Tag: Mindfulness

My Abundant Life 7-5-26

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July 5th, 2026

Cooking Companions

“No one who cooks cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.”

Laurie Colwin (American Writer; June 14th, 1944 to October 24th, 1992)

“I know that young children will wander away from the table, and that family life will never smooth, and that life itself is full…not only of charm and warmth and comfort but of sorrow and tears. But whether we are happy or sad, we must be fed.”

Laurie Colwin (American Writer; June 14th, 1944 to October 24th, 1992)

“Convincing my husband he is a chef has transformed his cooking to epic levels!

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 243 to 245 of 501.

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

My Abundant Life 6-23-26

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June 23rd, 2026

Midsummer Night’s Dreams

“Now is the high-tide of year,

And whatever of life hath ebbed away

Comes flooding back with ripply cheer

Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,

We are happy now, because God wills it.”

James Russell Lowell (Poet & Former United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom; February 22nd, 1819 to August 12th, 1891)

“Life is to be enjoyed, not saddled with…”

Tasha Tudor (American Illustrator & Writer; August 28th, 1915 to June 18th, 2008)

“‘Take joy’ from each day. This is a catechism we should all embrace to experience Heaven on earth.”

1st Commandment of the Stillwater religion

“I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”

Lucy Maud Montgomery (Canadian Author; November 30th, 1874 to April 24th, 1942)

“Learning to BE present has afforded me the capacity to be enlivened by the smallest of pleasures to the same magnitude as something splendid. To BE alive is the magic.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 222 to 224 of 501.

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

My Abundant Life 6-22-26

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June 22nd, 2026

The Gourmet Victory Garden

“It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a home-grown tomato.”

Lewis Grizzard (American Writer; October 20th, 1946 to March 20th, 1994)

“In the 1940s, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered ‘victory gardens’ as part of the war effort. Domestic propaganda exhorted women to remember that ‘waste during war is sabotage,’ and American women answered the patriotic call by growing more than a million tons of vegetables a year—half of what the home front annually consumed—backyard plots.”

“And this emotion of wonder filled me for each vegetable as it was gathered every year. There is nothing that is comparable to it, as satisfactory or as thrilling, as gathering the vegetables one has grown.”

Alice B. Toklas (American Writer; April 30th, 1877 to March 7th, 1967)

“I am so thankful my parents taught me to garden. We grew up poor and our garden is where we felt richest with delicious and nutritious food.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 221 to 222 of 501.

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

My Abundant Life 6-21-26

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June 21st, 2026

Bloom Where You’re Planted

“Bloom where you’re planted.”

Mary Engelbreit (Artist; June 5th, 1952)

“Gardening is one of the rewards of middle age, when one is ready for an impersonal passion, a passion that demands patience, acute awareness of a world outside oneself, and the power to keep on growing through the cold snows, towards those moments of pure joy when all failures are forgotten and the plum tree flowers.”

May Sarton (Belgian-American Novelist & Poet; May 3rd, 1912 to July 16th, 1995)

“Being a late bloomer means that you have the time and the opportunity to revise and revamp if you experiment with life and fall short of your dreams. We late bloomers can risk more because at this point nobody really expects anything spectacular from us anymore. We can reinvent ourselves or give birth to our authentic selves we rediscover and reclaim our essence.”

“As I have tried and failed and tried again, I have discovered that if we are to flourish as creative beings, if we are o grow into Wholeness, we must bloom wherever we are planted. Right now, you might not have the perfect career, home, or relationship. Few of us do. But if you have the gift of today, you’ve got another chance to re-create your circumstances and make them as perfect as it’s possible to do with the resources you have. Today, you get another chance to get it as right as you can make it. What more could you desire?”

“The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want. …And if they can’t find them, make them.”

George Bernard Shaw (Irish Playwright & Critic; July 26th, 1856 to November 2nd, 1950)

“I am so thankful for my experience in professional athletics. I learned these lessons early in my life and was able to reignite them again when I needed as my marriage was predictably failing. I chose to make my circumstances versus waiting for life to happen to me.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 220 to 221 of 501.

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

My Abundant Life 6-20-26

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June 20th, 2026

Onward and Upward in the Garden

“Within your heart, keep one still, secret spot where dreams may go.”

Louise Driscoll (Poet; 1875 to July 16th, 1957)

“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we shall tend. The invisible underbrush holding us back is our own thoughts. When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but on the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure—the wasteland falls away and we experience joy in the real lives we live each day.”

