Every Saturday… well, most Saturday nights, I settle in to write the Let It Be Sunday post for you. It’s my favorite time of the week when I let a quiet settle over my mind and catch up on the million and three tabs I have open in my browser. A few hours usually take me late into the night and I click publish on a list of reads that hopefully feels important, frivolous, beautiful, and useful.
In my mind, you pry open your laptop at the tiny round table in your sunny kitchen having just set down a steaming cup of coffee you’ve made. In my mind you have the time and space to take in what you need before… I dunno… going off to make banana bread. I know life isn’t always that fresh and easy but I hope occasionally it is.
However you come to it, I’m so thankful you do. You come and stay for a while and leave truly the most thoughtful and encouraging comments for me and one another.
Last week Katelyn left this encouragement, “Ask for help. Give it freely. Kindness grows exponentially. Life, even when it’s hard, is so good. Thank you, Joy, for your thoughtful authenticity.”
I thought to myself HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW:
• Kindness does grow exponentially.
• Live is hard and is so so good.
And WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW?
• Laughing until we cry is one of the best feelings in the world.
• Being curious about one another helps us live better together.
• Three deep breaths is a simple way to remember we’re alive.
• Loving big is so scary and such a risk and really the only way to love.
• We can choose to carry love into everything.
This is an endless list. Will you help?
What do you know? Will you leave it in the comments below? I think the roundup will encourage us all.
My LOVE to you!
xo Joy
* The above picture is from a Drake on Cake workshop in California a few weeks ago. I support the sentiment on this cake but not Drake’s lyrics directly after those pictured. lol.
Sarah
I usually save up a few of your Let It Be Sunday posts for my weekend shifts at the library and then spend hours reading your links. They help the time pass and always give me a bigger sense of the world (and usually a few tasty things to make throughout the week.) They also help me remember than I’m here to help people, and that the work I do at the library is part of the greater good, even if I am just helping people find books and not saving their lives.
I think it’s important that we all remember that little kindness’s matter and that even a small act of kindness can go a long way.
Thank you for always writing such inspiring and mouthwatering posts. You’re an inspiration to me and my tiny kitchen.
Elizabeth
Life is hard but God is good … all the time.
Kristen
The other day I was feeling particularly down about the state of things and how it all seems like So. Much. pretty much all of the time. Then I watched my two-year-old twins play. They traded stickers back and forth for 20 minutes without talking until Hannah got one stuck to her leg and, when she couldn’t get it off, Reva said, “It’s okay, Hannah. I help.” That was it. That was all I needed that day. Unintentional words of advice from a two-year-old about kindness and patience. “I help.”
Ulla
It always amazes me how much better children are at life in general.
Shauna
That being kind is more important than being nice. Often we are told to ‘be nice’, which suggests we should give up our own feelings and boundaries to make others comfortable. Being kind, to me, allows us to hold tight to our own feelings, and take those of others into account as well. I strive to be kind to others while being kind to myself.
Ulla
This is very astute. Thanks for the thought.
Bec
I love that even in Australia, where we are 14 hours ahead, I can still read your ‘Let it be Sunday’ posts.
What I know:
– Kindness is the most important thing. If I have a busy to do list that is worrying me, at the top I add ‘Be kind’. If I can achieve that, I am happy. Regardless of everything else, there is always time to be kind (but sometimes being kindest to ourselves is hardest but too is important).
– Taking a moment of gratitude is so helpful. I was talking to a friend about how we are constantly over-worked and tired. But then realised that if as struggling students 10 years we could see where we were now, we would be grateful, excited and so proud of ourselves.
– Getting perspective is so important. We can become so consumed with the stressors in everyday life. But the simple things, many of which you take the time to write so lovingly about, are so important.e.g., the sun, a good friend, a great recipe, taking the time to enjoy a favourite meal, laughing with a loved one.
Thank you Joy. I have been reading for many years, and even when the world and politics look bleak, I feel such a sense of community when I read your Let it Be posts and see not only are you fierce, but you refer to other brave women such as G&K from the MFM podcast,
Much love.
Bec
Kristy Hayter
Kindness is always the answer.
Ulla
Take the time to play with children and animals. When you do, go all in. They know so much more about life than we do.
Also,
take a moment to watch the light ripple on water, or sit under a tree and watch the shadow of the leaves dance on the grass around you. Or listen to the dripping, dropping rain.
Life is good, even though we sometimes have to actively look for that goodness.
