Tag: Mindfulness

My Abundant Life 1-27-26

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January 27th, 2026

The Daily Dialogue

“I will write myself into well-being.”

Nancy Mair (Author; July 23rd, 1943 ~ December 3rd, 2016)

“I took a spiral notebook and began having a conversation with myself on the paper. Everything I was worried about just pilled out in a rapid stream of consciousness. What I was doing was not so much recording the events in my life as much as eliminating the mental minutiae that was depleting my creative energy and driving me crazy.”

“Groan and forget it.”

Jessamyn West (American Author of short stories and Novels; July 18th, 1902 ~ February 23rd, 1984)

“I call this ritual the daily dialogue because you are really conversing with someone much wiser and saner as you write: your authentic self.”

“Try writing a daily dialogue as an experiment for twenty-one days. That’s the length of time psychologists tell us we need to perform a new behavior before it becomes habitual….Stressed souls need the reassuring rhythm of self-nurturing rituals.”

“Just get down on paper whatever’s hovering on the horizon of your brain disguised as a dull headache.”

“With pencil and paper, I could revise the world.”

Alison Lurie (American Novelist and Academic; September 3rd, 1926 ~ December 3rd, 2020)

“The last few weeks have been frustrating as I learned my salary for the next 5-years in my current contract was not even near the COLA (2.5%) increase annually. What is did for me was give me clarity on my next steps in my career. With this shift, I was able to let go of some of the frustrations in my current workplace. I am still doing complete work, but I am not going above and beyond. This has given me relief in the level of stressors in my work environment. My co-workers are beginning to realize what I was actually doing for the team and what is now left for them to complete without my assistance. I am on a quest to find the perfect fit for my new career chapter. This excites me and I am committed to strive toward this without fear or reservation. I appreciate knowing how much my employer values me so I can find a place and a position where my efforts and contributions will be valued for what they are.”🙏 (Heather Houston 1-27-22)

“My biopsy really zapped my energy. It is not everyday you get a puncture wound the size of a 1/4-thikness of an arrow. Yes, I said an arrow like Robin Hood. I found at the end of he day I felt like I collapsed into bed from the sheer ongoing ache and soreness. I can’t wait until my histology results are complete so I can close this chapter.” (Heather Houston 1-27-26)

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 27-29 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 1-26-26

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January 26th, 2026

Simple Abundance: The Basic Tools

“Take the gentle path.”

George Herbert (Poet, Orator, and Priest of the Church of England; April 3rd, 1593 ~ March 1st, 1633)

“There is no companion so companionable as Solitude.”

Henry David Thoreau (American Naturalist, Essayist, Poet, and Philosopher; July 12th, 1817 ~ May 6th, 1862)

“See if you can’t give yourself the gift of one hour a day to journey within.”

“This much I know: if you go deep enough, often enough, something good is bound to come back to you.”

“I have committed to daily journaling and reflection. I don’t make it a hard fast start stop as I add doses of it throughout my day instead of a concentrated hour. This enables me to feel like I am addressing and being attentive to my own self-care on an ongoing basis throughout my day vs. being a task to check off my list.” (Heather Houston 1-26-26)

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 26-27 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 1-25-26

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January 25th, 2026

Working With What You’ve Got

“If your everyday life seems poor, don’t blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth it’s riches; Because of the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.”

René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (known as: Rainer Maria Rilke) (Austrian Poet and Novelist; December 4th, 1875 ~ December 29th, 1926)

“Up until now many of us have secretly believed that we had to wait until things calmed down a bit before we started to get our acts together. Tomorrow we’ll begin discovering authentic pleasures. Tomorrow we’ll treat ourselves better. Tomorrow we’ll take time to enjoy ourselves. Tomorrow, when everything calms down. This I can report from the front lines: life never calms down long enough for us to wait until tomorrow to start living the lives we deserve. Life is always movement, always change, always unforeseen circumstances.”

“So what are we going to do about it? We can stop waiting for life to become perfect and start working with what we’ve got to make it as satisfying as we can. We can accept, bless, give thanks, and get going. Today, we can begin to call forth the riches from our everyday life. Today we can move from lack to abundance.”

“Think of one thing that would give you a genuine moment of pleasure today and do it.”

“Today, my partner asked what I would like for dinner. I replied, “Crack!” We make a breaded pan fried sole that is to die for. Dinner and pleasure in one go. WINNING!!!”🏆 (Heather Houston 1-25-22)

“Life never calms down enough for us to feel like we are ready to start. Starting in the face of no agreement is being in action in an intentional way. New actions lead to unexpected outcomes. So get out there and do what needs to be done…stop waiting!” (Heather Houston 1-25-26)

“Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that we become rich.”

Sarah Bernhardt (French Stage Actress; 1844 ~ March 26th, 1923)

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 25-26 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 1-24-26

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January 24th, 2026

Blessing Our Circumstances

“Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you…If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it.”

