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Health and Lifestyle
Let’s Level Up!
Here is a list of places to find hearts out in the wild. Hearts give us a moment to stop and smile. Hearts give us a moment of hope. Hearts give us faith in humanity or at least for the premise of it. Hearts give us a place to regroup and ground. Hearts give us an opportunity to shift perspective just for a moment. A moment is all that is needed to shift attention somewhere else. Hearts are those coins we grab as we progress through the level. Count up the hearts and finish off every level with a bang!
Let’s go hunting. One heart at a time.
Around the House
- Sink full of dishes
- Dust pile for the broom
- Coffee stain on the table
- Pair of socks in the laundry pile
- Drawn on a mirror in the shower mist
- Coloured on the wall in crayon
- The top of a laundry mountain
- Spills of fluids, pencil crayons, pasta, or knick knack drawers
- Your shoelaces in the alcove
- A sweater thrown on the floor
Out in the Open Air
- Carved in the sides of a snowbanks
- The shape of a snowbank
- Puddles in the road, on the sidewalk, and at the foot of the curb you are jumping over
- Rocks along the sidewalk or in the garden or down an alley
- Leaves scattered along your travels
- Spills of beverages, wood, weeds, or trash
- Drawn onto dust of cars sometimes accompanied by “wash me”
- In windows of houses and businesses – both drawn and tricks of the light
- In display windows or displays within stores or garage sales
- In the bark of trees ground in by nature, scars from storms, or carved in
- A dent in a light pole either a dent or physical marking in the paint
- On the side of a building painted, a shape in the bricks, cracks in the wall
- A knot in a fence or a whirl pattern
- Sidewalk chalk drawings
Bonus Finds in the Scavenger Hunt Portion of the Level
- A chicken nugget found in the bag or passed to you by someone you love
- A flower in the garden of the neighbourhood or in that pot in the median of the road
- A piece of paper caught in the bushes or the storm drain
- A bag caught in a tree
- Bookmark discovered in the pages of a library book
- On a post-it note within the folds in your laundry or found in a drawer
- Spray paint on the side of a building, trash can, or in the grass
- Who knew recycling could be so exciting? A can crushed in the alley or falling out of the bin reveals the heart
- See some garbage in the park: hidden treasure! Look a heart shaped apple core, crumpled chip bag, and a pile of discarded carrot sticks on a picnic table
- Garbage bins are great for dents and spray paint
- Clouds in the sky create a wide range of hearts all shapes and sizes!
- An Instagram share of someone else’s heart find
- Drawing a heart on the bathroom mirror for yourself or someone else
- A spill of stuff you dropped… like that coffee you just bought and dropped
- A pothole in the road… now there is a perk to unmaintained roads
- A fountain breeds hearts in drops, puddles, and coins
- A magazine cover to notice at just the right moment
- A creation made by a friend, your kid, or neighbourhood artist
- A marking on a dog walking by
- A coin on the ground
- The graphic on a tee just when you need it most
- A book cover illustrated by someone awesome
- A note from a friend dropped just in time or just because
- A text from someone you love! Yay emojis!
- A scar on you, a mortal enemy, a stranger running, or a perfectly resting limb
- A fluffy rabbit butt running across someone’s lawn
Let’s level up in this game called life! Let’s count up as many “coins” as we can!
Positive Sprinkles
The Little Things
The little things are not just positive sprinkles that bring a smile to our faces when we are looking or not looking for them. They are the small moments, glimpses, or tiny stops of time where we can step beyond ourselves into a place of love. That place of love is not necessarily brought on by a person but from the place bigger than us. A place that is trying to tell us everything will work out, today has some good in it, and we are seen. All those little things add up each day, week, month, year to create a foundation that we walk upon forward.
I am going to share a few of the little things that I have experienced lately as well as a few reflections. By sharing it is my hope that you will find your own reflections of life recently and in the past. That you as the reader will discover your own appreciation for the little things that have graced you with their presence.
Finding new blooms in the neighbourhood (even if they are dandelions) is like finding a surprise. Completely unexpected but with colour that brings me out of my day dreams, thoughts, or musings long enough to grant me a pause from them. Whether the day was good or bad that pause shifts my perspective to a different realm of thinking. Now I find myself thinking of where my place is, what is the purpose, and where in the universe I am supposed to be. Here I am minding my own business and the universe has bloomed right here and right at this moment I would notice. The flowers remind me that everything has a season, purpose, and moment in which to exist which is comforting and hopeful in the big picture of things.
In a moment of blind courage and trust I changed my morning routine just for one time. It was glorious. I was getting ready to do my morning yoga when a thought came to mind to take my mat outside. It was glorious. The sunshine, the bird song, and the courage blooming into pride. It was time well spent and so much more than I thought it would be like. With my eyes closed and the flow capturing my attention I was able to let go and just be. Any inhibitions, fears, and anxieties had no place on this beautiful morning. Even just having done this one morning (so far) has given me a level of self-confidence that cannot be matched with any else.
Chalk creations are beautiful. Even more so when you get to spot them as little surprises that you didn’t know existed until you found them. Every chalk creation is created out of an individual glimmer of creativity but also self-joy of the creator. Each one may use the same colours but each one captures the artist. If I get to see them once before rain or more than a few times each instance brings a smile and a reverberation of love. If I let my imagination flow I can see the young person just going about their day or task and just getting this urge of creation form from a colour bubbling over in their thoughts. What colours to choose? What to create? How did they feel creating? How did they feel after?
Street cleaning took place granting me a reprieve from my own vortex of random existence. While doing my own thing I walked past the front door and found the funniest little scene. Two of my cats were stalking something outside out of amusement and then complete frozen trembling fear. Their facial expressions and physical demeanour made me giggle and watch them fascinated as they were completely lost in their task. There was ducking, interested tip toe leaning, and neck swivels that made me jealous from the sass. Watching the rotation of action as the trucks would appear then disappear was just too funny. Before I went back down to the office I thanked them for the privilege of witnessing their genuine selves and lively curiosity despite the fear. How often can we do the same? Face a fear with curiosity and courage while pleasantly surprising ourselves with the outcome?
The five minutes we spent jumping in puddles together, the day we saw our first tulip realizing winter was truly over that year, turning to greet you coming in the door and discovering the coffee in your hand, and doing a hopscotch spontaneously reaching the end and glimpsing the artist in their window with that glow. Priceless.
Fabulously Positive
The little things may appear and disappear in a mere moment but they form the foundation that we walk upon as we go about this adventurous journey called life. In moments of reflection or loss we look back and they come forward in flashes as things we hold dear. In that moment when I recall them they are priceless gems that we would give anything to experience just one more time. The little things are what get us through each day, through the good and the bad, and they are truly the jewels we will count up in the end.
