Spring Cleaning

These photos show me doing something purely for the joy of it: climbing boulders in the Fountainbleau Forest, outside of Paris, a few weeks ago.

I started this blog nearly four months ago and have written in it, most weeks, just for the joy of it as well. It’s clear that this project is much more about joy than fear: Doing one thing each day that scares me seems to have the effect of opening me up to what I really long for.

But today, back here in Oregon, a tentative sun shines over a landscape that’s brand-new with spring. I see a crisp blue-and-white sea as I look down from my forest hideaway, and see dark pink buds on the salmonberry bushes lining the mountainside.

The green energy of spring has taken me over, as well. I imagine that it flows like sap through my veins, spurs me on in my projects. As today's "thing that scares me," I set myself the goal of giving away fifty things I don’t need anymore. In one hour-long sweep of closets and cupboards, I find (and then give away) fifty-two.

What I love about letting go of things is that clean, free feeling I have afterward, new and fresh and hopeful as springtime. And that sense of “Aah…. So what do I want to invite into my life instead?”

This has been a major theme, these past few months. As I open myself up to what brings me joy, I realize that the list is long – and that I want to make some choices about where I focus.

I find myself wanting more for this blog, too. I want to write for the joy of it, yes. But I’d like to find a sense of purpose in it as well, to see how it can contribute to the lives of others – to your life.

If you have any thoughts of how that might be possible, please comment below. I’d love to hear.