sharing at the links below.

💚

What's good for us and is contagious ?

It's ... Smiles 😊

this is something you'll remember, 

smiles are ... contagious

Dona Anderson

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Everything is amazing when I

receive the gift of another day to

see the love and kindness in your 

Sweet, Sweet Smile ... 

Smiles are Gifts to others and yourself.

I'm in the pages of Simply, One Breath At Time today and thought I'd share with you some of this guided relaxation titled -

A Smile - on page 103.

Here's another in the True Treasures series

Have you ever thought about how your

breath changes from a smile to a frown.

Have you played around and gone back & forth from smiling to frowning and actually thought about how that felt.

You will in this Relaxation and I like to share it in Yoga for a reminder of how open we are when we smile and how tight closed we are with a frown.

try it a few times if you want

When you frown you're kind of closed off, can't even take a real deep breath and when you relax and smile space opens up through your body for both the inhale and the exhale.

Imagine how you'd feel being grumpy most of the time, how tight and closed off you'd be not getting those wonderful deep breaths down into our lower ribs and belly.

Smiles help reduce Stress and can even make You look younger - YES!

Here's some of what's written ... 

"You can smile at anything, a thought, a loved one, a picture, a stranger ...

Smiles are beautiful free gifts that light up your face ...

They're gifts to the world and you ...

Each smile is a conscious choice you've made to connect with the present moment ...

You can be both the giver and the receiver of that special moment ... 

Give yourself the gift of a smile - give the gift to others - see and feel what happens"

©Dona Anderson 2008 
Simply, One Breath At a Time

Thanks for your Visit. 

Links below for sharing and use the label
True Treasures to find similar posts.

600+ posts in the Archives on the

right side of page,Web version

This would be another good one to

keep sharing with others around the World.

Thank You.

Smile!

Are You smiling more now? 

                               Whose smile fills you with Joy?

Let us know in the comments.

P.S. I'd like to leave you with this post from 2016. 

The poem in it by Rumi always seems to remind me of Father's Day which is coming up. 

Information on Resources at this link.

 Gifts for a lifetime.

Don't forget to - Sign up to follow by email.

My 4th Summer of Music starts July 7.

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No cost - just enjoy

Take Care & Bye for NOW!

You be the judge - am I Crazy?

Have a look ...

What does the wind and stress

have in common?

Ok this IS a weird thing to say,

but just wait, think about it - take a moment

Dona Anderson

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Check the Resources page for how to 

get my guided relaxation CD Free - 
offer expires June 30, 2020

It's TIME again to do that important

self check for Stress.

Here goes ... starting with the wind.

You can feel the air moving from the wind but you can’t see it. 

You can only see and feel how it affects other things. 

You can see if there is a soft gentle breeze or not by looking at the leaves on the trees or by noticing how the clouds are moving.  

The wind can shape our landscape, be the force for windmills, and as it changes in strength it can become the warnings for destruction and danger. 

Yes, you love the soft breeze that brings freshness to the air or the scent of spring flowers, and you love the puff that brings a touch of coolness on a hot summer’s day.

But, it can quickly build up into a windstorm warning, a threatening twister and other intense storms. The destruction, personal danger, loss and property damage can be very extensive.

Can You see Stress. 

Take a Breath & rest a moment with this photo message

What does it look like, what color is it?

If you could buy it, you’d for sure be asking for a refund!

If you have too much, you can probably feel & sense it, and we can see how it affects others.

What worries me is that sometimes others don't recognize it as Stress and just call it their crazy busy life until something happens.

As freeing as the photo is, it also lets us know that our life, world can change at any time. 

The day I took this picture the wind felt good, opened me up and sent positive energy my way. 

It let me know things were always changing on top but below the surface it was quiet.  

Unfortunately Stress lives below and on the surface.

It sometimes sneaks in and other times it rudely barges in at the worst times and digs in to make other things that are not going well even worse. 

It seems to like to pile up on other things, I guess it's lonely.

There is a good side. It's our natural response for danger and it can challenge and encourage us to get busy to do or learn something we need to and other times it can feel like a guiding gentle breeze.

It can teach us more about ourselves and how we react to things, and sometimes it pushes us to use that last bit of courage or strength to win the race or make a change.

But, sometimes I envision Stress as a monster, a fire, and feel the effects of a knife in my back or the hammer in my head.  

Sometimes we get nervous and feel the slippery slope, and other times be exhausted or feel the pressure of everyone else's needs, anger or sadness on top of ours.

A few minute search can create a long list of things that Stress impacts from everyday physical symptoms to emotional and behavioral symptoms and everything in between.

In just a few minutes I had over 60 so I stopped looking for more (link to post here)

Stress creates various types of problems and if left unchecked it can affect our health and lives.  

