Hello, America!  Let your Stars and Stripes fly free.  After all, it’s your birthday tomorrow!  I found a treasure of an American flag at an estate sale recently.  It is pre-1960’s (before Alaska and Hawaii were added to the union) so it only has 48 stars.  It is woven linen and hand-stitched – I love its character, patina and history.  I thought I would make a welcoming hallway vignette to celebrate the holiday and display the flag!

The flag takes center stage as a backdrop for my other Americana treasures.  An old camera , sunglasses, and a guide book can be picked up on the way out the door for summertime adventures.  Tennis rackets stand ready and beach towels in a French market basket are packed for fun at the beach!

My faux olive basket from Walmart (more to come on those!), with a fresh new fern and fun ampersand pillow, finish the look atop the most American piece of furniture – a black Windsor bench.

Are you decorating for July 4?  I’d love to hear/see what you’ve done.

Today I wanted to share a little piece of “artwork” I created with industrial-looking tin letters I found at Hobby Lobby.  My inspiration was artwork by a great Cleveland artist, Garrett Weider.  He does small Cleveland skyline paintings and larger block letter paintings that you can buy from local coffee shops, the Cle Clothing Co or his Etsy site.

I spotted these industrial looking letters at Hobby Lobby, got them on sale (50% off!), and voila – I had a nice piece for the wall with a shout out to Garrett.  I wanted to fully spell “Cleveland”, which is 9 letters.  I thought the full word would work nicely in a 3×3 vignette.  The hubby helped me of course and used Kraft paper to create a template for the wall, spacing each letter how we wanted and then measuring and marking where the holes would need to be.  Then it was just a matter of holding the paper up to the wall, putting in nails, and hanging the letters.

I chose to hang this artwork on my stair landing and couldn’t be happier with the result.  When you come into the house, this is the main piece that beckons from the stairs and says “hey, these people are from Cleveland, and they like a little industrial edge”.  Ha!  I’m not sure it exactly says that, but I’ll have to interview my guests.  

Have you done any letter art?  I’d love to hear about your projects.

“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s ananda“, sang Mary Pat Saturday morning at Namaste Yoga Studio.  “There is no need for music, we will make our own music in our minds.”, she said with a hearty laugh and proceeded to explain that “ananda” is akin to bliss and there are many forms it can take.

When I think of bliss I first think of happiness, but somehow the feeling of bliss goes beyond pure happiness.  For me it conjures thoughts of an enlightened state of happiness, peace, and joy.  That somehow when you achieve bliss, you’ve achieved everything.  You are complete.  You are whole.  Some say that bliss is a state of “extreme happiness”.  But I would prefer a less “extreme” adjective, perhaps bliss is more “supreme happiness” or, even better, “serene happiness”.

The quote I chose to feature for this post, “Follow your bliss…”, I have always thought was just about career or purpose in life.  But with that yoga class, I realize that it could be more than that.  Can I follow bliss in a yoga class and become more open?  Can I follow bliss by listening to music and feeling more emotions?  Can I follow bliss by traveling, seeing other cultures and in turn valuing all humankind more?  Absolutely!  It applies to everything we do.

“Respond to every call that excites your spirit.”  – Rumi

There is a yoga studio in Cleveland called “Inner Bliss” – how great is that!  This weekend they sponsored a wonderful event at the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame called “Believe in CLE”.  It is essentially an outdoor yoga class and community gathering for hundreds of people and done so on a perfect summer night.  I wasn’t able to attend but I was truly there in spirit, and the sense of community I witnessed through their photos and social media posts connected me to the bliss they achieved that night.

© Cleveland Aerial Media

I started this blog to explore my own joy of living (or “joie de vivre” as I love to hear and say in French) and those things that bring me to a state of happiness and bliss.  I know that what is joy to me may not be joy to others, but I believe it is possible for everyone to achieve.  I am so grateful for where I am and what I have that have allowed me to be open to these experiences.  I hope that you, too, will keep following your bliss and achieve a serene, pure, supreme, and complete happiness that is yours alone.

Many people search their whole lives for an answer to the question, “what is the meaning of life”? Others just live and act on it naturally. Seeking happiness is certainly a part of that quest. But happiness can be elusive, at times dodging us when we seek it most and at other times appearing randomly – when we see a robin outside our window singing about the first signs of spring. I have come to find that happiness is not about some permanent state of existence. I believe it is found in those moments that, when bound together, make up a life – when we see life through the eyes of a child, when we discover a new place in the world, when nature screams its beauty at us. Perhaps all of these experiences, together, equal happiness. And the more moments like this that we recognize and find, the happier we are.

“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.” – Dale Carnegie

Is happiness then a state of mind? There are people in seemingly similar circumstances who have completely different outlooks on life and perhaps dissimilar “happiness quotients”. Of course, we are all individuals and we can’t know the unique experiences and attitudes internalized over the years. But might it be possible to change our minds by seeking actions and experiences that bring us joy? And those who are happier, have just found more of those moments? As Thich Nhat Hanh says “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”

“Inspire Happiness” – Yogi Tea

Maybe happiness isn’t about ourselves at all – I’m convinced that the strongest moments of happiness come from inspiring happiness in others, and that may be the ultimate path to Aristotle’s meaning. Inspiring happiness can be as simple as a kind word – encouragement. Or how about helping someone with a task they can’t do themselves, nurturing someone when they are sick, offering an ear to listen, sending a beautiful bouquet of flowers, remembering their favorites, creating something they enjoy, etc.

When we seek these moments – through gratitude, by creating experiences, by inspiring happiness in others – we change. And through that change comes… happiness.