I've been making a point of walking outside every afternoon after work (instead of going to sit in a coffee house like I used to). A few days ago, the weather was looking a little iffy, but I decided to race the rain and went anyway. It was just magical - the freshness of the air, the birds chittering in the whispering trees, the scent of wildflowers and lake water, the drama of the clouds as the rolled in. Made me feel so very alive!!

Recently I received a copy of the Simply Celebrate book. I was so inspired by it, the next morning on my way to work I created my own celebration. While in the drive-thru line of my local Starbucks, I decided to pay for the coffee of the drivers in the two cars behind me. At the drive-up window, I told the "barrista" to add the next two orders to my tab. As I drove away, I felt so uplifted. This was just my little way of paying it forward and simply celebrating my morning coffee commute. -- Robin D.

Went to a talk given by Karen Maezen Miller recently. She was telling a story about a local (Houston) woman - a beyond-rich art patron who commissioned Mark Rothko to create paintings for the chapel in which we were gathered. On her deathbed years ago, as the story goes, drifting in and out of consciousness with her family gathered around, she said at one point, "I am being shown the most amazing things." Presumably, images from the course of her life were floating through her mind. But Maezen passed this along to us as a sort of motto, to look at everyday life with this feeling that we are being shown the most amazing things. I keep replaying this line in my head. I am being shown the most amazing things.

Every spring I look forward to having my favorite flower -- lilacs -- all over my house. Smelling them immediately transports me back to my childhood growing up in the Midwest, where lilacs are plentiful. When I moved to California 20 years ago, I made it a springtime ritual to buy lilacs during the short season they are available. This year, I went one step further and purchased my very own lilac bush! Now, I can step outside and take a big whiff of my lilacs. Instant happiness.

As I was reading the section on your newsletter asking us to take a moment to look around us to see something we loved, little Simon, my cat, was beside me. He stood up and gently touched me with his paw. That moment I took a good look at him and said, "There is the boy I love." And I said, "Hi, Hi Simon." He rolled over in a state of clear joy. Yes indeed, these are the moments that sustain us. And they come often if we allow them in. -- Suki H.