#gratitude

Toni Kenyon

Sep 6, 2019
2 min

Feeding the earth

Feeding the earth feels very much to me like feeding the soul. Without growing my soil, there is nothing for the beautiful flowers, fruits and vegetables to grow from. This is one of the beautiful nasturtium's that I grow as ground cover in my garden. When I want to plant vegetables out, I clear a space and plant. In the meantime, this wonderful 'living carpet' covers the soil and keeps it safe from erosion from the wind and scorching from the sun...not that there's been much

Toni Kenyon

Sep 4, 2019
2 min

Love is...all things melodic

It's fair to say when you grow up with a Vox amp and a double bass in your bedroom there's always going to be something musical in your life. Fast forward to marrying a bass player (how the hell did that happen!?) building a new house with its own recording studio--bedrooms, who really needs them? And it's no surprise that my youngest son spends a large proportion of his time with a guitar in his hand and my eldest can oftentimes be found on his piano. I don't ever remember t

Toni Kenyon

Sep 2, 2019
1 min

Why my Passion Pulse is so important

There's not a day goes by that I don't find myself scribbling something down in my Passion Pulse. It's my private journal and it's also my personal assistant. It helps to arrange my day, prevent overwhelm, engineer my amazing life and it reminds me to practice gratitude. I couldn't have gotten sober without it and it's become a permanent fixture in my life. I have journaled all my life. Ever since I can remember, I've found a way to put pen to paper. Discovering that there wa

Toni Kenyon

Aug 30, 2019
1 min

Spring is in the air

As I write this, there is only a couple of days of the New Zealand winter left, before spring is upon us. The produce in the photograph has just been picked and has grown, out in the open and through the cool of the winter in my back garden. We are blessed to live in a temperate part of the country, that suffers from very few frosts over the winter months and the ground rarely reaches below freezing. This is good for growing outdoors, but not so good for killing off all the p

Toni Kenyon

Aug 23, 2019
2 min

August in an Antipodes Vegetable Garden

August is the final month of winter down here in New Zealand. It's also a time when we have a ridiculous amount of rain and it's cold and dreary--at least that's how it seems to me at the moment. It's a time of year when I'm aching for the warmth of spring to begin to show itself--even if it does still feel as if it's too early for the daffodils to be above ground. These are from my front garden. They sit at the base of one of my plum trees. Usually this space is covered in a

Toni Kenyon

Aug 21, 2019
2 min

Stepping out of the dark

Mum was diagnosed with lung cancer in mid-April and we've been on a roller coaster ride ever since. I'm pleased to report that she seems to be over the worst of the operation to remove the tumour and now we're looking at stage 2 of her recovery and whatever that entails. In the meantime, a whole raft of my own life had to be put on hold as I focussed on Mum and made sure that I retained some kind of balance in the midst of the cancer storm. My gratitude group has been an amaz

Toni Kenyon

May 3, 2019
4 min

Why Gratitude is so important

I remember a time many years ago, when I was struggling with early sobriety. I was on my way home from a shopping trip with my two young sons in the car. It was February, school had just gone back and in New Zealand it’s mid summer in February. Auckland has hot, muggy semi-tropical summers, so we were all hot and tired and cranky and were planning to leave the groceries at home and then go for a swim in the local school pool. The line of traffic we sat in came to a sudden hal

Toni Kenyon

Mar 28, 2019
2 min

Where did the first quarter of 2019 go?

I'm asking myself where did the first quarter of the year go? I'm also looking at my goals for this quarter and I'm pleased to report that I've likely hit 80% of them. How have you done with your goals for the first quarter? If you're struggling with achieving your potential, why don't you take a look at my Passion Pulse? It will help you start your day right. I've decided that I'd like to find a more economical way to introduce you to the way of life that I lead and making t

Toni Kenyon

Mar 1, 2019
2 min

The Black Dog of Depression Calling...

