Happiness.

Matt runs through the meadow at sunrise.

I love this photo for so many reasons. It captures the simple things I love (and need to indulge in to keep me sane) about life: my husband, my dog, running, appreciating the little moments, nature, sunshine, taking photos, going on little adventures, exploring.

The first weekend of November I went to a conference on nonviolence and happiness- an interesting topic, especially one for academics to tackle. At the time I headed off for the conference I was burnt out and depleted, but it was kind of a turn around for me. It refreshed me to be around inspiring educators and to hear people talk about happiness, a topic that in my experience, seems so simple but is so complicated.

In the past couple weeks since the conference, I find myself taking time to be present and breathe deeply more often, and I even look back at my notes and reflect. There were so many gems shared, and here's just one quote that I keep thinking back on: "One does not become happy overnight, but with patient labor day after day. Happiness is constructed, and that requires effort and time. In order to become happy, we have to learn how to change ourselves" (Luca and Francesco Cavalli-Sforza, 2007)...

And I'm working on that every day.