Happy?

“Now and then it's good to pause in our
pursuit of happiness and just be happy.”
~{Guilaume Apollinaire}~

Guilaume reminds us that so much of happiness depends on just enjoying whatever we happen to be doing. It’s good to do what we like, but better still to like what we do.

So relax and enjoy yourself, even if you are not doing what would optimally create happiness.

Plans...

I can already tell you that I did not get done much of what I planned to do this summer. I did not plant most of the flower gardens with my Prinsessies, nor a number of trees I had planned.

The weeds made a mockery of our vacation (“Ha. You think you can just go away and we’ll wither on our own? No way, we wanna grow!)

And all those hiking and canoe trips? I never even got around to acquiring the canoe.

But I did have a great summer and I did do a lot of amazing things.

It’s OK for plans to go astray. Do your best to make new plans as you go, and make sure they are the best plans you can do with your time. In the end, you will look back with no regrets.

Freedom...

Happiness is feeling free.

Yes, that sense of having control over your own life is probably the single biggest feature that differentiates happiness levels between nations. That does not mean that everyone living in dictatorships is unhappy; in fact, many of them might feel very free in many aspects of their daily lives. Nor does it mean that everybody living in the “free world” feels particularly free all the time; many people might feel constrained by debt, workplace commitments and red tape.

But real freedom from fear and control are two big factors that do raise the happiness bar wherever they take root. Just another reason to work for peace and freedom everywhere.

Courage

It takes fear to produce courage. The "brave" knight who charges off on his trusty steed to smite the dragon, thinking not of danger is hardly very courageous.

The terrified messenger who brings the dragon an invitation to dual the "brave" knight, shows much more courage.

What makes somebody courageous?

It is how we deal with fear. It is OK to feel fear. Everybody does.

You can show courage by doing what you know you should do in spite of your fear.

But it doesn't mean you need to be as stupid as the penguin...

Simple?

"laminals". What is laminals? Well, it just happens to be how my middle Prinsessie pronounced "animals", for the first couple years of talking. (OK, so she's still doing it and she's 8 years old).

What is so hard about the word "animals". Even when broken down repeatedly into three sounds "A-NI-MALS"; "A-NI-MALS" she still can't pronounce it.

Don't make assumptions about what anybody can or cannot do. What seems simple to one person might be beyond hope for others.

I use to be an explosives expert and defused bombs for a living. What do you mean you can't do it? It's easy.

I'll bet there are things you do daily that would send me into knots trying to figure out. It's a good thing, though.

After all, where would we be if all of us were experts at gardening or cooking and none of us were experts at plumbing?

Tradition...

First you make your habits, and then your habits make you. You become a slave to your constantly repeated acts. What at first you chose, at last compels.

Your thoughts lead you to a purpose.
Your purpose moves you to take action.
Your actions form your habits.
Your habits determine your character,
and your character fixes your destiny.

Your habits are either the best of servants or the worst of masters.

Once in motion, a pattern tends to stay in motion.

Are you in a pattern?

Wisdom...

"If you don't control what you think about,
somebody else will."
~{John Tschohl}~

Fun?

When was the last time you made a mountain out of your mashed potatoes and let the gravy overflow like lava?

When was the last time you spelled "smile" in your alphabet soup? When was the last time you even ate alphabet soup?

When was the last time you crumpled up a flyer and kicked it as if it is a rugby ball, as you threw it away?

Amazingly, most of us forget to have fun.

Silly us. Or rather, not-silly-enough us.

Get a little silly today and have some fun.

Wisdom...

Faith is the key to a universe
full of blessings.

Sleeping fit...

Sleep... Sleep... Sleep...

What can be more boring?

But also, what can be more exciting. Sleep improves our physical and mental performance. It improves our mood. It improves our judgement. It increases our enjoyment.

Eight hours at night (not the typical 6½ hours) is ideal. Enough to ward off sleep debt.