It often takes root in our daily activities and interactions and then grows to impact something else to where it reaches that place where we get warning signals. (like the wind) 

It reminds me of that small nasty weed.

The one you can’t see growing under a bush until it pops out on top saying Hi, Remember Me, and is ready to burst open and happily spread its seeds everywhere.

We can't change the direction of the Wind but if needed we can help turn that Stress Monster back into a gentle breeze!

Stress is getting worse & Worse and the
more we understand about how it affects us
the more we can control, limit & reduce it.

Have you noticed how the word Stress seems to 

be just part of everyday conversations now. (?)

 2020 has added even more stress -

how are You handling it (?)

Thanks for your visit and for
sharing at the links below. 

Together we're spreading

Wellness around the World

Check out ways to Reduce Stress and more HERE

Another of my photo messages.

 So - am I Crazy?

Wow -  you did good if you made it this far,
sorry for the long post.

Bye for now,
we're back here next week.

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Quote from Rumi ~ 

"Life is a balance of holding on and letting go"

Are you struggling with letting go of some things or holding on tightly to others - let us know below in the comments. It's a stressful time of wondering, what to do now & what's next.

                                      

Are You Patient with Yourself?

from  

THE MEDITATION, PEACE

Simply, One Breath At a Time

A Wellness Moment for you today.

Dona Anderson

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another - True Treasures

I know some days it's really hard to be patient and relax with all the to do's and thoughts racing around in our heads. 

So today I'm sharing a few lines from Simply, One Breath At a Time to give you some Wellness Moments to rest, breathe and take care of You.  

The photo below is of an excerpt on page 83, and you'll find the full meditation on pages 124-125 

It begins by offering us time to breathe, relax, connect to our self and answer a few of life's important questions and in the second last paragraph you'll find this ...

Enjoy.

"Celebrate your presence as you encourage the

breath to help you breathe freely...

accept this moment as a special place in time

to connect with yourself and the world ...

feel your life as an evolution ...

an ever changing masterpiece ..."

Resources - ebook available

**Here's how it ends

"Now stay in peace for a 
while longer and find a
place to breathe freely,
a place to be,
be you..."

Simply, One Breath At a Time © 2008 Dona Anderson

The title Peace came from using the first
letter of these words on page 125,
Presence Encouragement Acceptance
Connection & Evolution

Take care and have a wonderful week ...

don' miss future posts - 

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Simply, One Breath At a Time is a unique
collection of 65 Guided Relaxations to
support everyday wellness.

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Check out his link to help you

Relax and find more positive thoughts

The label True Treasures below
will connect you to similar posts.

Christmas IS ...

                   Happy Time
               Sad Time 
               Peaceful time 
               Lonely Time 
               Fun Time 
               Stressful Time

All of these ... and more

I hesitated writing this post as we always want to think about Christmas as a wonderful joyous time of year.

But for many
it's not. 

It's that time of year we're expected to be Happy and be surrounded by our loved ones,  but that's not always how it is. 

I remember years ago at work I'd hear others complain about all the fake smiles, greetings and wishes at this time of year. 

I heard people asking others about all their plans for the time off and who was coming to visit or have a party or supper.

You hear people in cafes and out shopping telling others all about their visitors and going here and there, as if everyone does it.

The stores are full of things
to buy for your list of people.

Then there's the other side. 

Unfortunately the Christmas season can be very lonely, sad, isolating, depressing, stressful, and financially limiting for many.

Yes, I do celebrate ... and I've experienced several of the ones mentioned above.

It can be a sad time for those who have lost loved ones recently or even years ago, are sick, old, in hospital, don't have anyone or family near by to spend the time with. 

There are those who can't afford to buy gifts, have no transportation or access to travel.  

For many, it's that time to put on the brave face, sit in front of the TV, eat lots of cookies and just wish it would hurry up and be over.

You get the idea.

Without taking anything away from your Celebrations - is there a way to help others a bit if you know their story or situation.

I know this isn't an easy task - do you ask questions or listen, do you visit, invite or not ... do you say this or that ... do you ...

We're learning more and more about how loneliness is becoming a health concern, and especially at this time of year.

We're also learning that depression is on the rise, and felt not only by older folks but also it's affecting the younger ages. 

Just putting this out there for 

us to think about.

Thanks & Take Care.

One thing I keep reminding myself is that fake smiles
can turn into real ones, it's ok to accept invitations 

or be the one who goes out to visit, and gratitude

helps open our heart and it's very good for the brain. 

Dona Anderson

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and stay connected in the New Year.

Painting on little bench in photo was done
by one of our best friends years ago.  I love
to show off her art when I can and feel lucky
to have bought lots - miss her.

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WELLNESS made EASY

Keep going towards Your Dream

Dona Anderson

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Direct to You from Me, the Author.

Gifts for a Lifetime!

It's that time of year to start the wish lists.

Breathe Easy 

    
No ending to these resources. 

Lots of Help to Relax & be your best self.

Opportunities for new thinking and adventures

Feel Joy, Freedom, Presence

Easy ways to make You part of your day

Want more info - 
Visit the Resources Page
Visit the Wellwishers Page
Visit the Answers Page

I'm here to HELP.

Direct from Author Sales

Also eBook is available anytime for Simply, One Breath At a Time - check the Resources page & get the eBook no Shipping - or Waiting!

New posts coming each week.

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I wish I had these resources earlier in my Life.

Connect to more posts using the labels below
Simply, Moving Forward, One Rose Cards

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on Facebook

A One Rose message for you.

The breath gives us choice and

 strength, courage and confidence,

 calmness and  healing ...

Info on Resources page 

Read a bit of what others had to say.

We all want Moments for being Calm, Quiet and Still

How to do it is

the problem ...

Help!

Dona Anderson

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Dona's Dream - to send wellness out into the world. 

A One Rose Wellness message for You today.

Messages are from the pages of Simply, One Breath At a Time.

Become calm quiet still

enjoy the beauty of this time,

this place,

this breath ...

Do You have a calm quiet place?

Today, I think of it as the times when there's a balance between the Head & Heart.

The actual place doesn't matter, it's the feeling that matters.

It could be at the ocean or in the grocery store line up.

It could be on the bus or the walking trail.

I find it when I feel present, alert and connected to my life and my breath ...

It could also be called a time, place and breath of Gratitude.

Don't be afraid to be still, to relax...to listen.

Link here to another great message 

Also use the label below One Rose Cards for more.

Thank You for sharing this message to help others!

One Rose Wellness Cards is a set of 105 messages for mini moments of meditation, awareness, inspiration, gratitude or simply a reminder to breathe.

All the messages are from the book, Simply, One Breath At a Time.

Just Breathe

 More on Facebook, Dona Anderson, Roots to Breath

 Info on One Rose Wellness Cards and other resources here.

Love it when you share at the Links below.

Keep Smiling ...

I also share some of my calm places in the pictures I share on the side under Wellness Moments. I change them frequently but you can save them to Pinterest and make yourself a file if you'd like.

What is Relaxation? This photo helps, so... Peaceful.

Don't be like ME - I wasted years 

Get started before it's too late! 

Dona Anderson
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Finding Relaxation ...            

                                         What is relaxation?

Yoga introduced me to Guided Relaxation and Meditation.

At the end of each class we were asked lay down and be still, to breathe and relax our body.  

At first I fell asleep, when I was able to stay awake I was usually restless, replayed conversations, or was reminded of all the things I had to do.  

     Is this relaxation? 
I think I need more practice.

I guess that's why they call this the hardest Yoga pose to do. 

Real relaxation does require practice, patience and it has an intention.

But you don't have to do Yoga or lay down.

It can just be a walk, sitting in the garden, a few minutes in the morning or before bed, a lunch time break, sitting on the bus or waiting for the tea to steep. 

Any time that suits YOU.

There are many styles of Guided Relaxation and it might be like a story that asks you to follow along and notice what's happening as you slowly relax different areas of the body and deepen your breath. 

You may hear words like release, soften let go calm slow feel open allow and breathe.

They may seem like a foreign language.

Or, it may be about focusing on an object, a scent or a visualization. 

Whatever it is, it takes you on an adventure and invites you to follow along, to focus on the breath, an area of your body, a place, a thought, nature or perhaps it's as simple as a smile. 

While you follow along and breathe, you slowly start to let go of all those other thoughts and begin to clear and open the mind. You start to move into the present moment.

What you discover can be a very precious gift. 

I found a time to soften and breathe,

a time to feel comfortable with who you are,  

a time to remove obstacles, release tension 

 and I found a place to notice the difference, to feel it, to be with it.   

The practice opened me up to a place where I had tried to reach before but had never quite made it.

The awareness and benefits you gain can also help you use the breath in your everyday life as a tool to support your wellness.

Whether it is for a quick busy day refresher, when you feel out of balance or in times of stress, you can focus on your breath and watch as it gently relaxes and guides you back to the present moment.

Relaxes and guides

you back to the 

present moment

Even a minute can help separate you from a stress, a worry or a busy time and place. 

You’ll be able to experience the feeling of your breath bringing you back to balance and to peaceful thoughts.  

You may even find an open space in your schedule and in your mind.

Let the breath take you where you need to go!

Do a Search for benefits of Relaxation

You may even want to start a Wellness group at work or with your friends.

Here's some resources to help to get you started.

Check out other posts using the labels below.

Links to share or comment below.

More posts below or in the archives.

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