Sometimes, it is easy to focus on deprivation, and think about the things we can't have (or have to have less of) if we are going to reach our goals. Today, I stopped for a moment and thought about the fact that so many of my favourite things have zero calories. So I'll start this thread off with ten of my favourites:

1) Things that smell nice. Fresh pine and balsam fir. Scented candles. Cotton sheets dried on a clothes line. Earl Grey tea. Freshly tilled soil.

2) Light. The lights of my home town coming into view. Christmas lights. The way the sunlight reflects off snow and ice. Moonlight breaking through clouds. The flash of a lightning storm. Firelight, on a winter evening.

3) The ocean. The warmth of a summer beach, and the rage of a winter sea. The beauty of it, the power of it, and the sound of it as the waves come in to shore.

4) Scrabble. So I'm a nerd; my 14 year old son and I played a game this afternoon, and we had a blast. But if word games aren't your cup of tea, any other game that's fun for you. Eye spy. Gin Rummy. Grand Theft Auto.

5) A walk.

6) My gardens.

7) A warm bath. Preferably with bath salts, bubble bath or essential oils (see #1 above).

8) A really good book (or poem, or political cartoon).

9) Hound dogs.

10) My husband.


I grateful for both the trivial and meaningful, and learning not to put so much emphasis on food is helping me to rediscover how much joy can be gained from other things.