I truly believe that you create your own happiness. That doesn’t mean at all that when bad things happen you should plant a false smile on your face and pretend all is well. I’m talking about a basic decision you make deep inside to lean toward the positive in life and have the happiness come FROM you, rather than merely reacting to what is going on around you.
Remaining curious, learning new things, reaching out are all part of the same basic core idea that it’s your life and your decision how you spend it.
Part of my own personal happiness is discovering yet another talented person – in-person or online – whose gift takes my breath away. I’m so glad to live on the same planet as the people creating beauty in music, art, photography, and countless other media. My biggest regret is that my life is finite and I won’t be able to experience all of the beauty. What a way to go, though! :0)
Life is hard these days. Harder, I think, in many ways, than it’s ever been. Not only are there differing opinions on almost everything, but the opinions quickly escalate into divisiveness, factions, name calling, and hate. There seems little we can DO about any of it.
I find my own personal reactions vacillate from being appalled at the actions of sick, hate-filled people, grieving about the innocent lives lost or forever changed, and frustrated that the problems are caused by problems so complex that they are almost impossible to solve. I’m numbed by the mindless spouting of rhetoric on all sides that hasn’t changed since I was a teenager. The actual problems are so much deeper that people are scared to really examine the causes or possible solutions.
I alternately listen to and read everything I can, then get depressed and avoid exposure to any more news than I HAVE to. I escape with reading, music, time outside in my yard and garden, time in my art room, time on the computer, etc. I get “huggy,” – worried that things will get much worse. I clean things. I re-organize things. I chop things down. Anything I CAN control.
What it boils down to, I guess, is each of us caring, doing something if we can, and coping with whatever is happening. The picture at the top says it better than I – “Life would be better if we wore more tutus…”
Filed under Attitude, caring, Challenges, Changes
This image really hit me between the eyes.
It reminds me that as much as we are overwhelmed by what’s going on in the world, the power lies in each of us to do what we can, where we are, with what we have. It may be enough.
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Pictures
Filed under Attitude, building good habits, Encouragement
Whether you’re the smile-r – or the smile-eee – you’ll both feel better.
“Life is short. Smile while you still have teeth.” — Unknown
“If you see someone without a smile give them one of yours.” — Unknown
“Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.” – W.C. Fields
Panda-Blumchen on Twitter
Filed under Attitude
I did a LOT of good stuff yesterday. I was busy all day, used my time well, got a LOT of things checked off my to-do list. The problem is that I have more to add to the list each day than I checked off, so the list seems to be growing exponentially.
I’m TRYING to choose the highest priority items each day, thinking if I can get THEM checked off, I’ll be making headway. That’s a reasonable goal, but ALL the things are ‘priority.’ :0(
The HIGHEST priority today is OUTSIDE – my veggie garden maintenance and tomato pruning – because we have a stormy forecast for both tomorrow and Tuesday. And while I’m doing these highest priority items, I’m constantly reminding myself that my daily exercise – taking care of myself – ranks right up there, too. My house looks at me with its sad face because anything more than daily necessities there are taking a backseat to all the other stuff…. UGH.
I found this quote I like –
“The only thing more important than your to-do list is your to-be list. The only thing more important than your to-be list is to be. “The best way to get through any challenge is to step back, look up at the sky, breathe deeply in and out, smile if you have to…then dive in.” “To-do list : to-do list!”
And this –
Filed under Attitude, Challenges
I’m finally learning (I know – It’s about time…) that I shouldn’t let things overwhelm me. As I age, feeling overwhelmed is my first gut reaction. Thankfully, nowadays it’s not my ONLY reaction. Fast on the heels of my more immature feeling, I’m learning to break things down into doable chunks – or ‘what do I need to do first’ questions. Even, walk away for a couple of minutes, calm down, and THEN do the above.
This gut reaction has been with me all my life. I’m NOT the person who calmly deals with things in a crisis. My eyes glaze over and I’m engulfed by panic. A small example: Years ago, when my husband and I lived in our first home in Tulsa, OK, the garage apartment caught fire. I called my MOTHER first – before I called the fire department! (Yeah, I’m still embarrassed.)
So, when I’m feeling very small, overwhelmed, like the small child above looking up, I am consciously trying to keep my head and put one foot in front of the other, starting to deal with whatever happens as well as I can.
“Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are” – attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, but HE attributes it to Squire Bill Widener of Widener’s Valley, Virginia.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges
Today is the end of Week 3 of my new push to get the lard off and exercise more to get and stay healthier, whatever my age.
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I will measure at the end of April, but to date there is 28.7 inches less of me than at my heaviest.
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Feelings:
Onward to WEEK 4!
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises, DIET!, exercise
I guess you can tell by my posts that I’ve been enjoying listening to a lot of music lately. Music is magic, in my opinion, transporting us to another place, either taking us back to where we were when we first heard it, making aches, pains, concerns simply drop away, or take us to the place the singer takes us in a new song, or their take on a classic that makes us hear the words in a different way.
I’m lucky because I have a lot of coping mechanisms that give me some relief from the hostility and frustration and helplessness I feel about what is going on in our beautiful world or to keep me calm in the face of any unpleasantness or concerns I feel about what is going on in my personal world.
What coping mechanisms help you?
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, coping mechanisms
“To me old age is always fifteen years older than I am!” — Bernard Baruch
To be honest, I’m delighted to BE here, still able to annoy or entertain a bit without a lot of drama. My husband is sleeping in this morning. Our son is happy and doing well. Our animals are happy and healthy. Things are good in our own little world.
In the ‘I ain’t dead yet’ category, I’m enjoying ‘birthday greetings’ from my newest lust, Alan Ritchson, a luscious actor who plays the Reacher character on TV (Amazon Prime Video) from Lee Child’s (one of our favorite authors) books. We watched Season 1 the other day and are actively anticipating Season 2.
No huge festivities are planned for the day. My husband asked last night, “Hey. Do you want to go out or something?” (I swooned at the romance of it :0) ) A happy day is perfectly sufficient to my needs, so I’ll let him off the hook. Besides, he gets to all the birthdays first, so they don’t sting as much when I reach them – a thing I’ll always cherish.
It is lovely to meet an old person whose face is deeply lined, a face that has been deeply inhabited, to look in the eyes and find light there.”
— John O-Donohue
“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.”
— Criss Jami
Wisdom is the reward for surviving our own stupidity.”
— Brian Rathbone
“I’ve enjoyed every age I’ve been and each has had its own individual merit. Every laugh line, every scar, is a badge I wear to show I’ve been present, the inner rings of my personal tree trunk that I display proudly for all to see. Nowadays, I don’t want a “perfect” face and body; I want to wear the life I’ve lived.”
— Pat Benatar
“When I grow up I want to be an old woman.”
— Michelle Shocked
‘Happy as a clam’ birthday to me!
Filed under aging, Attitude, Cause for Celebration
It seems to me that our world is a mass of mixed signals and confusion. It’s hard to know what to think, what to feel, which way to jump.
I’m kind of like a deer frozen in the headlights, concentrating on one day at a time, trying to do what I can, when I can, one careful step at a time, with a lot of trying to escape thrown in, too, since there is so much happening that I can’t do anything about.
The only thing I can come up with is to try to personally stay as strong as I can, continuing to look for any ways to try to make things better wherever I can find.
I wish I were a fairy godmother, able to wave my wand, think good thoughts, and save the world.
Filed under Attitude, caring, Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises, coping mechanisms
Can you see me patting myself on the back? I also gave myself a gold star on my desk calendar. “Why?, ” you ask. I have gotten our tax stuff ready to take to our CPA in record time this year. All we are waiting for is our investment stuff. I can print it and then we’ll take our records and dump them on our very kind CPA who will magically churn out tax forms and send them to the government for us for another year. HOOOORRAAAAAAAY!
Tomorrow I’ll start new spreadsheets for 2022 on the computer and catch up on January. Since doing tax prep is one of my LEAST favorite things in the world, I am delighted that I have finally found a way to make it as painless as possible. My husband’s contribution to all this is to say, “Are we ready to take the stuff to Mike yet?”
It’s a truly stellar day today otherwise, too. Our temperatures are supposed to get to the 60’s today. It’s bright and sunny. The remaining snow MAY be gone from our driveway today. If not, SURELY tomorrow. (We’re due for a cold front Saturday and another possibly wintry event next Wednesday, so I’m hoping we’ll start with a clean slate driveway-wise.
I’m going to get our mail as soon as I finish this. I’m hoping to get a couple of things we ordered.
I’ll do my yoga this afternoon with a clear conscience that I’m almost up-to-date on the office stuff and have earned my salt for the day.