Even better if you can take a 20-minute refresher nap in early-afternoon. More than 20 minutes and deeper sleep starts setting in and you wake up groggy part-way through. Our body temperature fluctuates in the afternoon the same way as at night, with a rise and dip.

So get fit…with sleep.

Word...

" Don't let your today get spoiled with the
regret of yesterday & fear of tomorrow.
Just live the best & leave the rest."

Don't say never...

Don't think that there is such thing as "no chance".

If you think about the things you can't do, you are missing out. Only think about the things you can do.

No matter what the level of your ability is, you have more potential than you can ever develop in a lifetime.

You have powers you never dreamed of. You can do things you never thought you could do. There are no limitations to what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.

Your range of available choices right now is limitless. Look at things as they can be.

Your own happiness...

You are in charge. That’s right, nobody controls your happiness but you.

It can be a scary prospect, wielding such influence over one’s own happiness. When we realize that happiness is within our control, there are suddenly no excuses, nobody to blame, no scapegoats. There is no more, “She made me angry” or “if only this would happen”. We each control our own happiness, and we each choose when we will feel happy.

But sometimes it is easier to just let other people decide our happiness. That is why we so easily fall into reacting to others and their actions. But that puts our happiness in their hands. And if there is one thing scarier than placing our happiness in our own hands, it’s placing our happiness in somebody else’s.

Jumping for joy...

What do you think is the bestest form of fitness for happiness?

Jumping for joy, of course. And it is so very easy to do. It takes no particular equipment, and there is motivation all around.

You can jump for joy when you wake up. Yeah, it’s a brand new day!

You can jump for joy when you see your partner, kids, parents, friends, colleagues…all those wonderful people that make the tapestry of your life wonderful.

You can jump for joy when you breathe, a wonderful sensation without which life just would not be the same.

In fact, every occasion is a chance to jump for joy. So let’s get fit the happy way today!

Shhh, listen!

My Prinsessies have this bad habit of screaming into my ear. It's as though they think that the louder they shout, the better I'll hear. It doesn't matter how many times and ways I try to convince them that I will listen better if they lower their voice; they are not paying attention. It does not matter whether I lower my voice, raise it, turn away or look them straight in the eye.

The magic lasts only for a minute or two, then the bellowing begins again.

Adults do this too. We often think that we will get our point across by hammering it home. But often we can get our point across by listening better. Others will listen to us not by how loud we speak, but by how loud we listen. And if we can find our point somewhere in what they said, we can quietly drive our point home just by agreeing with them.

Word 4 Today…

Your thoughts are one of your
most powerful spiritual tools.
Use them wisely!

Sounds

Reading a post on TeaTime with Thea, "Geveerde Vriende", made me think about the relaxing calmness that goes together with birds...

There is few things in life more pleasant than listening to the sounds of the birds in the stillness of the evening and watching the stars come out.

The sun has gone down.

Traffic has all but stopped (in most places). The noise has all followed the people indoors. But few of us take the time to really enjoy the evening, as we also head indoors.

Could it be that we are heading in the wrong direction.

Isn't evening the ideal time to de-stress in the calm, cool air?

Rediscover the birds and the stars in the relaxing evening air.

Vibe...

What is it?

Vibes is emissions that give others a sense of your thoughts or feelings.

To experience good vibes, is in general terms to experience that a situation, company, person or similar is pleasant, emotionally aligned with oneself. The origin of this term is derived from the word vibration.

You know when you walk into a place and immediately you feel at home/welcome? Well we often refer to it as a place with good vibes.

But more often we would pick up Bad Vibes quicker than we would Good Vibes.

Bad Vibes could be defined as meaning that all uncomfortable, uneasy, unsafe feelings. Bad vibes are those cautious "stay away, don't do it, don't trust it, watch out, be careful, keep on your toes" instincts that alerted us that something was not okay.

We are quick to define another place or person's vibe, but what about our own vibe?

What is the feeling/aura we send out?
Do people feel safe/happy/content in your presence?