Emmett Fox (Irish New Thought Spiritual Leader; July 30th, 1886 ~ August 13th, 1951)

“After accepting our present circumstances, no matter what they are, we must learn to bless them.”

“…blessing whatever vexes us is the spiritual surrender that can change even troublesome situations for the better. Blessing the circumstances in our lives also teaches us to trust.”

“Then start to count your blessings. Start today. Make a spiritual inventory of all your blessings. See if you can’t get to one hundred….Writing it down focuses our attention on the abundance already within our grasp and makes it real.”

My Gratitude List

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 25 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 1-20-26

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January 20th, 2026

Acres of Diamonds

“Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas; they are in your own backyard, if you but dig for them.”

Russell H. Conwell (American Baptist Minister, Orator, Philanthropist, Lawyer, and Writer; February 15th, 1843 ~ December 6th, 1925)

“…within each of us lies a wellspring of abundance and the seeds of opportunity. For each of us there is a deeply personal dream waiting to be discovered and fulfilled. When we cherish our dreams and then invest love, creative energy, perseverance, and passion in ourselves, we will achieve an authentic success.”

“Where is your acre of diamonds? If you could do anything in the world, what would it be?”

“My acre of diamonds is time spent with the love of my life. Wherever we are together is my acre of diamonds. What I would love to do is have a beach front diner/bar in a tropical location. We would serve only the tequila, mezcal and scotch we love along with a selection of our favorite meals. We would host live music to dance to on a sand floor. Our private residence would be on the property. I would furnish it simply and modestly to focus my energy on the beauty around. We would have a few bungalows on site to offer lodging to visitors or to host guests. My focus would be on creating memories with my partner. In a perfect world, my children and family would visit and vacation at our resort. We would travel and host workshops while podcasting in interesting locations.” (Heather Houston 1-20-22 & 1-20-26)

“We all have an acre of diamonds waiting to be discovered, cherished, and mined. We all have a place from where to begin. Let your imagination soar, for it is your soul’s blueprint for success.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 20-21 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 1-19-26

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January 19th, 2026

Joy: Learning Life’s Lessons with a Light Heart

“I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must someshere rest on pure joy.”

Louise Bogan (American Poet; August 11th, 1897 ~ February 4th, 1970)

“We learn each day how cultivating gratitude tills the soil of our soul and then how the seeds of simplicity and order send their roots down deep into the earth of our everyday existence. As we progress, harmony inspires us with quiet courage to create an authentic life for ourselves and those we love. With patience, beauty blossoms and our hearts experience not only happiness, which is often fleeting, but a wellspring of joy that refreshes and renews. We have found our true place in the world.”

“With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.”

William Wordsworth (English Romantic Poet; April 7th, 1770 ~ April 23rd, 1850)

“Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy. But this requires a profound inner shift in our reality. Many of us unconsciously create dramas in our minds, expecting the worse from a situation only to have our expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Inadvertently, we become authors of our own misfortune. And so we struggle from day to day, from crisis to crisis, bruised and battered by circumstances without realizing that we always have a choice.”

“Oh geez! I am committed to living in the present, even if I struggle with the human tendency to look back and use my “evidence” to support why financial scarcity looms in my life. I do have a choice and I am committed through my daily gratitude practice to see the abundance in my life ongoingly. Access to abundance is a choice that I may fulfill if I allow myself to see it and create it as a possibility.” (Heather Houston 1-19-22)

“Wow has my shift occurred in an unexpected way and it is DIVINE! I see abundance all around me in everything I do everything I see and every possibility I create. BEing is the juice of life with the story on tape playing in your head. It is true freedom and true access to happiness.” (Heather Houston 1-19-26)

“But what if you learned how to stop the dramas and started to trust the flow of life and the goodness of Spirit? What if you began to expect the best from any situation? Isn’t it possible that you could write new chapters in your life with happy endings? For many of us this is such a radical departure from the way we have been behaving that it seems unbelievable. Yet it is possible. Suspend your disbelief. Take a leap of faith. After all, what have you got to lose but misery and lack?”

“Well living in lack and upset is no way to “LIVE”. I will need to be mindful as I have a deeply rooted bad habit. I am committed to living in the present, relishing what I do have and forecasting the best of scenarios for experiences, circumstances, tasks, etc.” (Heather Houston 1-19-22)

“Beingness is a learned skill that I have honed and find it easier to remain in longer and longer throughout the day. A true transformation is possible with intentional effort and attention.” (Heather Houston 1-19-26)

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 19-20 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 1-18-26

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January 18th, 2026

Beauty: Opening Our Eyes to the Beauty That Surrounds Us

“You agree—I’m sure you agree, that beauty is the only thing worth living for.”

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (known as:  Lady Mallowan or Agatha Christie) (English Writer; September 15th, 1890 ~ January 12th, 1976)

“…we learn to be grateful no matter what our circumstances may be. In offering gratitude dor our real lives, we discover how to change them for the better. As we embrace simplicity, we learn that less is truly more. This freedom encourages us to bring order to our affairs and cultivate harmony in our inner world. Going at our own pace, learning to recognize our limitations, appreciating our progress, we weave the lessons into the fabric of our daily moments until they become a part of us.”

