My Joy List
March 25th - April 14th: hanami, ramen, sushi, & more from Japan
You’re reading a newsletter from Syd, an NYC-born gal who quit her “golden handcuffs” job and moved to Amsterdam to follow her heart’s calls for a path less traveled. Here, I share the challenges and wins of my own journey from people pleasing & perfectionism to authenticity, balance, joy, & freedom. Beyond this page, I coach fellow high achievers along their own journey. You may find comfort, empowerment, inspiration, and/or community. Welcome 🫶🏻
My dearest sunshiney souls!!
I’ve been away in… JAPAN!! Magic. You’ll get a glimpse of things in my joy list but so much of what I want to share is still marinating. More soon!
One of the best things I learned is the Japanese have a name for the practice of flower watching: “hanami.” That’s how important flower watching is. I mean, how incredible!?! I had the privilege of seeing hanami in full force thanks to cherry blossom season. Think: tons of people having picnics on blankets under large cherry blossoms in parks and along rivers. Like I said, magic!!
While I was gone, spring ARRIVED in Amsterdam. I returned to green and flowers everywhere. You better believe I’m keeping up hanami. I went for a long walk in the park yesterday and my eyes were bulging at the vibes, the sun, the people, the nature. EEEP. Amsterdam makes spring a contender for my favorite season.
Other thoughts/ideas I’m mulling:
if somebody told you you had to delay or cancel something on your radar, would you be upset, let down? Or relieved? Maybe that’s the litmus test of how right something is for us.
if there’s something we don’t agree with or like about the world, we must be vulnerably different to create the world we want to see. Our unusual action isn’t necessarily wrong, even if people first respond with surprise or fear; it may be the breath of fresh air the world needs. This is why it’s so important to follow our hearts instead of norms. Norms can be very wrong.
extra time is self care.
Laughter is a universal language. How powerful and magical.
Thank you for the courage to be honest. Thank you for the reminder that resentment is my own poison. Thank you for the awareness that letting go is the fastest way to peace.
While I was gone, I couldn’t stop thinking about how desperately the world needs joy spotting right now. It’s urgent.
So, let’s get on to a list that spans from Amsterdam to Japan! Happy joy spotting :)
Joy spotting: the practice of noticing little moments of joy surrounding us all the time (more)
Catching up with Margot over my mani
The little smile on my sun and moon nail art
the tall green plants on the way to the gym with the lillypad-like flowers
Learning about hanami, a Japanese ritual of “flower watching”
The text from chay abt the plaza rooms
The yellow flowers blossoming on our morning walk with roobs
The sound of the birds chirping and the blue sky on our 7am walk to the grocery store
The yellow flowers blossoming on our walk home from the grocery store
Seeing options for our wedding
Finding out Amanda will be coming to Amsterdam
Joking around with A in the airport and on the plane before takeoff
Spotting the French bloom display upon arrival at the hotel
The cherry blossom leaves falling at the shrine we stumbled on on our way to dinner
Detouring through a back alley in a residential neighborhood to the unagi restaurant
The moment we realized we were eating alone in a private room at the restaurant
Translating from Dutch to Japanese to capture the essence of “lekker”
The little clogs in the restaurant bathroom
The 6 and 7 year old boys eating a full omakase sushi at the bar next to us
The way the torched toro melted in my mouth
Our sushi chef giving us recommendations for places to go in Tokyo for dashi and Takayama for cherry blossoms
The smooth, lightly sweetened green tea mousse at the end of our omakase
The rich, delicious egg yolks in my fried eggs at breakfast
The melt-in-my-mouth sweet melon at breakfast
The tiny, fabulous bananas
The bouquet in the woman’s bag going up the escalator from the train to Shibuya
My new little fluffy purple friend hanging off my bag
The way the sun shined off the cherry blossom in the middle of the shibuya shopping street
Looking at the photos and videos of Ruby we got over night from Jen first thing in the morning in bed with A
The personal tissue box for every person at the ramen place
The insanely delicious broth for my ramen
Putting on bibs with A to eat our ramen
The sushi chef’s laugh when I showed him the translation telling him we were already getting full
Our sushi chef starting to dance and sing beegees music at the end of dinner
The moment everybody at the sushi counter erupted in laughter when I loudly responded “hai!” To a question from the chef
Learning the people at the end of the sushi bar were the chef’s grown kids
The way we could laugh so hard with the chef and his kids at the sushi bar even though we could hardly communicate through words
The deliciously large, juicy dried figs we found in the food market in the basement of the mall next to our hotel
The paper cutout of Mt. Fuji Mimi gave us to hold up to the window on the train in light of clouds blocking the real thing
Finding out a hand heart symbol means engaged in Japan culture
Walking with A around the old, small community we stayed in in the Kiso Valley
The little gardens in front of most of the homes in the community
The lilac flowers in front of that one house
The heated toilet seat at the rest stop on our nature walk
The permissibility of spending all our time at the ryokan in our yukata, including all our meals
The lavender scented bath products at our ryokan
The glass of fresh milk with breakfast
Rice for breakfast
The little Japanese boy who biked by us on our walk to sushi and proudly said “hello”
The little white flowers on hair-like strands on the bush on our walk back from sushi near the ryokan
Dancing with A in our room at the ryokan to start a Melissa Wood Health flow
Doing a photo shoot with A on the balcony of our room at the ryokan
Laughing with the ryokan’s restaurant manager when he came to make our shabu shabu and I said “he’s backkkkk”
Pouring chilled water from the wooden bucket onto my body after time in the sauna and onsen
The fully blossomed Sakura tree outside the Lawson right after leaving the ryokan
Opening my eyes to a long string of cherry blossoms as we pulled into the Kyoto train station
The cherry blossoms in full bloom lining the canal on our way to philosophers path
The little white flowers in a vase in Kaikado (the metal jar store)
the way the sun is hitting the cherry blossoms lining the street i just stumbled on
accidentally coming across the beautiful chocolates at Assemblages Kakimoto
The sweet melt-in-my-mouth unagi in Kyoto
Walking the philosophers path alone a second time without taking many photos
the stunning and unique dried flower arrangements at the store after the philosophers path
Eating my matcha KitKat while strolling slowly alone through a quiet residential neighborhood
The sunset over the mountains as we crossed the bridge on our way to Kura revolving sushi
The dad carrying a child on both his front and back on the Fushimi Inari trail
The way the mom held her daughters hand while walking next to said father with kids
The pink miffy doll hanging off the girl’s pink Jansport backpack on the train to Uji
Getting two of the last available matcha containers at Nakamura Tokichi
The stunning pottery at Asahiyaki In Uji
Taking a photo with the head ceramist’s mom and wife
The juicy and incredibly flavorful tonkatsu Sando at tonkatsu shimizu in Kyoto
The adorable smile and good energy from the chef at sushidokoro Man
The beautiful large asparagus on the Man counter
The smoothness of the chopped squid nigiri at Man in Kyoto
The melt-in-my-mouth mango to close out our meal at Man
Chef Umehara’s adorable wife seeing us out of Man
The way my fruit bowl fit perfectly in my to-go container for the train
Seeing Mimi’s text on the train saying she misses us already
Seeing mt Fuji clearly on the train back to Tokyo
Rounding the bend to see the floating tulip planters return to the park
Spotting the mama and her ducklings swimming around the tulip planters
Sending A a boogie check photo
The navy and white polka dot bow tie on the small white poodle while walking home from the grocery store
May you too allow your awareness to open to and linger on the joys around you, even and especially when the darkness feels abundant. Here’s a big virtual hug <3
Love,
Syd