You know you’re living your best life when you hear its World Gratitude Day (September 21) and you think, “Hmmm… I’m grateful to be living my best life in my dream home where I have some truly great neighbors.” And then – lo and behold – exactly one week later you hear its National Good Neighbor Day (September 28) and you think, “Cool! Those neighbors I was grateful for last week have a day to remind me just how good they are!”
Peak time for leaf-peeping in North Georgia is still a few weeks away, but with the first official day of Autumn on September 22 (and that hint of chill in the air we’ve enjoyed this past week), Fall Festivals are in full swing, providing a plethora of opportunities to enjoy time outdoors (and maybe a funnel cake!)
We never stop learning, never cease to find innovative ways to improve our health, our homes, our happiness. Since September is Self-Improvement Month, there’s no better time to take action on the habits that will help us become our best selves and enjoy our best lives.
A Windsong Original poem
Fresh-brewed coffee in a great big mug
Its scent envelops me like an aromatic hug
The sunrise through the windows gives my heart a tug
I have so many reasons to smile.
Wide, welcoming courtyard entices me outside
Blooms on every one of the new plants I’ve tried
I take in their beauty and happily sigh
I have so many reasons to smile.
At our hearts, we are all visionaries – those who plan for their futures with a combination of imagination and wisdom acquired through a variety of life experiences.
But it’s hard to live the life you’ve envisioned when your eyesight is blurry. You’ve imagined your future, made wise decisions, bought the home of your dreams. But maybe it’s a little harder to read that novel for book club; it’s frustrating to travel, especially at night; or to see the stage at a concert or focus on the screen at a theater.
We use our eyes daily, so it’s no wonder they wear out a bit over time. But keeping regular appointments with your eyecare professional is essential to maintaining your visionary status throughout your lifetime.
Every generation has its share of trends. We’ve had trends in music, cars, fashion, movie themes. Even our palates seem to enjoy trends, with certain styles of restaurants, recipes, and diets coming into and out of vogue.
A trend is defined as a general direction in which something is developing or changing. Often, we see trends become classics (an item or experience judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality or most outstanding of its kind).
It stands to reason that some trends would become classics. (Coca-Cola® comes to mind. The original is now classic.)
In home-buying, trends are set by a variety of things, including entertainment, magazines, and “reality” television programs, to name a few. And many of these trends, in turn, have the staying power to become classics.
It’s hot. And then we seem to have a pop-up thunderstorm in the region every night. Welcome to August!
Thankfully, as we wind down the Dog Days of Summer, there’s relief in sight, in the form of the Perseid Meteor Showers (peak viewing is this weekend.
Watching stars is just one way to prepare for National Relaxation Day (August 15). And since embracing the Active Adult Lifestyle is sometimes harder than you think it will be, here are some more suggestions:
All of us could stand to simplify our lives just a little bit. In fact, when you read the headline, you probably immediately thought of an area of your life that seems a bit too overwhelming, complicated, or just “messy.”
National Simplify Your Life Week is observed the first full week of August each year, and helps you focus on something that has been nagging at you, such as:
A Boomer Poem, inspired by A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky, by Lewis Carroll
Scorching pavement beneath a sunny sky
Sipping lemonade on a shady porch
One afternoon in late July.
“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.” ~Carl R. Rogers
As this post is being penned, much of north Georgia is in a tug-of-war between scorching temperatures by day and thunderstorms by night. We may celebrate the rain and curse the heat, but the truth is that both are part of life these days, parts of the four-season climate we are fortunate to have.