Chris
What I know this this. ‘Do unto others’ is the one and only rule you need for life. Stop believing the lie that you have a ‘right’ to be happy, because in the grand scheme of things we have no rights at all. Every one of us is utterly insignificant and every one of us is an absolute miracle. Equally important, equally small. There is such peace to be had in this if we learn to genuinely embrace it. “If you’re going through hell, keep going” is good advice, but it’s equally important to stop when you are given a glimpse of heaven. Learn to accumulate true happiness in increments of moments, not days or weeks or years. Sometimes moments are all that we have, and all that we need.
Maggie
From my late father:
Always stay kind. Always be thoughtful. And remember that life’s riches are in the doing, not the done.
Jennifer
That you don’t get over loss…..you learn to carry it. Grief will change you….but YOU get to decide how.
I always wanted to be a mother…..but had six miscarriages instead. I never got the rainbow baby. Most days I am okay….I still find joy in life….and still have moments of pure happiness and contentment. But I also know that until the day I die, I will always have moments of such grief that I will double over and sob.
It had really taught me, though, the importance of everyday kindness. You NEVER know what others carry…..for now I know that at every baby shower that is overflowing with happiness, hope, and well wishes…..that there will be someone there….maybe even the one with the biggest smile….who spent some time alone sobbing in a locked bathroom.
Robyn Linden
Being a person is hard. We all have that struggle in common. Learning to have compassion for ourselves and others makes that burden a little lighter. Snuggling a kitty helps, too.
melanie
Here’s some things younger me knew and wrote down, so that present me could find them and know them again:
everyone wants to be a good person more than they want to be a bad person. try to see the good.
You’ll spend every moment of the rest of your life with yourself, so you might as well try to love her/him/them.
Honesty always wins. Listening always wins. Kindness always wins.
<3
Samantha
A big hug after a long and stressfull day is the best thing you can ask for.
Cy
Tell your people you love them often. Keep the air clear, even if the words are hard to say. Live free from drama as best you can. Laugh like crazy, sometimes it’s the only way to get through your day. Take time for silence, so that you can hear your heart speak. Sit in your comfy chair a big cup of coffee nearby, cat curled up on your lap, read “Let it be”. Life is good. Thank you Joy!
Carrie
Doing your best is never a waste and putting one foot in front of the other will get you there. Also, there is always enough time for being kind.
MARIA JOSÉ
Here is what I have come to know, and it’s not mine…: there is no love, nor generosity, without boundaries. And (this IS MINE) if you draw them when you feel them, and not when you are already broken.., you can draw them from a loving place.
And… from Barcelona, I excercise your best version of sunday post reading… always open windows.
Sarah
I used to enjoy a leisurely Sunday breakfast while reading your posts. Now that I live in Melbourne it’s a late Sunday night read before bed or something for the Monday morning train. It’s always an enjoyable part of the day, though.
Here’s what I know: A problem shared is a problem halved. There is no shame in asking for help, and we’d all feel better if we admitted our weaknesses from time to time.
becky
In the space of an hour yesterday, underway with her elderly mom on crowded public transit, a dear friend of mine witnessed 3 separate acts of kindness. Nothing big, and each done for a stranger: an offer to hold a grocery bag, open a door, pick up a stack of fallen books. But it so touched her that she shared them on “the longest ever international group text” along with this, “It feels like people are desperately trying to prove through their actions that all is not lost. These actions were so simple and so tender.” It made us all feel a little bit better and maybe a wee bit teary. What I know is that the is a lot of good out there and we will all benefit from the tried (but so) true: “practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty”.
Bailey
Speak to yourself with the same grace and kindness that you would show to your friends.
Rebecca
My advice to my advisees: Be kind. Pay close attention. Take good risks. I’m pretty sure I know those things. Also, people want to make things!
Rebecca Leamon
My advice to my advisees: Be kind. Pay close attention. Take good risks. I’m pretty sure I know those things. Also, people want to make things!
Shawn
Oh Joy, for sure a steaming cup of coffee, along with the computer on Sunday mornings, but I sit on a wide windowseat with a view of trees, fields and mountains. I am so fortunate to have your posts served up with nature’s bounty and strong coffee. From my grandfather, what I know:
If you decide to wear a short skirt, don’t fuss with it when the wind blows.
Know the width of your car.
Amanda
I used to read the Sunday post in my office at work, during a lull in the action, now that I work a less crazy schedule I’m able to check in after church on Sundays.
Currently on my chalkboard I have the following quote from C.S. Lewis: “You can’t go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
It’s a good reminder that we have the power to shift the tides of our lives.
Jess
Life is short, don’t skip dessert.
