happiness

“And The Down Day Has Passed!”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

And just like that, my “down day” has passed!

After a good night’s sleep I woke up this morning feeling like my old self!

Funny how those moods sneak up on us without warning, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned is not to get too upset with them or let them stress me out. They come for a reason and sometimes it’s best not to fight them, but to surrender to them until they’ve passed.

And that’s what I did yesterday.

I’m grateful for that day yesterday and as I always told my children: “It won’t be like this forever, just for today.”

And I was right.

Here’s to the down days, the up days, the good days and the bad. Here’s to every single day that we can experience life and all that comes with it. Here’s to being grateful for all of it.

As I stepped out of my back door to go to work I had to stop and take a deep breath! The smell of the salt air was so strong and smelled so wonderful that I took a drive down to the beach. The skies were stormy and the seas were rough but still an absolutely beautiful sight to see.

I’m grateful for feeling better this morning and I’m grateful for this magical place that brings me so much joy: the beach.

Thank you for all your support during my “down day.” I appreciate it and your comments helped me through.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

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“Restless Soul Syndrome”

/ Anne Dennish / 4 Comments

I’ve got “restless soul syndrome” again. It could be that I’ve been sitting in this “comfort zone” for too long knowing that it isn’t actually all that comfortable! Or it could be that I’ve been sitting in the same “box” for so long that I need to step out of it!In other words, I need a change. A change of scenery, a change of heart, a change of perspective. In any case, it’s a change of some sort I’m sure.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not unhappy but I do feel restless, and I’m working on stepping out of my comfort zone and out of the box!I’ve been working hard on my novel, which I hope to have released by early spring and I can’t begin to tell you how incredibly happy I feel when I’m writing. It’s a feeling of pure joy for me and this new book is one completely different from all the others I wrote before. I’m hoping for the best for this “baby” of mine. I actually wrote this novel 17 years ago and have procrastinated long enough in rewriting it. The story needed an update and that’s what I’ve been doing. My intention is to have it in the hands of the publisher by March and on the market by spring.

I’m hoping this book brings exciting changes in my life, ones that I’ve wanted for a long time, but I’m doing more than “hoping” and “working” on it.I’m allowing myself to “see it, believe it and achieve it.”

Sometimes “restless soul syndrome” comes around to “shake you up and wake you up!”

I believe that it’s helping me finish the book. It’s helping me see it as I picture it to be, helping me to believe in the changes it will bring, and helping me do what it takes to achieve it.

And for that, I’m grateful.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“On Finding Joy In The Simple Things”

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It’s a cloudy, dreary Sunday here at the Jersey Shore and it’s the perfect day to make some gravy (or sauce) with sausage and meatballs. I gathered all of my ingredients early this morning, chopped some garlic, made my meatballs and sausage and turned on the soundtrack from the movie “Under The Tuscan Sun.” Life is good.

Cooking gravy (or sauce) is very therapeutic for me. It’s the process of putting the perfect combination of spices together, the constant stirring and taste testing to get it just right.

While I find this therapeutic, I realized that this brings me “joy,” and as I wrote years ago: “Joy is the elevated state of happiness.” Such a simple task of cooking yet one that truly brings me joy. 

So here I am today working on writing my next book and stirring my gravy (sauce) every so often. It’s the perfect combination of two things that bring me great joy.

What brings you joy? 

I find that sometimes it’s the simplest and smallest of things that bring us the most joy.

My wish for you is that you find joy in your life.

I often find it in mine.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“Do Life Happy!”

/ Anne Dennish

“Do life happy.”

Happiness is one of the best emotions in the world and in the last few days I’ve been on Cloud Nine, and I have to say, all this happiness is making me tired but I’m sleeping better than I ever have before. I find myself dancing in the kitchen while I’m cooking and cleaning, I’m singing out loud to the song on the radio while I’m driving and I’m smiling and laughing like never before. It’s so much more than happiness, I’m feeling “joy.” And I’m “doing life happy!”

So how am I doing it?

On January 1st, 2019, I made a decision to work on learning to let things go. I’ve always tried to do this but this year I am making a conscience effort to stay out of situations that aren’t my problem and truly let it go. There’s been moments I want to get involved to help, but now I remind myself that it’s not my problem, it’s someone else’s and truth be told, if I fix their problem they’ll never be able to learn the lesson they were supposed to.

