22 August 2021 – Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy, but sunshine on your shoulders thrills me more. If I look back at my first 50 years of life, I notice that my very happiest moments are when I can see true sunshine on those I love. Just as I associate dark clouds with sadness, grief and trouble, I associate sunshine with happiness, joy and hope. If I could make it so the sunshine on those I love, I would. Spreading sunshine is my purpose in life. I have never had a problem with giving and loving and making everyone’s days brighter. It fills me with pure joy.

"If I had a day that I could give you
I'd give to you the day just like today
If I had a song that I could sing for you
I'd sing a song to make you feel this way"

~ "Sunshine on my Shoulders" by John Denver

I have a problem with setting boundaries sometimes. When I am trying to bring sunshine to someone’s life, I can allow myself to be a people pleaser. I was told that my people-pleasing is called the ‘fawn’ response. We have all heard of the different responses we have in response to trauma. When we are faced with trauma, we either fight and become aggressive, flee from it or freeze, becoming incapable of doing anything. There is also a fourth reaction, the fawn response. The ‘fawn’ response is the instinct to respond by avoiding conflict and trauma by people-pleasing developed as a response to trauma.

I might sometimes do things for others out of a fawn response, but mostly I do things for others because I don’t want them to be burdened. I believe sometimes the warmest sunshine comes from having your burdens lifted. We all need help now and then, and I will always do anything I can do to help others. I want everyone to feel the sunshine. Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.