{"id":1967,"date":"2019-03-22T03:50:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T07:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1967"},"modified":"2019-04-05T02:10:46","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T06:10:46","slug":"week-336-to-life-happy-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1967","title":{"rendered":"Week #236 – To Life! (Happy Spring!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I-40 West at Sunset (photo credit: Grace Church)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Week #236 – To Life! \u00a0(Happy Spring!)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to welcoming Spring this week, James and I are celebrating three years since our somewhat abrupt move to Los Angeles. And so, as I do from time to time — I’m looking back to see what was on my mind, and what I can learn from myself three years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here’s a repost from Week #80<\/a>…I hope it speaks to you the same way it is speaking to me this week. Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Repost: Week #80 <\/a>– To Life! (Happy Spring!)]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As many of you know, I spent the last three weeks packing, driving across the country, and moving into my new apartment in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a fast move.  And it’s been disorienting to say the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is usually a very grounded time for me…vernal equinox, full moon, end of the first quarter…has been nothing short of tumultuous.  In addition to the physical disruption of moving, I have had to grieve the losses of a location, jobs, people, and neighborhood pets I loved — and in the separation from those places and venture into new experiences, re-grieve the loss of my brother all over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every day on our drive across the country there was yet another moment of wanting to text, to call, to share a story, to laugh at some ridiculousness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And every day we were faced with the enormity of the void.  The eternal void.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was enough to make me want to turn around and go back home.  Put everything right back where it was…and stay in the bubble that he left behind.  Because as empty as it is — or was — at least it was his!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as I ventured west, there was an uncomfortable openness.<\/strong>  Not just in the physical terrain — which was amazing.  But in unanswered questions.  Endless scenarios about how this will all play out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet one thing remained the same…I couldn’t go back.  I had only one direction to go…and that was absolutely and undeniably forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an old saying that life is for the living.<\/strong>  This is hard for grieving people — because while the resolve is there, it is our nature to want to hold on to the person (or pet or job or house) we lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we enter into Spring — and a whole new quarter — I’m resolved (updated to add: again!) <\/em>to let go of things.  I’ll be starting with physical things as I move in and continue to clean and declutter my new space.  But there are emotional and psychological things to purge, as well.  And I’ll be working on them, too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: CELEBRATE SPRING!  <\/strong>Whatever dust may have collected over your things, your body, or your being — shake it off this week with some spring cleaning.  Open the blinds, open your heart, and open your grip on the things you are clinging to.  Try some new things out for size.  Shake up your routine.  Get out of your comfort zone.  Ungrounded can be uncomfortable — but LIFE sometimes needs a little time and space in order for it to take root!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TO LIFE!!!  TO LOVE!!!  TO HAPPYNESS!!!  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Spring!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spread Happyness – share your favorite Spring Cleaning strategies in the comments!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3\/22\/19 by Grace Church
\u00a9 Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week #236 – To Life! \u00a0(Happy Spring!) In addition to welcoming Spring this week, James and I are celebrating three years since our somewhat abrupt move to Los Angeles. And so, as I do from time to time — I’m looking back to see what was on my mind, and what I can learn from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1967"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1984,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967\/revisions\/1984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}