Abbi
I know that my family holds my heart in their hearts. That while I struggle with mental health, they are always there, loving and carrying me. I know I will do the same for them.
Allison
We aren’t given only what we can handle. We are given way more than we can handle alone. Because asking for help, offering help, and being part of a community that comes together–whatever that looks like to us–is part of making it through the times we simply cannot get through alone.
Kristina
This made me cry. I actually read these a week late, on Fridays, usually, as I compile an email full of links and book recommendations that I send to a bunch of friends of mine. And this week has been so hard, just like it feels almost every week has, for so long now.
What I know is that I have apparently been misinterpreting that Howard’s End quote: “…only to connect!” this whole time, but whatever – it’s still my motto, however much I feel like I’ve been failing at it lately.
MARIA JOSÉ
I LOVE this idea of sending your friends a list of worth reading things!!
Taylor
Joy – I save your Sunday post for Monday morning, my first day in the office each week, after a nearly 90min commute, into a big city I used to say I’d refuse to work in. “Downtowns” are fun for a visit, I am not my best in them day-to-day. (Thankfully I only have to do that three days a week). Reading that post every Monday morning sets my mind right for the week. It gives me hope, makes me think and laugh, and inspires. THANK YOU
Here is one thing I know to be true – “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows; it empties today of its strength”
So much love to you
Lindsay
There is boundless pleasure and power in saying no.
Laurie P
Thank you Joy for all the time, kindness, love and effort you put into your blog. It’s one of my favorite things, especially Let it Be. I agree with all the comments above and thought I’d share my Grandmother’s favorite sayings, which is now my mantra. Whenever life would get difficult Gram would get a big beautiful smile on her face, rub her hands together and say, ” Always remember honey, it’s a great life if you don’t weaken!” She had a lot of hardship and tragedy in her life, but she was always full of love and hope. I know she was right.
Asiyah
It’s alright to cry. Love. Lose. Win. Laugh. Do all the things. It means you are alive with possibilities.
Angela
What do I know? I know most people are good, even if we don’t agree about climate change, women’s rights, immigration, or who people love. That people have more in common than our differences. That we all need to breath and push forward for a better tomorrow. I’ve tuned off the news, for days at a time, for rest and renewal. What do I know: I feel much happier listening to music, interesting podcasts and silently saying positive affirmations. What do I know: think positive, spread happiness in small ways and reach out to people because everyone is having their own daily struggles….
Jenny
I love your posts, I’ve pretty much given up reading blogs, except for my Sunday afternoon or Monday afternoon reading yours. I make some popcorn in the microwave and get a glass of wine and sit with my cats. Thank you for the inspiration!
Rebecca Horrigan
Thank you for this sweet, sweet Sunday tradition. Here’s what I know: “We are here to love”
Chelsea Rochelle
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” – Henri Matisse
It’s absolutely true.
Darci Benesh McGrath
I know that my small family is enough, I know that I need to care for myself before others. I really know I am loved.
Rachel
Life always looks more manageable after a good night’s sleep.
Shani Hursh
Joy, I don’t always get to read Let it Be Sunday on Sunday, and when that happens I make sure to get to it as soon as possible. Sometimes I take a few minutes to read it during a harried work day and it snaps me back to reality, away from the office insanity, or likewise, let’s me escape and catch my breath (from the office insanity). I am grateful for the dose of reality and/or escape it brings me when I read it, and for the thoughtful consideration you put into it every week – thank so much!
Here’s what I know:
Another person’s problem with you, is their problem.
Erica
What I know: life is too short and precious to be waiting for something. If it feels right, do it! Be it! Don’t just think about your story…live it!
Morgan
Always take a day off in between a vacation and going back to work. A boss mentor I had called it a “buffer day” and I swear by it. I never go back to work directly after a vacation.
Rae
The sun will always rise in the east and set in the west.
Kaitlin
“Those we love never truly leave us, Harry. There are things that death can not touch.” I know that 9 months after losing my grandma, she is still with me . I cherish making pot roasts in her old crock pot on Sundays after reading Let It Be & giving thanks for all the memories.
Em_c_nola
Smiling is free and brightens the day of those around you!
Brenda
My newest favorite quote: “Trust the Timing of Your Life”.
Vicki
Joy is in the giving.
Lisa
DID I OFFER PEACE TODAY? DID I BRING A SMILE TO SOMEONE’S FACE? DID I SAY WORDS OF HEALING? DID I LET GO OF MY ANGER AND RESENTMENT? DID I FORGIVE? DID I LOVE? THESE ARE THE REAL QUESTIONS. I MUST TRUST THAT THE LITTLE BIT OF LOVE THAT I SOW NOW WILL BEAR MANY FRUITS, HERE IN THIS WORLD AND THE LIFE TO COME.