If not, what are you going to do about it?
Change your vibe...

Life?

Details?

Everything looks bigger with a magnifying glass. So when things look too small, why not take out a magnifying glass?

This advice might seem obvious for reading the instructions on a bottle of medication, but what about taking out one’s proverbial magnifying glass when one’s world feels too small or one’s circle of friends seems to small or somehow one’s luck seems too small.

Eg. :

• Instead of focusing on the quantity, focus on the details.
• This is my room, and it really is a marvellous place.
• I have just two friends, but look what good friends they are.
• Not much good seems to be coming my way of late, but look at these two things that did happen. Wow! Those were great.

With a magnifying glass, everything seems bigger because we can see all the beautiful details in their splendid glory.

Dog food

Got this from a friend...

I have 2 dogs & I was buying a large bag of Winalot in Tesco and was standing in the queue at the till. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

On impulse, I told her that no, I was starting The Winalot Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the hospital last time. However, not before I'd lost 50 pounds and then awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and the way that it works is to load your trouser pockets with Winalot nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.

I have to mention here that practically everyone in the queue was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a guy who was behind her.

Horrified, she asked if I'd ended up in the hospital in that condition because I had been poisoned. I told her no, it was because I'd been sitting in the road licking myself and a car hit me.

I thought one guy was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard as he staggered out the door.

Stupid cow..........why else would I buy dog food??

Forgiving

Here’s a slogan for you:

Forgiveness – the ultimate revenge.

Let’s face it, if somebody is really trying to hurt you, they want a reaction. They want you to feel anger, to feel pain. When we forgive, we take power away from our enemies. A forgiven enemy cannot hurt us; we become immune.

Forgiveness is not just a holy imperative; it is the ultimate revenge.

Learn the art of forgiving,
And apply it to yourself first.
Then it becomes easy
To forgive others.

Hakuna matata...

Hakuna matata is a Swahili phrase that is literally translated as "There are no worries".

We worry too much. We all do. We worry about things we really need not worry about. We worry about things we can do nothing to change. We worry about things that others are already worrying about for us. We worry about things that will never happen.

Write them all down. Write down your worries and fold the paper. Place it in an envelope and put on plenty of postage. Address it to anywhere far away. Send your worries to Antarctica or to the North Pole. Send them to Dracula or to the Easter Bunny. Send them to Nobody and to Everybody. Send them to the county dump. Just send them away.

Now, lean back and get a good night’s sleep.

Word...

Think only on those
things that are perfect,
beautiful, and pure.

Ma'ie....

May your very special day
Overflow with love and peace,
Thank God for his grace and mercy
His wonders to me never cease.
Each life you've been blessed to touch
Reminds us to persevere,
Your commitment and obedience to God
Opens hearts and minds, it's clear.
Unwavering strength you possess
A devoted servant in all that you do,
Reverence the One from whom you're made
Ever faithful, ever loving, ever true.
Let's celebrate and enjoy this moment
Or reminisce about years ago,
Vow we have to cherish you
Even more than you'll ever know.
Dear Ma'ie, Happy Birthday!

Humble...

I need to apologize for something.

I am certainly no role model for humility. I admit that I think far too much of myself far too often. My opinions are always right…or I can correct them so that they will always be right. Let’s face it, I am not a very humble person.

I should be.

This is a big world. God is big. Life is big. The universe is big. Everything functioned beautifully for millions of years before I came along and will function wonderfully for yonks to come when my speckle of time has elapsed.

Each of us is special. Each of us is unique. Each of us has a pivotal role to play in the outcome of everything. But let’s not get carried away with it.

Face in the mirror

Make a face in the mirror.

Make another.

Make sure they are funny faces.

We adults sometimes get so caught up in our serious worlds that we forget to act silly.

Acting silly is a great stress reliever. It's not that we are happier when we act silly, as much that we are usually happier if we act silly every now and then.

So go ahead and make a silly face in the mirror.