“…don’t forget to tend your interior secret garden, because the seeds that will blossom in outward expression are always first scattered within. Weed out disappointments, frustrations, diminished ambitions, unfulfilled expectations, and anger about what has gone before or what has not yet come. These emotional weeds only choke your creativity. Let an unfettered imagination sow the seeds of possibility in the rich soil of your soul. Then let passion tend the garden with patience and perseverance.”

“When you have a Garden, you have a Future and when you have a Future, you are Alive,”

Frances Hodgson (British-American Novelist & Playwright; November 24th, 1849 to October 29th, 1924)

“The secret garden within each of us needs constant tending and nurturing. It has taken me the first half of my life to understand and implement this…without guilt and as a known truth for my health and happiness.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 218 to 220 of 501.

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

My Abundant Life 6-19-26

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June 19th, 2026

Onward and Upward in the Garden

“Gardening is an instrument of grace.”

May Sarton (Belgian-American Novelist & Poet; May 3rd, 1912 to July 16th, 1995)

“To my mind, there are two types of lady gardeners. There are those extraordinary women who not only know every flower, but know every flower by its Latin name. These women look as beautiful as the flora they nurture, gardening in wide-brimmed straw hats and pearls, trailing chiffon, and wearing Ferragamo shoes. They keep meticulous gardening journals, plt plant placements on graph paper, and never break into a sweat when wielding a trowel and a spade. Katherine White belonged to this gardening genius.”

“‘Grunge’ accurately describes the other group. We are always hot, smelly, and sweaty in the garden, boasting not so much a green thumb as dirty fingernails because we forgot where we put our gardening gloves. We speak of ‘that little yellow flower’ and point.”

“Gardening has become an unexpected instrument of grace, for I’ve discovered hours of inner peace on my knees, digging in the dirt. Here is the one place I don’t think about work or worry about whatever it is that I can’t control. The complete absorption, the sacrament of the present moment I experience when planting or weeding brings exquisite contentment. My mind is stilled and my heart expands. Now I know why the Great Creator intended for women to flourish in a garden. So much for second-guessing the wisdom of Spirit.”

“I miss having a garden. It is something that brings me peace and contentment.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 217 to 218 of 501.

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

My Abundant Life 5-20-26

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May 20th, 2026

The Art of Puttering

“Puttering is really a time to be alone, to dream and to get in touch with yourself…To putter is to discover.”

Alexandria Stoddard (Author & Interior Designer; November 8th, 1941)

“…puttering is a solitary pursuit, to be appreciated with an unhurried pace for maximum metaphysical benefits. The essence of puttering is rearranging…”

“Part of the pleasure of puttering is free association. Think of puttering as a domestic Rorschach test. Instead of interpreting inkblots, we muse on the hidden meaning of personal possessions until we flow on to dreams, choices, risks, pleasures, authentic preferences.”

“‘Creative puttering’ is actually one of my favorite things to do at home. It helps us to become aware of what’s still important to us, what continues to have meaning. This quiet, private act can…bring the different aspects of your life into sharp focus—and identify your needs.”

Alexandria Stoddard (Author & Interior Designer; November 8th, 1941)

“I pretty much putter every season change.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 167 to 169 of 501.

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

My Abundant Life 5-1-26

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May 1st, 2026

“Let all they joy be as the month of May.”

Frances Quarles (English Poet; May 8th, 1592 to September 9th, 1644)

“This month we turn our attention homeward, as we continue to weave simplicity into our daily round while reacquainting ourselves with the transformative power of the third Simple Abundance principle—Order.”

Everyday Epiphanies

“Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.”

Anne de Lenclos (French Writer; November 10th, 1620 to October 17th, 1705)

“We should write an elegy for every day that has slipped through our lives unnoticed and unappreciated. Better still, we should write a song of thanksgiving for all the days that remain.”

“…we’re startled into consciousness by an unforeseen threat to something that we hold dear and have been taking for granted. I call these luminous moments ‘everyday epiphanies,’ because they jar us into a profound awareness of how much we have, and how much we have escaped, and how much there is to be grateful for.”

“Everyday epiphanies encourage us to cherish everything. Today a new sun has risen. Everything lives. Everything can speak to your soul passionately if you will be still enough to listen.”

