Spring Flow

Happy Spring!  We have had gorgeous weather this week with 50+ degree sunny afternoons, but snow is in the forecast and I know we realistically have several more weeks of winter.  I’ve learned my lesson to not begin any spring gardening in Santa Fe until after Mother’s Day.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that the bulbs I planted last fall will bloom! 

While cooped up inside all winter, I have recently renewed my interest in jigsaw puzzles.  A friend of mine invited me to join a puzzle group (basically chain mail with jigsaw puzzles!) and it has been really fun to complete a puzzle and pass it along to the next person in the chain.  Growing up, my family always had a jigsaw puzzle set up on a card table during winter vacation, where the whole family could work on it throughout the week while watching Christmas movies and lounging around the house.  Until this year, though, I’ve never completed a whole puzzle on my own, and I had forgotten the simple joy and sense of accomplishment can arise from doing a puzzle.  There’s so much satisfaction in finding that one piece or completing the section that initially looked impossible.  Puzzles are therapeutic in a way, relaxing but stimulating at the same time.

I have also been thinking about the idea of Flow, a positive psychology concept of being full immersed in a challenging yet satisfying activity and being so absorbed in the task that you become unaware of the passage of time.  Flow means being “in the zone” and is a state when we can find self-actualization and fulfillment.  Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains that Flow is a state of the optimal experience and results in a high level of gratification.  Jigsaw puzzles lend themselves to the experience of Flow because they are challenging, there are clear goals and immediate feedback, and it's a task in which someone can become completely engrossed.

Puzzle #1 (I later found the missing piece...)

Puzzle #2 (harder than it looks, with oddly-shaped pieces...)

Puzzle #3 in progress

Ady is getting into the puzzle flow too!

Puzzling away...

Here are a few other things keeping me busy this season...
Goals for Spring:
1.  Stress reduction: Limit screen time before bed
2.  Financial: Avoid Starbucks
3.  Fitness: Stick to a regular running schedule (at least 3x/week), and plank 2 minutes every day
4.  Mental health: Practice regular meditation, even if it's just a few minutes a day
5.  Overall: Recall my 2019 intention of JOY


And some books on my list this spring:
Longbourn, by Jo Baker
The Girl You Left Behind, by Jojo Moyes
An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
Queenie, by Candice Carty-Williams
Pieces of Happiness, by Anne Ostby
Grant, by Ron Chernow
The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Reckoning, by John Grisham
Golden Child, by Claire Adam
Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado
Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann
A Ladder to the Sky, by John Boyne
Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves, by Frans de Waal
The Story of the Lost Child, by Elena Ferrante
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt
Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story, by Jacob Tobia
The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson