Enjoying these almond blossoms in our backyard! This season is such a great reminder that old things can become new again. Whether you realize it or not, this same kind of renewal is possible for you. So if life has been tough lately, there’s a glimmer of hope right around the corner. Just take it one step at a time – sometimes it’s all you can do.

When asked why she does it, she had one answer: love. • "I would just love [my foster kids] just like they were my own, probably more than I should," Linda said. • "I cried when the kids would leave my home, no matter how long they had been there. It was so hard for me to say goodbye to them. I always questioned, 'Why do I keep doing this?' because it was never easy to say goodbye to a child. But I kept doing it because I had so much love to give to these children in need." Via: sunnyskyz.com

Episode 2 is out! @vanessa.bradford & @seanhunter give their thoughts and tips on dealing with sentimental items while decluttering. • The listener question this episode is: “How do I emotionally declutter?” • If you like the podcast, go ahead and pound that like and subscribe button! We appreciate any love and support you all give. 💛

Finished the year strong with this launch! Now on iTunes and Spotify. Happy New Year guys!

Thomas Panek has has always been an avid runner, however, he made history on Sunday at the New York City Half Marathon. . While visually impaired competitors usually use human guides, Panek became the first person to complete the race supported by guide dogs. . His trio of Labrador Retrievers, who took turns pacing him along the 13.1 mile course, were the first canine athletes to compete in the race. . The team finished just shy of two hours and 21 minutes. . Panek, who lost his eyesight in his early 20s, said that while he appreciated the support of human volunteers, he missed the feeling of independence. . "It never made sense to me to walk out the door and leave my guide dog behind when I love to run and they love to run," Panek told CNN. "It was just a matter of bucking conventional wisdom and saying why not." . Panek says he hopes his accomplishment will inspire others with visual disabilities to keep pushing the bounds of what they think are possible. . "Running with your dog is wonderful and if they can do a job while they're doing it and sure, it happens to be 13.1 miles through the streets of New York city but we're going to get it done. I know we will."

Dan Laguardia was trading in his Scion at Auto City in El Cajon for a new BMW and overheard Kayla Cooper pleading with a salesman to help her finance a car. . Seoul Fields, an employee at Auto City, shared the story on his Facebook page: . "So this happened tonight.... there was a gentleman buying a BMW trading in an older Scion XB. About the same time young girl comes in trying to purchase a Corolla, she's a struggling student working 2 jobs, but unfortunately wasn't able to finance a car. She broke down into tears as a salesperson was consoling her we all felt really bad but there's not much you can do. . She leaves and the gentleman, asks if we were able to help her. The salesperson says no and is visibly upset about it. The guy says call your customer back I'm giving her my trade in. . She comes back a few minutes later, he signs over the title and hands her the keys. While he sat in finance, she sat in the car crying.... God is good!" . According to 10 News, Cooper is in nursing school and has been borrowing cars from family and friends to get to work. She said she was going to lose her job if she couldn't find a car before the end of the month. . "I was shaking," said Cooper. "It's a whole car; how can someone be so generous to give their car away?" . "The car had more value to her than it did for me trading it in," said Laguardia. . "That gives her a bit of a jump start in life. Which, if everybody did that for everybody else, we'd be in a much better place."

A single father has taken his son, who has cerebral palsy, to over 1,200 heavy metal concerts since finding out how much the music genre soothed and comforted him. . Richard McDeid first realized his son loved heavy metal music when Mason was just a baby. According to McDeid, all Mason did was cry from when he was a baby until a toddler. . One day, McDeid put on a Metallica video while he did the dishes and noticed the crying had stopped. . In fact, Mason had fallen asleep to the music. ... He's organized a metal festival in his son's honor to help raise awareness of the condition.

3 areas I’ve focused on that have changed my life Minimalism: For the last 6 or 7 years I’ve been trying to get rid of stuff. Possessions that no longer bring joy or provide value. All things that take up a ton of space both physically and mentally. The years leading up to this, I started to have more anxiety. Visually the house and garage looked chaotic. Even if I wasn’t consciously thinking about clutter, subconsciously it was stressing me out. Nothing was really organized and I was getting tired of not being able to find things. I would clean the house but it never felt clean. I had personal projects I wanted to work on in the garage but not enough space to do them comfortably. I realized I excess stuff was preventing me from living my life to the fullest. Something had to change.. In 2014 I came across a Tedx talk about minimalism. It changed the way I saw my clutter and possessions. From then on until this past December I’ve worked on minimizing everything. You know what I noticed? •I have less anxiety •Cleaning the house takes significantly less time (even with a toddler and baby) •Everything truly has a place (saves time both in putting it away and retrieving it!) •Less time cleaning and searching for things means more time for what’s really important. Not to mention being able to enjoy spending time in your house. This process has left me with those items that I truly value. I can actually enjoy them more. •Bonus.. it can save you money because you’re more careful with what you bring into your home now that you spent all that time removing things from it. Minimalism naturally transitioned into the idea of ESSENTIALISM. • • Continued in comments..

What a great story! This is what Adam Kightlinger (center of photo) shared: Today I decided to go play downtown San Diego by the USS Midway Museum. I arrived around 11:30 am and started my jam session. The crowds of people who walked by me were giving today, throwing in a fair amount of cash and dollar bills as I played. I also noticed off to the right of where I was standing there were 3 men sleeping on the lawn and looked like they were homeless and or in need of help. They sat up and listened to a few songs here and there, giving me a thumbs up and even smiling after I would finish a song. As time progressed the next moment changed my life. Michael Briggs (the man who is left of me in the photo) walked up to me and asked if he could have 1 single dollar to get food, he said he already had two dollars and wanted to go down to the store and get a 3 dollar egg sandwich. I looked at my cash bundle and I only had around 65 dollars in the guitar case at that point. I told Michael: You can take all of it if you'd like" Michael said: "Wait, really?" as he started to cry and say "why?" I said: "Because you are hungry and In a few hours you are going to be hungry again, so you'll need some extra cash to get a big meal." Michael turned around and placed his hands over his face as he cried, my heart started to well up as I realized this man maybe eats once a day and has been struggling for many years now. Michael walked over to my guitar case and he took 1 single dollar, not all of it, just ONE DOLLAR." He said: "I know folks who need this more then me, so because your a good man and wanted to help me, it's only right I do what you did and help someone else" Michael goes and grabs Stanley (the man to the right of me in the photo). Stanley comes up and says: "Can I have 3 dollars for an egg sandwich." I told him: "You can have all of it if you'd like" Stanley started to cry as well and also asked me "why"? I said: "I am going to treat you the same as I treated Michael, I don't need to know you to care about you, plus you all have been very supportive of my music the last hour or so showing me some love." [Continued in comments]

"I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without opponent—no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.” -Seneca • • Plenty of times in life I’ve wished my hardships away. Wanted different outcomes for things in my past. But ultimately, I would not be who I am today without having pushed through it all. The character you develop through hardship isn’t something I would ever want to change. -@seanhunter • • Photographer: @simonwijers