Would you like to boost your confidence, self-worth, & emotional resilience? Every week I share tips on how to cultivate lasting personal growth, sprinkled with fun, creativity, and spontaneity in my weekly newsletter: The Ponderings of a Feral Housewife.
Spring’s blooming—are you stopping to smell the flowers? 🌸 (if not, let's fix that)
Master your emotions with confidenceThe ponderings of a Feral HousewifeIssue #66 || April 25th, 2025 || Previous issues Hey Reader, Wow! Can you believe it's the last Friday of April? Spring is popping (at least in NY). How many varieties of trees and flowers have you seen blooming? I've seen Cherry trees, Pear trees, Magnolias, and today tulips! Have you stopped 🛑 (not paused) to admire them? Have you stepped up and leaned in to see, smell, and touch the petals, leaves, and trunks? 👀 Have you noticed colors? Smells? Shapes? Texture? HINT: immersing yourself in nature is an excellent way to keep your sanity in this insane world 🤪. Why not combine a hobby with your nature excursions? You can sketch, paint, or take pictures of what you see. You can bring a notebook and pen and journal, write poetry, or jot down a short story. Another great idea: try reading or studying next to a stream—its gentle flow has a relaxing frequency that soothes the soul. I plan on doing a lot of that in the upcoming months. You're only limited by your imagination! Oh wait... You're also limited by your busy life. And here I will leave you to consider...if your life is SO BUSY you don't have time to spend in nature, what kind of a life is it? Immersing yourself in nature accomplishes 3 important things(1) It connects you to your creator Consider that we hang paintings in museums to be admired, studied, and to give accolades to the artist 🧑🎨. Here's a truth for me: spending too much time in the 'reality of the current world' can easily talk me out of a God. But NATURE! When I walk through nature, I cannot talk myself out of a God. Walking or hiking through the beautiful scenery of the Hudson Valley convinces me that there's a God who cares about us, and he's got an amazing personality! Cut ties with your guilt and schedule nature time—God didn't create this wondrous world, chock full of sights and lessons, for us to sit inside buildings all day!!! (2) It connects you to yourself Everyone wants to feel more at peace. But you won't find peace watching the news, gossiping at the coffee shop, or working long hours at a job. Peace is found through the forgetting of self while breathing fresh air in the presence of nature. It's slow pace and quiet vibe help you reflect on what truly matters. Some of the hikes we do are a bit more challenging and require grit, energy, and focus. These hikes ground you in the moment—which is great for the mind and releasing tension. Not to mention, it's excellent exercise. (3) It connects you to others I don't hike or spend time in nature for this explicit reason, but I cannot live without my walking/hiking buddies 😀. Although I often see men and women hiking alone, I'm not so adventurous. I prefer to have a buddy or two for safety reasons. Peaceful, meandering walks or challenging hikes are some of the best things you can do to bond with someone. Imagine if everyone were calm and respectful, in awe of nature's beauty? An action question for youWhat’s one small way you can intentionally spend 15 minutes this week to connect with nature? A park bench? A backyard tree? A neighbor's garden? A flower patch? Sky gazing? City or not, nature is everywhere! Even if you're limited in mobility, you can find small opportunities to immerse yourself. The Book of CreationWhat stories (lessons) is the earth sharing with us? Resilience? Change? (Some good, some bad) A nudge to pay attention? That it needs more TLC? This year, my mom's Japanese Cherry Tree isn't buzzing with bees 🐝. There's no bee symphony for me to enjoy 😱 just a few lone buzzers. (This can't be good. What happened to all the bees??? 😭) (Curious about bees? My Beautiful bee barf newsletter shares a few more lessons about them). In Summary-Can you name what's blooming in your area? Need help identifying what you see in nature (like I do)? Apps like PictureThis for plants 🌱, Rock Identifier 🪨, or Cloud Identifier ⛅ (yep that's a thing)— make you a nature detective! 🔍 -Ditch the guilt and carve out time to explore God's playground. That may mean letting go of "important" activities, but why would a Creator build this epic playground and expect us to ignore it? -What stories do you think the earth is telling us? Hit reply and share! Until our next feral, fun, Friday adventure 🌺, Anna https://linktr.ee/aferalhousewife |
Master Your Emotions with Confidence
Would you like to boost your confidence, self-worth, & emotional resilience? Every week I share tips on how to cultivate lasting personal growth, sprinkled with fun, creativity, and spontaneity in my weekly newsletter: The Ponderings of a Feral Housewife.
Master your emotions with confidence The ponderings of a Feral Housewife Issue # 73 || June 20, 2025 || Previous issues Hey Reader, Everyone wants to be successful. At something. But what does success mean to you? The truth about success Success is a measuring stick, but you get to choose the stick. What are you measuring? Whose standards are you using? Where did those standards come from? The truth is, you get to define what success looks like for you. But failure? That's often easier to...
Master your emotions with confidence The ponderings of a Feral Housewife Issue # 73 || June 13, 2025 || Previous issues Hey Reader, Summer is around the corner. (Next Friday officially). This is MY SEASON! Sunshine, warmth, time outdoors, ice cream, and soon THE BEACH! ⛱ I LOVE sitting outside and seeking peace and stillness despite living in a world of bustling traffic, cackling chickens, and kamikaze bugs 🦟. 🌞The warm sun says, 'I love you'. 💨The cool breeze says 'I'm here, when you need...
Master your emotions with confidence The ponderings of a Feral Housewife Issue # 72 || June 6, 2025 || Previous issues Hey Reader, Ready for a little fun and nonsense today? I hope you enjoy this little creative diversion. The following is based on a journal entry I wrote on March 29th, just for fun 😁. Welcome to nonsense Once you see it, you can't unsee it. It has built an obstacle course around my ceiling fan. I get the feeling I've been spied on for months. Probably a whole season. I was...