HENRI NOUWEN
J
My grandma always said: cry if you eel like crying. She was right. Life taught me Tonart: and cry together with others.
Your blog and smitten kitchen are the only blogs I keep reading. Thank you for all the hard work, power and emotion that you put into this blog.
One more thing we know: show kindness to a stranger! I still remember that one time when you left a comment on my tiny food blog (that I no longer maintain) many many years ago after I wrote in the comments in your blog how happy that would make me. You showed such kindness to me!
J
Sorry for the typos (writing this with word recognition in German…). I meant to write: feel… and … life taught me since:
Emily S.
Here’s a quote from Amelia Earhart that I just love — especially since I love to travel (and armchair-travel).
“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”
Linda
Here is a question worth asking yourself from time to time. What would the child you once were think of the adult you are? Thank you, Joy, for giving me so many things worth considering on a quiet Sunday morning.
joythebaker
Oh my gosh this question instantly brought tears to my eyes. Thank you Linda!
Amanda
Kindness is never wasted.
Tell your friends you love them, and then everyone feels better.
I do love your Sunday posts. Well, really, all of your posts, but especially Sunday. I read them over a cup of coffee, usually on Monday, though, to get my week going :)
Taste of France
What I know:
You’re not as good as the guys. You’re better. And they know it.
The sun rises and sets with my child, but many of my friends don’t want to have children, and that’s good, too; better than my MIL who hated children but had three because it was the 1950s and they are living with the consequences. Every child should be wanted.
Pay with cash.
bonnie
Learning the Loving Kindness meditation has been most helpful to me. What I know is that love has to start from the source and radiate outward; can’t be grasped at from an empty place or will never be found. But if we start by being kind to ourselves, start with self-love and care, then we can love and care for those encircling us who need it, or just dance with whomever we choose to dance with!
Elise Henripin
Here’s what I know: You are enough.
joythebaker
ABSOLUTELY!
Lynn Glace
Thank to for doing ‘Let It Be Sunday’. My quote is from Mary Oliver: ‘it is a serious thing /just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in this broken world.’ From “Invitation”, A Thousand Mornings.
Jen
Being “the rainbow in someone else’s cloud” makes my day brighter as well.
Cheryl
This too shall pass, it may pass like a kidney stone, but it will pass.
Ellen
No compact little laptop computer here, just a wireless desktop model that suits my needs and myself. Plenty of room for a cup of coffee and a notebook to jot down things as I peruse the most recent edition of “Let It Be Sunday”. I would say that what this part of the “we” knows is all of the above and that I’m still : “Trying to convince my shadow that I’m someone worth following.” – Rudy Francisco. Thank-you for a blog that has been well worth following for many years in the past and will be for many more to come!
Heather
I wrote this down (in an instagram post) a few years ago after a johnnyswim concert – lyrics in #3 are theirs – (and during massive heartbreak)
“Here are the things I know to be true: 1) life is better when you wear flats to the concert rather than heels, 2) There is a ‘muchness’ to life that is sometimes difficult and sometimes wonderful, and 3) “if it matters, let it matter, if your heart’s breaking, let it ache… you were worth the joy and you are worth the pain… so if it matters, let it matter, if its fragile, let it shatter.”
Trish
I just heard someone say this, paraphrasing, “It’s not that we can’t say no to others. It’s that we can’t say yes to ourselves.” Let’s give ourselves permission to say yes!
What I know, is listening to others. I truly believe it is a gift.
Joy Dyson
I love this thank you Joy. I wish I had a round table in a sunny kitchen, but I enjoy your words anyway :-)
This I know – everyone is on their own journey and has a story you do not know, so be patient and kind as you dont know what people are dealing with. Not always so easy but something to aspire to. I also know that letting go can be hard but you sometimes you have to do it for your self, and that forgiveness does not mean you forget. xxx
Hetty Friedman
I too love your Let it be Sunday post. I love your courage to be honest and political. So many ‘lifestyle’ bloggers stay away from the really hard issue in our world and you do not shy away from them. I am on your side and so appreciate your candor. I learn from you and then go on and often share your links with family, friends and my own customers ( i sent out a 2 times a month newsletter for my weaving biz).
My words of wisdom from some of my mentors:
There is no one right answer.
From the darkness comes the light.
Walk slowly and see where your feet take you.
Thank you Joy and I hope to visit in New Orleans sometime,
H
Yael
Your let it be Sunday posts are my favorite. I usually save them to read on Monday, to help me ease into my week. Thank you, Joy.