Filed under Attitude, Thoughts on a ________
You already know I’m weird. I thought I would share how my weird mind works, particularly so early in the morning trying to be quiet and not having any coffee yet –
I started thinking that I didn’t know much, if anything, about Groundhogs. When I looked it up, I found that they are mainly found on the East coast, Canada, and Alaska. Another name for groundhog is woodchuck. And THAT brought me memories of tongue twisters I used to love as a child.
“How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.”Others I remember –
“She sells seashells by the seashore.”
“Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?”
And THESE remind me of coming up with a song to teach my first grade students phonics years ago. I played my guitar and we danced around the room singing. And THAT reminds me that I was called into the principal’s office (really) and told “Ms. Lewis. This is NOT a music class.”
Oh, well.
I think this foray into my weird mine signals that I could really use a cup of coffee.
Filed under Attitude
I’m enjoying feeling better. My snark bucket is filling and I’m finding myself smiling to myself more now – an ominous sign, according to my husband.
I come by it honestly. My dad used to say, when I came out, ready for a date, ‘Nice dress.’ I learned early on that his comment meant that he thought it was too short, too tight, too ‘something’ for me to get his approval. It took me a long time to stop looking myself over to find out what was wrong and simply accept a compliment that came my way when I grew to adulthood.
Being raised by my parents was a gift that keeps on giving even now. Being able to stand back and see the humor in any given situation is a lifesaver for me. Instead of building tension inside at all the things I find upsetting, I can say something sarcastic in the privacy of my own mind, making me smile, rather than losing it.
My mother taught me practicality and strength. Her favorite quote was, “It’s better to do any reasonable thing quickly, rather than search hesitantly for the ideal.” I loved it when she got angry at a situation. She could stand on her feet and say what she thought (the length of her words and sentences depended on the degree of her anger.) She could completely undermine someone with a few words while the smarter ones in the group appreciated it wholeheartedly and the less smart tried to figure out what she had said. :0) )
Coping mechanisms are crucially important in our world today. I hope you have a bucketful to help you, too.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, coping mechanisms, Funny Signs - Humor, sass
I get a lot of my news online from various sources. I get into ‘overload’ mode more quickly these days because of people whose mouths are much louder than their minds. They think nothing of expressing an opinion one day, then reversing it the next, as if no one is paying attention and each day is a new day with no consequences.
I believe strongly in freedom of expression. The overabundance of stupidity saddens me and many times makes me frustrated and angry, but everyone is free to say what he or she thinks – and take the consequences. Nothing is free.
Each person should BE who they are and THINK whatever they think, being TRUE to that. Ideally, one would ALSO be willing to rethink one’s opinion if further research proves you wrong, or if someone ELSE’S opinion makes you reconsider. Respectful debate is a really healthy thing.
If you choose to give your opinion, be ready to take whatever consequences come from expressing it. Pay no attention to people who say something, then walk it back over and over. They are simply taking up valuable space.
“Be YOU. The world will adjust.”
Filed under Attitude, Bright Ideas, Challenges
I have learned lately that facing your weaknesses is important. I also dealt with a deep fear and made it through. I had the help of wonderful, caring friends, but you are essentially alone when actually dealing with things.
I had a month of trying to face that my husband might have to live alone. I am now taking some positive steps to make things easier for him in case we face this again for whatever reason. The fact that I am making a list of steps I want to take, setting things up differently that I handle routinely, listing reminders for him, has largely calmed me down.
I have let a lot of the fear go.
I don’t think – if I have to face a similar situation again – it will be as bad.
Taking care of what I CAN will help both of us going forward.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges, Changes, coping mechanisms
Freezing and below in the mornings. 60s in the afternoons today through Friday. Rain changing to snow Saturday. Wear short sleeves and flip flops. Carry a coat, boots, and a snuggly hat.
This is the ‘BE FLEXIBLE’ time of year. It isn’t any particular season. You can’t depend on forecasts or even how it is when you look out or stand on the porch. What it is NOW will change in an hour or less.
Good practice for survival in our world today – Pay attention. Be prepared. Bend and flow with things when you can. Be strong when you have to. Weather the storms. Cherish the quiet day. Give lots of hugs.
Live every minute. Be in the moment. Take nothing for granted. Drink it in. Savor.
Filed under Attitude
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, Dreams, Encouragement
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