Some days it feels like everything is too hard. "Struggle" is the word of the day and all I want to do is go back to bed, pull the covers over my head and pretend the world isn't out there waiting to get me. Then I look out the window at my garden. Have I told you how much solace I get from my garden? As I write this, I can hear a local thrush outside calling. She's been regularly visiting since the start of the grape season. She keeps on coming down and picking over the last

Five ways to practice self-care when you're struggling

Toni Kenyon

Feb 6, 2019
3 min

Five ways to practice self-care when you're struggling

So I talked about my own struggle with self-care at the beginning of this week. Of course, it’s not only when I’m trying to get back into my yearly routine that I struggle with self-care. I’m a mother and a wife and a (sort of) employee (I’m self-employed...so my boss can be a real hard task mistress!). I’m also a sister and a daughter and a daughter-in-law and a friend and a sponsor for my 12-step girlies, so I have a lot going on in my life. It’s easy to see why (sometimes)

How to get back on track after the holiday season

Toni Kenyon

Feb 4, 2019
2 min

How to get back on track after the holiday season

It’s February already, so I tell myself I should be well back into my routine. I don’t know what it’s like where you are in the world, but here in New Zealand, it’s the middle of summer and that still makes me want to be in holiday mode. The local children may have gone back to school for the beginning of their new year, but it’s still as hot as Hades. I always feel sorry for the poor kids going back to school in February, because it’s always now that the heat of summer reall

Toni Kenyon

Jan 24, 2019
1 min

Today I'm grateful for...

Today I’m grateful for my cat, Freyja. She drives me nuts at dawn when she meows at me to get up and feed her--which I ignore by the way--but it doesn’t stop her doing it. We play the same silly game every morning. I think she’s just letting me know that it’s nearly time to get up and put some fresh food in her bowl :-) After the yarling session, or even a ‘pounce’ on my feet--which is not appreciated when Freyja has sharp claws and I’m only sleeping under a thin sheet--it’s

Toni Kenyon

Jan 23, 2019
1 min

Look for the Positive!

When I practice gratitude it helps me to look for the positive things, people and influences in my life. It makes it easier to build a shield against the negative that I'm constantly bombarded with--one of the reasons that I'm extra careful about the media (and social media) that I allow to enter my life. Some days it feels as if the world is out to make you feel bad--maybe it is! Maybe advertisers have learned that if you're not feeling good, then they can convince you to bu

Gratitude is so much more than simply saying, “Thank you”

Toni Kenyon

Jan 21, 2019
2 min

Gratitude is so much more than simply saying, “Thank you”

It’s been my experience that gratitude is so much more than simply saying, “thank you”. Gratitude has, quite simply, changed my entire outlook on life. It’s opened my heart to new and wonderful experiences and that’s why, as a recovering alcoholic, I try so hard to practice gratitude every day. The overwhelming feeling of gratitude that I have today for my sober life is so far away from the black hole I was living in when I struggled with my addiction. Living in gratitude is

Toni Kenyon

Dec 10, 2018
2 min

Today I'm grateful for...

Today I'm grateful for the friends and family that I have in my life. Sometimes friends and family aren’t the same thing and that’s okay. When you come from a background of dysfunction and addiction, it can be especially difficult to see friends and family in the same light. With the end of the year coming and most families coming together for all kinds of reasons, it can be especially difficult if your family don’t fall into the ‘friends’ basket of your life. There was a ti

Toni Kenyon

Nov 20, 2018
2 min

Crafting Clarity from Chaos

I took the time to have a cup of herbal tea with a friend recently and we started talking about the ‘chaos’ of modern life. I’m acutely aware of the fact that the holiday season is upon us. In fact, my husband mentioned to me only yesterday that he could feel the commercial frenzy increasing at a rapid rate. I only have to take a look at my email inbox to concur. There is also the added pressure here in New Zealand that the entire country ‘closes down’ for the Christmas holid

Toni Kenyon

Jul 22, 2018
3 min

3 Steps to a New Habit

I don’t know about you, but I’ve struggled in the past to form new and healthy habits. I’m a great ‘starter’ but sometimes I struggle with the ‘follow through’. What I’ve discovered is that it doesn’t have to be as difficult to create a new habit as my head wants me to believe. Let’s face it, most of us want to change our behavior for the better and create new habits for ourselves. This could be getting in the habit of eating healthier and drinking more water--or simply tryin

Ten simple things I'm grateful for, in no particular order

Toni Kenyon

Jul 15, 2018
4 min

Ten simple things I'm grateful for, in no particular order

The day after I reached the milestone of 17 years continuous sobriety, I find myself sitting and contemplating the things that matter to me in my life. There are many, many things that I am grateful to have and many people I am grateful to share my life with. I have come to understand, as I have wrangled the ‘demons’ of my addiction into order over the last 17 years, that one of the most important things to staying happy is staying grateful. Today, I want to share with you te

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