“You have to count on living every single day in a way you believe will make you feel good about your life, so that if it were over tomorrow, you’d be content.”

Jane Seymour (British Actress; February 15th, 1951)

“Being present for every breath IS the juice of life. Using up all the day and living each day like it is the best party ever is the key! Neil and I have a party everyday…intimate connection, marvelous cocktail, scrumptious dinner and holding hands watching our favorite cooking shows together IS our life juice.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 141 to 142 of 501.

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

My Abundant Life 4-28-26

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April 28th, 2026

The Intuitive Sense

“Intuition is a spiritual faculty, and does not explain, but simply points the way.”

Florence Scovel Shinn (American Artist & Book Illustrator; September 24th, 1871 to October 17th, 1940)

“Intuition has been called our ‘sixth sense’ and is often an ability ascribed to women.”

…believed that the intelligence that “arises out of sex and beauty is intuition.”

D. H. Lawrence (English Novelist & Short Story Writer; September 11th, 1885 to March 2nd, 1930)

…feminine intuition was a result of our “age-long training in human relations.”

Margaret Mead (American Cultural Anthropologist and Author; December 16th, 1901 to November 15th, 1978)

“Intuition is the subliminal sense Spirit endowed us with to maneuver safely through the maze that is real life. Wild animals rely on their intuition to stay alive; we should reply on ours to thrive.”

“It is only by following your deepest instinct that you can lead a rich life and if you let your fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct then your life will be safe, expedient and thin.”

Katharine Butler Hathaway (American Writer; 1890 to 1942)

“One such intuitive signal is the emotional trembling that accompanies creative discovery or warns us not to take an action. Another intuitive message breaks through when we suddenly grasp that to try something new might be delightful; we do so and are surprised by joy. A third intuitive nudge occurs through revelational the inner knowing that helps us arrive at the right place at the right time so that we can be swept away by the benevolent flow of synchronicity that gets us where we’re meant to be as easily as the Universe can arrange it.”

“…one in whom persuasion and belief/Had ripened into faith, and faith become/A passionate intuition.”

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

“I have always had a strong intuitive sense of my experience of the world. It has served me well and I trust it. Combined with my synesthesia, I feel bolstered by my intuition in understanding and navigating my world.”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 135 to 136 of 501.

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

My Abundant Life 4-27-26

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April 27th, 2026

Reach Out and Touch Someone

“O world invisible, we view thee,

O world intangible, we touch thee,

O world unknowable, we know thee.”

Francis Thompson (English Poet; December 16th, 1859 to November 13th, 1907)

“Touch is the first physical sense we experience as strange hands pull us from the dark realm of the soul into the cold, harsh light of earth. After the security and warmth of the womb, frigid air assaults our fragile, naked bodies until we find comfort in our mother’s arms with the sense of touch guiding our first few conscious moments. For many people touch is also the last sense we experience as we depart the world—the squeeze of a loved one’s hand. Sight, smell hearing, and taste have gone before us.”

“The first sense to ignite, touch is often the last to burn out, long after our eyes betray us, our hands remain faithful to the world.”

Frederich Sachs

“We describe our mood swings as ‘feelings’ and when something strikes a deep, sentimental chord in us we say we were ‘touched.’ When we feel alienated, fragmented, and adrift, we often refer to this estrangement as ‘losing touch with reality.'”

“…we all need to be hugged and touched, not just to thrive but to survive.”

“‘sensuist’ (someone who delights in sensory experiences, as opposed to a ‘sensualist,’ someone who is excessively concerned with physical gratification).”

“She seemed a thing that could not feel/The touch of earthly years.”

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

“Let us become women who embrace our portion of earthly years with a passion by delighting in our sense of touch.”

“I am very aware how much touch is a huge part of my aliveness. I need it to remain balanced centered and well. For huge portions of my life I went without touch. Being a mother afforded me more regular dosing, However, choosing my lover and life partner was the pivot into a chronic blissful state that has been unmatched…ever. When a child, I was disconnected from touch as it was not a regular occurrence by my mother. Often perfunctory in nature and performative. My thought is that she experienced less touch as a child too. My dad was much more affectionate, but also metered. I think he knew instinctively he needed touch to remain balanced. Sometimes he would just reach out to hold my hand and at the time, I needed that too. This brings tears to my eyes as I write this…’I miss you dad.'”

–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 134 to 135 of 501.

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