Laurie's Journal

  The Audacity of Joy: Why I’m Choosing Happiness (and Why You Can Bite Me) Let’s get one thing straight: if you are waiting for the world to hand you a “Happiness Participation Trophy,” you are going to be waiting until the sun expands and swallows the Earth. The news is a dumpster fire, my coffee machine is making a sound like a haunted chainsaw, and I’m pretty sure the guy in the lane next to me just used a gesture that definitely wasn't a "peace sign." If I relied on external circumstances to dictate my mood, I’d be curled in a fetal position under my desk, surviving exclusively on dust bunnies and spite. Instead? I’m choosing to be happy. Cue the collective eye-roll. The "Must Be Nice" Brigade I know what you’re thinking. I can hear the cynical sighs from here. There’s always that one person—let’s call him "Debbie-Downer-Dave"—who hears the word "joy" and reacts like you just suggested he eat a bowl of rusted nails. "Must be nice to...

  Finding the Calm: Miracles and Blessings Amidst the Storm We often think of miracles as parting seas or sudden flashes of light—grand, cinematic events that change the course of history. But when the sky turns gray and the winds pick up, we learn that the most profound miracles are often much quieter. When a storm hits (whether it’s a literal hurricane or the metaphorical tempests of life), our first instinct is to batten down the hatches and hide. Yet, it’s in that very vulnerability that we often witness the extraordinary. The Miracle of Connection In the modern world, we’re often "connected" but deeply isolated. A storm has a strange way of reversing that. The Shared Struggle: There is a unique blessing in the way a neighborhood wakes up after a storm. Suddenly, fences don't matter. Everyone is outside with a chainsaw or a rake, checking on the elderly couple down the street or sharing a generator. The Unplugged Moment: When the power goes out, the "miracle...

  The Pink Ribbon Policy: Choosing Joy Over Bitterness We’ve all had that "glass-shattering" moment—the second you realize a story you’ve believed about your life, your family, or your identity was actually a carefully constructed fiction. Discovering that things aren't what they seem is a universal human experience, but the real challenge isn’t the discovery itself. It’s how you choose to walk away from the wreckage. Do you let the false narrative define your future, or do you decide to love your life in spite of the lies? The Goodman Brown Trap In my late teens and early 20s, I encountered Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown . If you missed that day in lit class, here’s the gist: A young man leaves his wife, Faith, to run an errand in a dark forest. While there, he witnesses a nightmare: his pious neighbors and even his beloved Faith are participating in a dark, sinful ceremony. As he sees his wife’s pink ribbon flutter down from the sky, he cries out, “My Faith i...

  The Mirror Check: Flipping the Script on a Bad Attitude We’ve all been there. That heavy, prickly cloud follows you from the kitchen to the office, and suddenly every minor inconvenience feels like a personal attack from the universe. Maybe you snapped at a colleague, gave a loved one the cold shoulder, or just exuded a "don’t talk to me" energy that could freeze a radiator. It happens. But here’s the truth: A bad attitude is like driving with the parking brake on. You’re working twice as hard to go half as far, and you’re burning yourself out in the process. If you’ve recently had a "low-vibe" season, don't wallow in the guilt. Instead, let's talk about how to take a daily inventory and come back better than ever. 1. The Daily Inventory: Owning Your Part It’s easy to blame our mood on a bad night's sleep, a looming deadline, or a rude stranger. While those things are real, they are often just the triggers . The attitude is how we choose to process t...

The Great Thaw: Clearing Space in the Heart There is a specific kind of magic that happens in March. It’s in the sound of eaves dripping as ice finally loses its grip and the sight of that first, stubborn bit of green pushing through a patch of frozen mud. We call it "The Thaw." It’s messy, it’s a bit muddy, but it’s the only way to get to the flowers. But as we open our windows to let the crisp air in, we have to ask ourselves: What is still frozen inside of us? Most of us are carrying a "straggler" from a previous season—that person or group who harmed us, let us down, or left us cold. We carry the weight of that resentment like a heavy winter coat we’ve forgotten to take off, even though the sun is finally out. This month, let’s commit to an emotional thaw. Forgiveness is often misunderstood as a "hall pass" for bad behavior, but in reality, it’s a gift you give yourself. To forgive is to simply acknowledge that you are tired of carrying the cold. Forgi...