Bluebirds are Back

Bluebirds are here! It's time to clean out your bluebird boxes so that Mama and Papa Bluebird can choose a house to raise their babies in.

If you want to bluebirds of happiness to nest in your mind, then you have to clean out last year's detritus. Replace regrets and resentments with kindness and patience--toward yourself, of course.

Let those old thoughts come. Tell them "Thank you for coming. I don't need you any more. You can go now." Yes, be kind even toward those negative thoughts that traipse around in your mind.

Notice the quiet incubation of calm.

The bluebirds of happiness will be hatching soon.

Putting the Garden to Bed

On October 1, i gave a talk to a garden club about Putting the Garden to Bed. Seven weeks later, my gardens are indeed put to bed, and almost everything on the check-list is done. Garden hoses put away. Outdoor chairs now sit in the garage. Birdhouses are cleaned out. Most of my vegetable garden beds are mulched with hay.

The gardener topped off the compost bins with manure on her last day. Oh, sigh. The gardener is gone. I miss her already.

The gardens have gone to bed, ready for their long, long sleep. Now that i have an extra hour or two each day, i can get going on some of my writing projects. I can work on de-cluttering the house. Again.

Getting ready for the time when i myself go for the big sleep.

Bluebirds of Happiness

I just returned from a retreat in Virginia where bluebirds were flirting with each other. It's time to clean out your bluebird houses because they will be here sooner than you think.

Bluebird houses should be located in an open field or lawn, preferably not on a tree. Place 2 bluebird houses on fence posts (for example) about 15 feet apart. Sparrows will live in one, but due to defending their territory, the bluebirds can live in the other.

Bluebirds like to perch on high (but it doesn't have to be too high) so they can see what's happening below. The ones i saw perched on the backs of Adirondack chairs, then dove to the ground for a worm or insect.

Bluebirds bring happiness when we see them, but if we really look, we will notice that feeding birds, whatever color they are, and hearing birds sing also brings us the happiness of joy.

Cultivating joy is just that easy: Stop and notice the birds in your life. Stop and feel happiness.