Choosing Health, Wealth and Happiness
If you had to pick just one color of the rainbow to love, which color would you pick? Do you have an absolute favorite or does it depend on the day? Does it depend on the season? Does it depend on your mood?
I know this seems like a silly question but it might help me figure out if we can be friends.
If you look deep into your heart, into your soul what is it that you truly want? Seriously think about it. I will wait.
I just read that opening line again and a song lyric popped into my head. “Tell me what you want, what your really, really want” by the Spice Girls. YES, I had to look that up! Sorry… I digress!
How many answers have you come up with? One? Three? Five? Zero?
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Continue reading “Playing Offense”I worked outdoors this morning in a steady but light rain. For four hours and fifteen minutes, I raked leaves, I piled leaves on tarps, I dragged leaves and I blew leaves all over the place. The temperature was 48 degrees and the sun was nowhere to be found. By the time I stopped, I was hungry, exhausted and rather wet!
Do you know what else I was? I was happy. Yup, happy. I am not the type of person to go to the gym. The thought of running scares me and taking an exercise class is not my idea of fun. Working hard in the fresh air until my muscles burn is my idea of exercise. Getting paid to do it is like icing on the cake. Would I have preferred some sunshine and a bit of warmer weather? Of course – but I can’t control the weather so why complain about it?
On a scale of 1-10 how happy are you? What would it take to move that number to the right 1 or 2 digits? Seriously what would it take? Would you need to win the lottery? Would a vacation to a beach resort do it? How about coming home to a clean house and dinner on the table?
These all seem like they would help, however in reality, I am willing to bet they don’t move the needle in the right direction for more than a hot minute. Winning the lottery is out of my control and as I rarely even bother to buy a ticket it, is not likely to happen. Vacationing in a beach resort sounds great but is not in my budget and although the needle would move, the minute I returned home, I bet it would fall back to its starting point. Coming home to a clean house and dinner on the table – yup that would help. That would even help even if I did all of the work!
You know that saying “practice makes perfect”? The idea being that if you keep working at something you will get better and as you get better you near perfection. I don’t totally agree with this idea as there are plenty of things that I do frequently but don’t get better at. For instance, I have been tying my shoes for over 45 years but still find that they come undone during the day. I played squash for several years; playing in a league, practicing drills and playing with others but I never felt competent. I could practice drawing a picture of my dog for the next decade but the picture would always look like it was drawn by a 3 year-old.
You know that feeling when you get into intense concentration mode? Your head is down and you are focused on the task at hand. You have a deadline to meet, a goal to reach, a task to complete. You don’t have time for anything else and you do not want to be disturbed. You won’t stop to stretch, to pee or even to get a drink of water. Depending on what you need to get done and how far along in the process, this can be overwhelming or satisfying.
Some of us are so stressed we never get out of this mode. We always feel under the gun, far behind and unable to catch up. Can you think back to a time when you felt like this? I know I can and my stomach turns just thinking about the pressure. When I am under a great deal of pressure, I start to shut down. I am unable to think about anything other than completing the work.
Have you ever thought about living in a van? I don’t mean being homeless but purposefully living in a van that has been converted into living space. This is kind of like my Tiny House idea but with a twist! With a conversion van, I could travel without ever leaving my home. No need to pack, to get someone to check in on the house, to worry about forgetting something important. Everything I own would come with me wherever I went. Just gas up the van and get on the road. A friend of mine owns one and she recently gave us a tour. It had everything one needs for living a simple life and you can take it with you wherever you go.
2018 is winding down and I have a few goals I haven’t yet reached. One of my happiness goals is to complete a 7 Days/7 Gives. Every day for 7 days I plan on doing something for another person, an animal or the environment. One small step every day for 7 days. I haven’t yet figured out what steps I will take but I figured I could get myself in the mood by sharing something I did last year in an effort to not quarantine gratitude.
Last year, I wrote a letter to my friend Sue who was my first boss when I was in high school. She and her husband Chris (who has passed away) ran the one and only local restaurant and I worked for them all through high school and college. Both of them have had a tremendous influence on me and I wanted to express my gratitude to her for everything they did for me. If reading this inspires even one person to write a gratitude letter themselves, I will be thrilled!
I use this blog as my therapy. There, I said it – my secret is out. I don’t write for you or for my friends or family. I write this blog for me. I write to keep myself sane. I write to figure out how to solve big and small problems. I write to make better decisions day in and day out. If you follow this blog at all, you know that I have been slacking lately. One of my goals for 2018 was to average six posts per month. I am currently averaging less than four. Oops – time to get back on track.
Continue reading “Everyone I Know Needs Therapy – Even You!”
My local library has a huge book sale twice per year in a warehouse. Wandering the aisles is entertaining and you never know what you will find. I bought and just finished reading “How Full is Your Bucket?” by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton. It is a short, easy to read book that uses a metaphor of a dipper and a bucket to help us increase our happiness and improve our relationships.
According to the book; “Each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it is empty, we feel awful. Each of us also has an invisible dipper. When we use that dipper to fill other people’s bucket – by saying or doing things to increase their positive emotions – we also fill our own bucket. But when we use that dipper to dip from others’ buckets – by saying or doing things that decrease their positive emotions – we diminish ourselves.”