Stacy S
Let it be Sunday’s are normally read on Monday since I try to be phone free on Sunday to play and be with my little guy and my husband. But they are my favorite posts each week!
Mary-Claire
I open my eyes groggily to the sounds of the breeze shifting through the Pacific Northwest forest and the occasional car driving down the hill near our house. Inside, my mind suddenly tunes into the early morning stirrings of my family. Knowing there’s a short window of time before someone discovers I’m awake, I quietly unplug my phone from its charger and begin to check the alerts. Email first. Ad, ad, INFJ newsletter, and then (Oooh!) Let it Be Sunday! I quickly open the entire page and pore over the contents. I read it in its entirety before going back through to check out the links one by one. Some are articles I’ve read over the course of the week, but others are little jewels of goodness that I haven’t yet read. I quietly huddle down into my covers and begin my journey.
Here’s what I know:
“The web of our lives is of a mingled yarn—good and ill together; our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not, and our crimes would despair if they were not cherished by our virtues.” ~ William Shakespeare
Yes, it’s an old dead guy, but ever since I read these words in middle school, nothing else has made more sense.
Nosizwe
Thank you, Joy, for making Sunday’s special, even if there are some days that it’s on a Monday that I get to open your email….
One of my closest friends recently forwarded a quote to me that stilled my anxiety and made me take a deep calming breath : “Contentment comes from valuing what you’ve been Given, not venting about what’s been withheld.”
Stella
If it won’t matter in five years, it won’t matter in five minutes. Let the small thing go and BREATHE.
Laurel
Just read this today: John W. Gardner was the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson and a recipient of the 1964 Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In this passage, he describes the importance of tough-minded optimism:
“Optimism is unfashionable today, particularly among intellectuals. Everyone makes fun of it. Someone said, “Pessimists got that way by financing optimists.” But I am not pessimistic and I advise you not to be.
“…a tough-minded optimism is best. The future is not shaped by people who don’t really believe in the future. Men and women of vitality have always been prepared to bet their futures, even their lives, on ventures of unknown outcome. If they had all looked before they leaped, we would still be crouched in caves sketching animal pictures on the wall.
“But I did say tough-minded optimism. High hopes that are dashed by the first failure are precisely what we don’t need. We have to believe in ourselves, but we mustn’t suppose that the path will be easy, it’s tough. Life is painful, and rain falls on the just, and Mr. Churchill was not being a pessimist when he said “I have nothing to offer, but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” He had a great deal more to offer, but as a good leader he was saying it wasn’t going to be easy, and he was also saying something that all great leaders say constantly — that failure is simply a reason to strengthen resolve.”
Jeannette
Here is what I know: we are all SO much stronger than we think. Killing them with kindness is most definitely a thing. Work is not your top priority (at the end of the day, it’s a paycheck that you can get quite frankly anywhere. there are so many more important things in your life… choose work/life balance).
and probably the most important lesson that I have learned the hard way: giving yourself some fucking grace is the kindest thing you can do for yourself. You’re not perfect (spoiler alert: you never will be!) so why go on beating yourself up about eating a bad meal, a dirty kitchen, skipping the gym, waking up late…? It’s ONE SMALL THING in a series of moments that make up your life… so stop focusing on what you didn’t do, and focus on what you did. We are all just trying to make it out here.
Jeannette
one more…. be vulnerable. true, unfiltered emotion is the most beautiful thing that any of us will experience. you truly never know how opening up about something will touch whoever is listening. (and you’ll never know how many heartfelt emails you’ll receive from your coworkers because you decided to *really* open up on a “get to know me” questionnaire… ok maybe that’s just me. but it reinforces what i’m saying. it’s like a domino effect of… humanity)
<3
Jenn P
I know that I pay for the person behind me in line at the Starbucks drive thru in hopes that it makes them smile and lightens the load, at least for that first sip of coffee.
valentina
I love the weekly round-up! I *do* enjoy it early in the morning over a cup of coffee while the sun shines in through my windows. Usually my pup is curled up on the couch next to me and the windows are open, if we’re having nice weather here in Detroit. After this, I meal plan for the week and build my grocery list, before heading to trader joes. Thank you for being such a lovely part of my Sunday routine!
Brittany
Make no mistake that love is a choice. Then choose that every. single. day.
Sarah
Let it be sunday is the best and makes me so happy as I sip on some coffee and tea and settle in. Thank you for the time and thought you put into it!
Patty
Sharing real, honest parts of ourselves is the best way to connect.