“It was as if I had worked for years on the wrong side of a tapestry, learning accurately all its lines and figures, yet always missing its color and sheen.”

Anna Louise Strong (American Journalist and Activist; November 24th, 1885 ~ March 29thm 1970)

“Gazing into my lovers eyes to see his smile envelope his whole being is magical. I always use my best plates and dishes to serve food we create together because we are living right now…there is no other now than the present.” (Heather Houston 1-18-26)

“It is in the details of life that beauty is revealed, sustained, and nurtured.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 18-19 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 1-17-26

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January 17th, 2026

Harmony: Achieving Balance in Our Lives

“The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes—ah, that is where the art resides.”

Artur Schnabel (Austrian-American Classical Pianist, Composer and Pedagogue; April 17th, 1882 ~ August 15th, 1951)

“Harmony is the inner cadence of contentment we feel when the melody of life is in tune. When somehow we’re able to strike the right chord—to balance the expectations of our families and our responsibilities in the world on the one hand with our inner needs for spiritual growth and personal expression on the other.”

“…we often hear only a cacophony of dissonant demands that drown out the symphonies our souls long to compose.”

“Today, just try slowing down. Approach the day as if it were an adagio—a melody played in an easy, graceful manner. Listen to music that soothes and uplifts your spirit. And while you listen, pause to consider how all the individual notes come together harmoniously to give expression to the entire score.”

“I commit to enjoying the music of my life today to add greater harmony to my life.” (Heather Houston 1-17-22)

“This time around I plan to create a new page on my blog called, “My Musical Life” where I will share decade by decade the top 100 songs for each year of my life that I enjoy. This will be a fun way to share with others and remind us all that music is the soundtrack of our life.” (Heather Houston 1-17-26)

“With harmony as your guide, trust that your everyday moments will soon begin to resonate in a rhapsody of fulfillment.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 17-18 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 1-16-26

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January 16th, 2026

A Sense of Order: Cultivating Contentment

“Order is the shape upon which beauty depends.”

Pearl S. Buck (known as: Sai Zhenzhu) (American Writer and Novelist; June 26th, 1892 ~ March 6th, 1973)

“…in happy and fulfilled lives domesticity and spirituality are invisibly but inexorably connected—…”

“We might not be able to control what’s happening externally in our lives but we can learn to look to our own inner resources for a sense of comfort that nurtures and sustains.”

“It’s not the tragedies that kill us, it’s the messes.”

Dorothy Parker (American Poet, Writer, Critic, and Satirist; (August 22nd, 1893 ~ June 7th, 1967)

“No woman can think clearly when constantly surrounded by clutter, chaos, and confusion, no matter who is responsible for it. Begin to think of order not as a strait-jacket of ‘shoulds’ (Make the bed, wash the dishes, take out the garbage) but as a shape—the foundation—for the beautiful new life you are creating.”

“There is a Divine Order—a Sublime Order—inherent in the Universe. We can tap into this powerful source of creative energy when we are willing to gradually cultivate a sense of order as to how we conduct our daily affairs. Invite Divine Order into your life today and a more serene tomorrow will unfold.”

“I have always felt my organizational style is aligned with the Sublime Order of the Universe…instinctual for me.” (Heather Houston 1-16-22)

“I have changed my perspective over the years that the “To Dos” are not work. Instead, they are life and BEing in my life completely means I choose to enjoy all of it!” (Heather Houston 1-16-26)

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 16-17 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.

My Abundant Life 1-15-26

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January 15th, 2026

Simple Gifts: Embracing Simplicity

“Tis a gift to be simple,

Tis a gift to be free,

Tis a gift to come down

Where we ought to be

And when we find ourselves

In the place that’ right

Twill be in the valley

Of love and delight.”

Nineteenth-Century Shaker Hymn

“When we appreciate how much we have, we feel the urge to pare down, get back to basics, and learn what is essential for our happiness. We long to realize what’s really important.”

“Many people believe simplicity implies doing without. On the contrary. True simplicity as a conscious life choice illuminates our lives from within. True simplicity is both buoyant and bountiful, able to liberate depressed spirits from the bondage and burden of extravagance and excess. True simplicity can elevate ordinary moments, dreary lives, and even inanimate objects.”

“…from the mundane to the transcendent.”

“Trust that through the balm of simplicity your frazzled and weary soul can discover the place where you ought to be. Every day offers us simple gifts when we are willing to search our hearts for the place that’s right for each of us.”

“I love simplicity as it is my access to order, which makes my life run more smoothly and peaceful.” (Heather Houston 1-15-22)

“I am committing to the simplicity of only doing or focusing on one thing at one time.” (Heather Houston 1-15-26)

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 16 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.