I’ll always be there for anyone who needs me, whether it’s my advice, my shoulder to cry on or simply my ear to listen, yet I’m understanding more than ever that all of that is as is should be; fixing the problem for them isn’t as it should be.

We all have life lessons to learn, be it your children, family, friends or significant other, and when we interfere with their free will to handle their situation in their own way we’ve taken away their right to learn from it. We’ve allowed the negativity and toxicity of their situation to affect us as well. And that won’t serve anyone well.

Life would be so much easier if someone else fixed our problems, healed our hearts, and told us what to do to live a happy life, yet that’s not how life works, nor should it. We need to learn how to fix our problems, how to heal our hearts, and learn to know what we need to do (or not do) to be happy. We need to learn our life lessons so that we can live the best and happiest life possible.

We all have a choice to be happy or not, to face our demons and problems or not, and to learn from them…or not. I’m a person who decided to make those choices for my Highest Good. I decided to learn how to be happy; I decided to face those demons along the journey of my life; and I decided that all things happen for a reason and that I would take those lessons and learn from them. And the bottom line is this: we all need to learn to love ourselves and truly believe that we deserve all good things.

I’m here for anyone who needs me. If you need my shoulder to cry on, you got it. If you need an ear to tell your problems to, I’m listening. If you need to know how I handled my difficult situations in life and how I got through them, I’ll tell you. And if you just need to know you’re not alone, I’ll tell you that you’re not…because I’m here to love you through it and be there for you.

I’m still the same person I’ve always been and still working on growing into the best sense of self I can possibly be, and in order to do that I’ve learned that I  have to learn to let things go.

And it’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

do life happy use this

“And So It Begins…”

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dreams
Today is the first day of another dream coming true: it’s the first day of writing my next book! And I can’t wait to get started and spend my days writing and editing until that very last page is written…it’s a process I absolutely love and one I’ve waited too long to get back into.
 
I spent the weekend organizing hundreds of index cards with notes on them about stories to be written, went through a few notebooks of thoughts written randomly throughout the pages, and cleared my space to focus on my writing. I could have started writing over the weekend but I wanted to wait until I had everything in place…and it’s in place now.
 
Writing is like breathing to me; it’s something I have to be doing or else I feel lost.
 
Writing is my passion and brings me so much joy; a day without writing feels a bit sad to me.
 
And writing is my life purpose, or should I say, “what” I write is my life purpose.
 
So here I go, my friends, onto the next adventure, the next book, the next chapter in my life, the next dream I want to become a reality.
 
Ready, set, go!
 
And so it begins…
 
And it’s a good thing! 
 
Wishing you love and light,
 
~Anne Dennish~
 

“Feel, Deal and Heal”

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I’ve gone through my share of, what most may say, are traumatic experiences: divorce, cancer, and abuse, to name a few. When I share these experiences publicly many people ask me how I’m still standing, how in the world did I become so positive after so many negative things happened to me.

My answer is always the same: Because I chose to get through and I’m standing even stronger.

And how is that possible?

Because I knew I had to feel all the emotions that came with those “traumas” and deal with them; and that’s how I was able to heal.

No one wants to feel hurt, sadness or brokenness, yet we all do at some point in our life. Many people block those emotions; they tuck them away and believe that they moved on from them. I can tell you that they didn’t. Ignoring what you have to face is lying to yourself and eventually all those emotions you didn’t deal with will catch up with you at some point in your life. They always do.

And when they do catch up with you those around you pay the price for it as well.

Don’t you want to feel happy? Don’t you want to find joy in your life? Don’t you want to let go of an experience that caused you pain?

Sure you do…we all do.

So do it. Take a long look in the mirror at yourself and let your truth come through. Take that experience and all the pain that came with it and deal with it. Feel the pain, the heartache and let the healing waters of your tears flow to release it all. Then forgive the experience so you no longer hold onto it and then forgive yourself for allowing it to hold you back from the happiness you want and deserve.

You can run from those traumatic experiences but trust me, you can’t hide from them until you deal with them.

Feel, deal and heal, my friends.

It’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~

feel the emotions 2

“If You Want…”

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dont expect

If you want love you have to love.

If you want honesty you have to be truthful.

If you want loyalty you have to be loyal.

If you want happiness you have to be happy.

If you want compassion you have to be compassionate.

And if you want kindness you have to be kind.

We all want the people in our life to be these things but in order to have that YOU have to be those things because it all begins with YOU!

“Don’t expect from others what they can’t expect from you.”

