Embracing My Joy

With the traveling I’m doing lately, I’m finding my running to be an adventure I wasn’t quite expecting. I have new paths wherever I go, and surprise I never know what’s around the next corner. I’ve experienced changes of seasons and crazy animal exploits. One of my favorites being eight wild turkeys crossing an intersection at a crosswalk in Spokane, Washington! I’ve run in the mountains, the high desert, by lakes, rivers, and streams. I’ve run through farmlands and around wheat fields. I’ve run in big cities, small towns, through a number of city parks, and down quiet country roads. I’ve run the flats and I’ve run the hills. And through it all, I have embraced the beauty of whatever surrounds me.

I started posting photo collages of areas I'm running on Instagram when we began our traveling lifestyle 2.5 years ago. It wasn't until I happened to look back over a year of my Instagram running posts that I realized I had captured something very special to me. In that moment, I'm running the area all over again. I can feel the heat of the day or the chill of the morning, hear the sounds around me or the quiet engulf me - and I always feel the joy of where I was. Feeling that joy inspires me to take the time to embrace the beauty and find the joy each day in whatever I may be doing.

Have you taken a new path and surprised yourself lately? Have you stopped long enough to embrace the beauty around you? What's your joy? If you're having trouble answering these questions, take a walk, feel the day, click a few photos of what you find to be funny, beautiful, or amazing. I guarantee these clicks will help you find and embrace your joy.

Michelle

For those of you not on Instagram, if you click through the Instagram logo in the side column you'll see my running collages. Enjoy!

A Boulder Colorado Run courtesy of damclark photos

Now on Goodreads

 The right book in the right hands at the right time can change your world.

Goodreads

This just in: It Is What It Is now listed on Goodreads.

If you haven’t heard of Goodreads previously, here’s the scoop:

• It’s the world’s largest website for readers and book recommendations with over 80 million members!
• You can list and rate books you’ve read, join in conversations about books, ask authors questions, and on, and on.
• As you build your very own library of past books and ratings, Goodreads suggests books for you based on your preferences.
• Goodreads also makes it easy for you to add comments on all the books you have read.

Since my book It Is What It Is is self published, it's up to readers to rate/comment so others may benefit from what it has to offer. More comments about a book will raise its ranking and become more visible to other readers. With that in mind, I've updated this website to include a Goodreads badge link in the sidebar and on the Book Buzz page.

Here, give it a click and see what all the fuss at Goodreads is about!

Michelle

Goodreads badge photo courtesy of Goodreads

Take a Book, Share a Book

This Little Free Library Tucson, Arizona location was within a garden just off the street. It even included free greeting cards and bookmarks!

I feel joy and a sense of excitement every time I give a copy of my book It Is What It Is to local libraries as we travel. I imagine someone picking out the book, reading it, and finding a connection to my words - finding inspiration that guides them to be the best they can be by leaning in to the circumstances of their life.

Something I’ve been doing the last few months as we travel from place to place is searching out Little Free Libraries to donate a copy of my book to. Having seen these neighborhood book exchange boxes over the years I have never actually used them. With the full time travel I’m doing now, I’m finding these wonderful free libraries as a great way to not only share a brand-new copy of my book, but to also take a book I may be interested in reading. Once I’ve read the borrowed book, it generally ends up in a different little library in a different city and sometimes a different state. In that way, these mini book depositories are kept fresh with new reading material.

Little Free Library is a registered nonprofit organization that inspires a love of reading, builds community, and sparks creativity by fostering neighborhood book exchanges around the world. Currently, there are over 75,000 registered libraries in 88 countries around the world!

Perhaps you’ve seen these dollhouse-like little libraries showing up in neighborhoods near you over the last few years. If you haven’t, I’m hoping this article will inspire you to either search out your nearest Little Free Libraries or install one in front of your home. Their website gives you the scoop on locations as well as plans and directions for building your own book sharing box - and you can even purchase kits directly from them for you to customize. I’ve seen some really fun little libraries, with some locations even offering a bench to sit on.

While I enjoy sharing It Is What It Is, you can help me by taking a book and sharing my book at your nearest Little Free Library.

Sharing the love one book at a time.

Michelle

Little library photos courtesy of damclark’s