Marine
A few things I know to be true…
There is zero shame in asking for help.
The things that we dislike in others are often reflections of things we dislike in ourselves.
Except when those people are just jerks….
Some people are just straight up jerks.
There is SO MUCH good in the world, you just have to be willing to see it.
The world is also full of magic!
There’s nothing quite as perfect as waking up slowly, having hot tea and a cuddly cat by my side.
Adria
I know (or at least I believe!) that, except in rare cases, it is best to make decisions based not in fear; there are so many other, better things to guide us. Thank you, Joy!
Lori Gunn
I had a colleague who signed her emails “Start a revolution, Be kinder than necessary.” It is how we should all live. Thank you for your musings and recipes :)
Sarah
Change is so, so hard, but it’s worth the struggle to bring something new into the world. A new perspective, a person, building a thing, uncovering a bias – it’s all hard work, but work worth doing because your new normal? That’s amazing.
Susan
“Friends are the family you chose for yourself!”
And … “Given enough chocolate and coffee, I can solve most problems” !
BTW, I love your Sunday posts. LOVE them. Thanks!!
Mary Ann
Vulnerability is not weakness. It is the strength of showing your unique self to the world.
Elizabeth_K
The point isn’t the end point; the point is the journey. I always love your Sunday posts as part of my journey. Hope you are well.
April
Thank you for taking care of our hearts and our bodies, Joy. I enjoy visiting your website, cooking your recipes, and definitely savoring your Sunday posts. I’m usually up first, sitting cozy on the couch with my laptop popped open to the many different tabs that are links based on your recommendations. I read then contemplate what I’ve read while gazing out the window.
Here’s what I know: Sometimes the best medicine for a bad day is a nap, a walk around the block, then a soothing bath with comforting music.
Karen B.
I love your Sunday posts and look forward to them at the table with my coffee every week.
I know that if you look hard enough there is something good with every setback.
xo,
Karen
Prissy
Yup, I totally concur as I sit here with my yummy coffee (I’ve been binging on Simon’s med Columbian lately-highly recommend) I am fearful to order coffee I can’t smell but glad I made the exception this time.
It’s nice to find a quiet corner here on the internet with likeminded women.
Life will always have its tough times (I’ve had more than my share of awful-losses and more losses) but we must take the time to savor the sweet moments to take us through the rough ones.
I’m painting my family room off the kitchen. The previous owners went for dark and I’m lightening it up. The kitchen is next. Hoping it will be done in time to bake lots of holiday cookies for my new neighbors. Maybe I’ll be tagged as the cookie lady or even the kookie lady. Either way, I won’t mind.
Linda Mitchell
Be here now.
Emma
Bringing cake to a get together makes everything better.
On the flip side, I’ve always loved “it is not your job to be everything to everyone” reminds me that we don’t have to give everyone everything we have- it’s ok to hold stuff back.
Beth
You’re idealized version occasionally happens in our house, but I enjoy it just as much in the five minutes here or there during a busy Sunday with my three kiddos at baseball games, swim lessons, birthday parties, cooking dinner, or on my way to sleep at the end of a full day. I always hungrily eat up the links and enjoy the big reads, lighthearted reads, and links to your fantastic recipes.
Just a shout out to the orange chocolate scones, I always made the dough and froze before labor of the kiddos and now do the same for all friends who are having kids, anyone who hot sick and needs an easy treat/breakfast, Nyone who is celebrating, etc… they are a great little pop of comfy sunshine straight out of the oven.
Thank you for this great blog- I’ve been enjoying it for YEARS!
Beth
Lol to my typos!!!! It’s so easy to check for errors and sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t!
Alex
This blog is the highlight of my Sunday. I’m thankful for you, Joy. Keep spreading the love girl! I’ll share a classic that is my momma’s go-to: Treat others the way you want to be treated. Simple and true.
Jamie
I love love love your round ups and thoughtful commentary.
I will say the thing that has served me the most “Just do the next right thing”. The world feels overwhelming right now and for a lot of us, that leads to inaction. It’s hard to know where to start. So, I remind myself to do the next right thing. I vote in my primaries. I smile at the bank teller. I put a note in my kid’s lunchbox. I donate to disaster relief. I just keep doing what is right. and hopefully it carries me on home.
Rebeca
Asking for help when you need it doesn’t make you weak, quite the opposite – it takes guts to admit to admit you do. My mentality had always been “I can deal with it on my own” (despite knowing full well it was a fucking horrible approach and having suffered the consequences), but when my partner was diagnosed with brain cancer a few years ago, I realised that wasn’t going to work anymore. Accept help, ask for it, and let others treat you with the same kindness you’d treat them.
