{"id":869,"date":"2016-03-25T06:50:26","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T10:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=869"},"modified":"2016-03-25T19:30:21","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T23:30:21","slug":"week-80-to-life-happy-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=869","title":{"rendered":"Week #80 – To Life! (Happy Spring!)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""To<\/a>

“To Life!” (photo credit: Grace Church)<\/p><\/div>\n

Week #80 – To Life! \u00a0(Happy Spring!)<\/strong><\/p>\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

It was a fast move. \u00a0And it’s been disorienting to say the least.<\/p>\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. \u00a0In 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

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

And every day we were faced with the enormity of the void. \u00a0The eternal void.<\/p>\n

It was enough to make me want to turn around and go back home. \u00a0Put everything right back where it was…and stay in the bubble that he left behind. \u00a0Because as empty as it is — or was — at least it was his!<\/p>\n

And as I ventured west, there was an uncomfortable openness.<\/strong> \u00a0Not just in the physical terrain — which was amazing. \u00a0But in unanswered questions. \u00a0Endless scenarios about how this will all play out.<\/p>\n

And yet one thing remained the same…I couldn’t go back. \u00a0I had only one direction to go…and that was absolutely and undeniably forward.<\/p>\n

There is an old saying that life is for the living.<\/strong> \u00a0This 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

As we enter into Spring — and a whole new quarter — I’m resolved to let go of things. \u00a0I’ll be starting with physical things as I move in and continue to clean and declutter my new space. \u00a0But there are emotional and psychological things to purge, as well. \u00a0And I’ll be working on them, too!<\/span><\/p>\n

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: CELEBRATE SPRING! \u00a0<\/strong>Whatever dust may have collected over\u00a0your things, your body, or your being — shake it off this week with some spring cleaning. \u00a0Open the blinds, open your heart, and open your grip on the things you are clinging to. \u00a0Try some new things out for size. \u00a0Shake up your routine. \u00a0Get out of your comfort zone. \u00a0Ungrounded can be uncomfortable — but LIFE sometimes needs a little time and space in order for it to take root!<\/p>\n

TO LIFE!!! \u00a0TO LOVE!!! \u00a0TO HAPPYNESS!!! \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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

3\/25\/16 by Grace Church
\n<\/em>\u00a9 Grace Church
\ngrace@spreadhappyness.com<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week #80 – To Life! \u00a0(Happy Spring!) 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. It was a fast move. \u00a0And it’s been disorienting to say the least. What is usually a very grounded time for me…vernal equinox, […]<\/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-869","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\/869","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=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}