Happy Places

Earlier this week, I returned to one of my favorite happy places - Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millennium Park.

Even on a gray, cloudy day, it offered the kind of peace I can count on.

Nestled in the middle of a bustling city, this garden is a quiet refuge where I get to slow down.

Spring is just beginning to wake up.

Tiny buds poking through the soil, early flower blooms starting to open, hints of color emerging.

Roughly three more weeks until the garden will be bursting like the picture below from almost this time last year.

What makes this place so meaningful to me?

It is not just its beauty.

It is what it invites me to do.

Breathe.

Pause.

Notice.

I often listen to a meditation when I visit, letting the sounds of the city fade into the background as I reconnect with the rhythm of nature.

I can find stillness in the middle of skyscrapers and sirens.

Lurie Garden reminds me that peace doesn’t require isolation.

Peaceful moments can exist side by side with movement and noise.

That contrast is part of the magic.

Do you have a happy place like Lurie Garden?

A spot where your shoulders relax, your breath deepens, and your thoughts settle?

Create your life.

🍨

P.S. Lurie Garden is 2.5 acres of Chicago's Millennium Park dedicated to eco-friendly botanical landscaping with city views. (Thank you, Google Maps, for the description.)

Waypoint 314 (Y7 W2)