Thank you for your Let It Be Sunday posts every week, they’re my favourite way to start the day.
Ronni
You may get what you want, but not in the way(s) you expect it.
Jeanne
“If the journey to Kamakura takes 12 days and you stop on the 11th, you will never admire the moon over the capital” said A 17th century Buddhist monk.
I am in month 14 of breast cancer treatment and today I want to stop. But I won’t. Determination breeds strength. And I hold the dream of a lovely view of the moon deep within my own resolve.
Angie Rogers
When one door closes, another one opens. We just have to do our part and look for it. Thanks be to God!
Dani H
I know that the loss of everything material in our lives doesn’t mean anything as long as the people and animals we love are all okay.
I know this is what I would be blessed to have on my headstone ~
“She loved and was loved
and she was kind.”
I know the world is a better place with you (and your recipes) in it. You enrich my life with your “Let it be Sunday” posts and much in between.
I hope you do not tire of hearing it, but your parents chose the perfect name for you because you, and your food, do bring us Joy.
Thank you.
Chrissy
Here’s mine. It’s not really a known quote, per se, but a truth that carries me through each and every day (especially important to remember when you get to the wonderful age of 38 (1981 was a great year!) and are still as single as can be): Your best girlfriends are your most valuable possession.
Thanks for being you!
Megan
I usually end up reading your Sunday post on Monday and it’s a great start to my week! Thank you!
Lorrie Fulton
If you’re going to make a mistake, always err on the side of love.
Claudia
we are all just walking each other home…ram dass
??
joythebaker
Gosh we really truly are.
Hope Leyenhorst
I know that when you have children, you will love them unconditionally, they will make you cry, they will make you laugh and sometimes they make you want to spank them (do people still do that?) But, in the end you are forever grateful they are in your life and as they become adults they become your friends and it is an amazing journey.
johanna @ green gourmet giraffe
I love your Let it Be Sunday posts – some days I have time to read a lot and other time I scan readings on the run. So I have a quote that a friend gave me and that often cheers me when I look at my mess!
“One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries” – A A Milne
Erica
A few things I know (about myself, at least):
You can’t be mad jumping on a trampoline. I bought a tiny one for my house and jump about 15 minutes a day. I work up a sweat and always end up smiling hard.
Swinging on a swingset with music in your ears is as healing as it gets.
My best revelations come when I go for a silent walk.
90% of my arguments happen when it’s late and I’m tired, and maybe I just need to lay myself down and go to bed
Lauren
What I know for sure? This is one of my favorites: “Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about.Be Kind.” I think we so often don’t realize that everyone IS struggling with something and your not alone. its so Important to just to stop sometimes and say “hi how are you..” Something as simple as that can change someone’s outlook and make your day a little better too.
Jan
Here is one thing I know:
That it is hard to let it be but sometimes that is the only way
Kelly Griffith
I know that it’s alright to say no to something I don’t want to do and not feel guilty about it.
Samantha
I have always appreciated Paul Harvey saying, “in times like these it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these.”
Amanda
I can’t do this, but I’m doing it anyway.
Sue
Don’t be afraid to say yes, to yourself and that crazy invitation that seems impossible or like too much. Yes can bring you so much more than no so frequently, as long as it starts with a yes for your own well being. Constantly look for the humor, or the laugh in anything. It helps take away the hardship. Love and light. And a good cookie,
Debra Bures
You can’t have a rainbow with just one color, or a symphony with just one note. Celebrate the diversity that creates the human garden in which we live; nurture and cherish it. After all, we’re all in this together.
Erica
I’ve always loved the poem Happy Thought by Robert Louis Stevenson:
The world is so full of a number of things,
I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.
Floranet
Fabulous information! Thank You!!
Wendy Cone
Here’s what I know. Perfection is the enemy of good. How many times are we obsessed with getting it perfect and we forget to see the joy in the good. I tell this to my daughter who is 12 and is learning to bake and do many new things.
Patti Friday
I love love (adore) receiving your newsletter. I am not sure you realize how much it means to many of us. Thank you. Patti xo
Suzy
What I know is the strength of friendships becomes the infrastructure when my life has eroded around me. Friends have kept my mind, body and spirit strong when unfortunate events threatened, they support, caution, and encourage me to go on. I wish everyone friendships like mine.
Julie
We can choose to move forward positively.
