This morning, as I was trotting around the neighborhood, I was contemplating my quote for the week.  I knew I wanted something about serenity.  Last year I realized that serenity for me is very different from what most people think.  Though the image is usually meditation in a peaceful garden, mine is quite a bit louder.  There is quite a bit of joy and and a thread of laughter in my personal serenity. 

   The dictionary definition is "The state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled: "an oasis of serenity"." (google's definition).   This definition definition definitely has room for joy.  As I crested the first major hill (our neighborhood has only two directions, up or down), I was thinking about the time for serenity.  Tho only answer is now, amidst whatever is going on in life.  

     So often we get caught up in the "I'll be happy when..." syndrome.  Fill in the ellipsis with whatever your current phrase is; when I loose 20 pounds, when the kids are out of the house, whey we have kids, when I have money, whatever.  

    I may never run the 5k of my dreams, but my legs are working a lot better than they were when I began the couch to 5k program on April 30th.  I realized that I had found my serenity in this moment.  It reminded me of this picture I took in 2007.  It's still my neighborhood.  I still got pretty wet that day.  The bush in the foreground still needs to be trimmed.  Wouldn't you rather look at the rainbow?  
    What we look out on determines our outlook.  After I got home from today's run,I found the quote to capture my feeling...

"Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is."

-Thomas Szasz

     (I can't seem to fix the font and size, I think we should call it a feature rather than a flaw) I'm trying something new.  Each week I print my quote and post it on my wall to organize my week.  I've posted it on Google docs.  Click here to open, then Control S to download, or open then click on file and then download in the drop down menu.  Hopefully this will be easier next time... Blessings and have a great week.