Remember that.

It’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“My Family…Together Again”

/ Anne Dennish

Two of my five children live at home, so there are moments I feel the pang of the “empty nest” syndrome. I’ve gotten used to my three oldest living across the country, only seeing them every year or two, so I don’t feel that pain of missing them all living home very often. They’ve been living out of my home for years now and I’m used to my two youngest being the only ones living with me.

Yet yesterday things felt like the old days and I was reminded of just how much I miss having a house filled with five children.

My oldest flew in yesterday morning from the West Coast and it must have been close to family2two years since I’ve seen him. He brought home his beautiful girl for all of us to meet and she was amazing! We all fell in love with her instantly and I’d like to believe that she felt the same about us.

I raced to the airport early in the morning to pick them both up and the tears fell as I saw him. They both walked towards me with open arms, hugs, kisses and some amazing West Coast energy! Just what this mom needed!

Yet seeing him was so much more than a hug…it brought back floods of emotions and memories of having them all live at home together. I remembered family dinners at the table every night and weekends filled with a stream of teenagers in and out and hanging around. It was heaven.

And yesterday felt like old times for me. Seeing him with his two youngest brothers, introducing them to his girl, teasing them and laughing I couldn’t help but feel a sense of peace, of happiness…of true joy.

I had forgotten what it was like to have my family together like that. These days even myfamily3 two youngest are working or going to school and I feel as though they’ve already left the nest.

Last night felt like old times, even though two of my kids were missing. It felt like the family I remembered; the family that grew up and moved on to their own adult lives. Yet as I remembered the memories I was also watching them all together and making new ones. Suddenly the babies and teenagers I remembered were sitting at a restaurant out to dinner with me…yet they were grown up! They had become men in what feels like an instant.

And my four boys have grown up into amazing men, and I don’t say that just because I’m their mom.

They are respectful, kind, compassionate and non-judgmental. They are truly the type of people I had hoped and wished that they would grow up to be.

And they are.

I sat in amazement last night, savoring every moment, taking in all that surrounded me. It was a night I’ll remember forever, until the next time we can all be together to make new memories.

I felt so much pride for these boys last night, especially my oldest. I watched how he spoke to and treated his girl…he loves her, she loves him, and the respect they have for one another is the type a mother hopes her child will find in a partner.

familyAnd he found that.

And I couldn’t be happier for him.

It was incredible night of being a family together again.

It was a night of my heart being so filled with love that it could have exploded.

These boys of mine…they are a gift to the world.

And they have been and always will be a gift to me.

And it’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

family4

 

All photos by Anne Dennish

 

 

“Show Me Your Soul”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

The older I get, the better choices I make in who I allow into my tribe.

It’s true…so many people wear a mask and none of us ever know who someone really is until a situation occurs in which they show their true colors.

I want to surround myself with people who aren’t afraid to be who they are. I don’t want to spend my precious time with people who wear a mask just to be someone they’re not; with people who tell me what I want to hear instead of telling me the truth; with people who place more value on the attention they receive rather than the attention they give to others.

I want to surround myself with people who are true blue, who let the person they are shine through; with people who aren’t afraid to show me their flaws; with people who speak their truth to themselves and to others.

I want to see the heart and soul of another.

I want to see who they are.

I want to see their truth.

It’s only when we can see the heart and soul of another that we can see the truth of who someone truly is.

And it’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

see a soul

 

 

“On Being Lonely”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment
 It’s been such a sad week at hearing of the suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. Depression, mental illness, and worse than that, a feeling of loneliness…it attacks even the most strongest of people at times, rich or poor, famous or not. We’re all vulnerable at feeling such times of sadness.

Robin Williams said it best years ago that the worse type of loneliness is being with people who make you feel that way. And he’s right that being alone isn’t the worst thing in the world, it’s being with people you love that make you feel alone.

So today I want to say this to all of you: If you’re blessed to have people in your life that love you, care for you, respect you, and are always there for you then know how lucky you are. It’s a gift to have people like that in your life.

Be sure to let them know you feel the same. Don’t let the ones you love feel lonely. Give back to them all the gifts they give to you.

Think about it.

Stop what you’re doing right now and grab the hand of someone who loves you that may or may not be going through a sad day; wrap your arms around them in a loving hug; sit with them, share your thoughts with them, share yourself with them.

Be there.

Don’t wait for the day they’re not there anymore for you.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

robin williams