DH
What’s life without a little danger? ;) I’ve said that to TWO people this MORNING, ha ha
Sarah Mills
Breathing in the piney scent of tall trees, the call of a loon from across the calm ripples of the lake, the growing light of early morning sun, the quiet and stillness of all that surrounds me fills me with PEACE to carry me through these days.
Sati Glenn
We know that no matter how dark a time in our lives may be, the sun always rises in the morning <3
Thank you for LIBS, Joy. It's my favorite part about Sunday mornings now.
Shareen John
Here’s something I know – The kindness of strangers is the most beautiful kind there is. It sparks joy and makes one want to pay it forward many times over.
Love your posts, Joy, Sundays or not! Keep them coming..
Much, much love!!
Linda L
This is my current favorite
At the deepest levels he creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer. Rachel Naomi Reven
Peggy Cone
“There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen was right.
amy
Sunday morning…while the house is still quiet and the rest of the family is sleeping, I pour my coffee, I open my laptop & I look for “Let it Be” in the list of unread blogs. Your posts (well, & let’s be honest…sleeping kiddos, a brief reprieve of the constant activity & needs of others & a good cup of coffee!) set the tone for my Sundays. Some days I take 3, 4, 5 things that I need, some days there are things I can’t wait to share with those I love and some days there is just a slight smile & a heart of gratitude for this weekly practice that you share with the world….important, frivolous, beautiful and useful…yes! But also genuine, honest and good.
Some weeks when I think this world is a cold, awful, place and that we are all going straight to hell, I will read a link from Let it Be and my belief in humanity is restored (last week it was The Crane Wife…a few weeks before that it was the story about the college student who had been bedridden for 11 years & discovered a cure for his illness).
Thank you for sharing each week…thank you for the gift you give! I found your website years ago because of a random recipe someone forwarded me…your spirit, your realness, you just being you is the reason I’m still here! My love to you! ~ Amy
Jean Kastanek
Your beautiful words express exactly how I feel. Thanks for sharing.
Rena
Although the table in our kitchen is a big one I always love your Sunday posts! Thank you!
xx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
http://www.dressedwithsoul.com
Katie
I love the idealized version of your Let It Be Sunday post readings :)
Here’s what I know: Learning how to say no to things from time to time is one of the kindest things you can do for yourself.
Raluca
Yes. This is being smart AND kind.
Jaclyn Levy
The only way to the light at the end of the tunnel if through the darkness. I’ve been through some tough stuff this summer but I knew I needed to let myself feel all the feelings before I could get better. Our society can often put on a lot of pressure to be happy happy happy all the time, but it’s ok to let yourself feel the full breadth of emotions we have at our disposal. They serve a purpose and can help in the healing process. ?? Happy Thursday!
Doris Goldberg
A health scare can be the greatest gift. My breast cancer diagnosis clearly put into focus the most important things in my
life-my health (physical, mental, and emotional), and my family. If I am ever again tempted to lose my focus, for whatever reason, I only need to see that huge scar on my chest to remind me once again of what’s truly precious.
Melanie
Sunshine on your face can make you so happy, even for a few minutes!
Debby Benterud
John Denver
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely!
Sunshine almost all the time, makes me high
If I had a day that I could give to you …
I give to you a day just like today
I know that each day is precious and full and its a gift – the present.
Judy
The love of a dog makes anything in life better.(or cats perhaps, if that’s your cuppa, but I am horribly allergic, so never shared my home with them….)
Tiberia
Or bunnies :)
Jess Melgey
Amen to that!
Amy
Basically any creature (or plant) that makes your heart sing! :)
Christine
If we can remember these things: “we are more than the worst things we have ever done,” (Bryan Stevenson) and we all laugh, cry, love, and dream, the other stuff doesn’t really matter. We can build bridges over it.
Dolores Batz-Culp
I think the second bullet should say “Life” not Live..
My quote is from my dearly departed Mom, who died too soon, but imparted wisdom in her short time with me.
• You can learn something from everyone.
My addition to it is, “Even if it is how not to be.”
Ulla
This.
Rachel
I love your Sunday posts Joy. I really appreciate that you post them when you do, so that over here in England I can rad it with my Sunday morning coffee and crumpets :)
Sandy
I don’t have a quote to offer right now, but I do have validation that how you envision your “Let It be Sunday” posts received, you are spot on! They help make my Sunday mornings complete (with coffee!) before I take on the day. Thank you for being thoughtful and taking the time (hours?) to compile and compose your Sunday “love letter”. xo
Courtney
A child’s laughter can make most problems, for the shortest of seconds, seem not so bad.
Anne
Spending time in nature is magical and good for the soul. The beauty there is endless and breath taking.