Tag Archives: happiness

Sharing My World 87

Share Your World January 6, 2020

 

Is ‘hello” enough for you these days?  (credit to Rory –https://aguycalledbloke.blog/2019/12/29/is-hello-enough-for-you-these-days/ )

If it includes eye contact and a genuine smile, it’s good enough for me. However, if it also includes asking me if I’m over 55, and acting surprised when I claim to be 15 years beyond that, even better. And then telling me I qualify for a seniors discount, simply for being old – wow! This happened to me. I wasn’t even wearing makeup and my hair was still damp and a tad wild from my shower. Normally I dont leave the house looking like that, but maybe I should try it more often.

Do you believe in Murphy?   For those who aren’t familiar with Murphy, here’s a wee explanation:  Murphy’s law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”.

Yes, I am a faithful follower of all things Murphy. That way, when things go right, it’s a mini celebration.

Does evil come from within?  If so, why?

Within, without, above, below and maybe even sideways, you just never know. I used to believe we weren’t born with it, but the nicest people can end up with the wildest houligans. One thing I know for sure, hate being the greatest evil, it can spread like wildfire.

Are intelligent people more or less happy than others?   What defines intelligence?

Not sure intelligence has much to do with happiness. I’ve met some pretty stupid people who aren’t at all sad about it.  Intelligence is the ability to learn, understand, and reason.  And then not act like a moron.  Unless that’s what makes you happy.  I try not to judge.

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Gratitude Section

Please feel free to share a quote, photo or thought about gratitude.

Hmmm, what am I grateful for today.  Not the big snow dump we got overnight, or the drop in temperature, but because of both those things I’m grateful for a spouse who delights in snow blowing.  The house is warm, the sun is shining, the days are getting longer, the grocery shopping was done just before the weather got crappy, and I have chocolate ovaltine in the cupboard.  Sorry to the people who gagged about that last one.

I also talked to my sister this morning and have started another crochet project, this time for my daughter-in-law.  Those things aren’t exactly related, it’s just how my intelligent mind works, stating random things out of the blue and being annoyingly happy about weird stuff.

Life is good.  January is long.  Time to stop talking. Until next time.

Just Jazzy 320

imageLive gently upon this earth and leave nothing behind but your footprints in the sand.

Jazzy looks like she’s had a little too much sun, or needs to stop experimenting with the pancake makeup.  I’m sure it’s not too much wine.  Because that isn’t possible.

Sharing My World 48

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SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2016 WEEK 5

If you had a shelf for your three most special possessions (not including photos, electronic devices and things stored on them, people or animals), what would you put on it?

In my bedroom there is a little white shelf which used to have a desk under it and so was useful for holding desk related stuff.  Now the desk is moved and the shelf has become a catch-all, but today I cleared it off and found three special possessions to put on it instead so I could share my (slightly reorganized) world with you and answer this question.  You may already be familiar with my alien giraffe.  Next to him is my Starbucks dog sporting various pieces of jewelry that I am saving even though their value is purely sentimental.  And then there’s my cow piggy bank which I love mostly because it’s not a pig.  A long time ago I filled it up with loonies and toonies saving for my trip to Scotland. It’s been mostly empty ever since.

Strange things to treasure I suppose, but they make me smile.  What’s the point of possessions if they don’t make you feel happy?  And if they all went missing tomorrow it would not be a devastating loss.  They are just things, and things come and go.  Except maybe for that giraffe who could possibly be one of a kind.

If you had a box labelled ‘happiness’, what would you put in it?

I would never try to put happiness in a box.  Happiness should be wild and free and as changeable as the weather, otherwise how would we learn to appreciate it? It might sometimes seem illusive but it is also boundless, and always better shared.

What do you want more of in your life?

Winning lottery tickets please.  Even just one would be fine.  A big one, not those silly free plays.  I was going to say “cowbell” but thought the ticket thing sounded slightly more sane.

Daily Life List: What do you do on an average day? Make a list of your usual activities you do each day.

This reminds me of the time Vanna White (the letter turner on Wheel of Fortune) wrote a book about her life in which she described how she does sit ups, what she eats, and how she likes to crochet.   The bio has been described as brilliant and brainless.  I didn’t read it because I didn’t care what she was up to in her private life.  I will completely understand if you also don’t care about mine and skip this part.  I will probably get bored with it before lunch myself.

  1. Stumble in to the bathroom half asleep and take my thyroid medication.  It works best if it’s taken on an empty stomach first thing in the morning with lots of water.  I think all that is true but I may have made some of it up.
  2. Stumble in to the kitchen and make coffee.
  3. By now I have stopped stumbling about and feel sufficiently competent and alert enough to take and record a fasting blood sugar reading.  If old people did not have medical issues to deal with they would have absolutely nothing to talk about.
  4. Sit down and drink my coffee while checking out on my iPad (in random order) Words With Friends, Facebook, Clash of Clans, crossword puzzles, blog notifications and e-mails.
  5. Breakfast!  Sometimes W makes us bacon and eggs.  Sometimes he doesn’t and I have to fend for myself.
  6. Shower, hair, varying degrees of makeup, take the rest of my meds, get dressed, dishes, laundry, walk, trampoline, lunch, write a blog post, reply to comments, read blogs I follow, make or add to a grocery list for W, decide on some random thing for dinner, clean something.  Oh, wait, you said every day.  Scratch that last one.
  7. Start or finish something in the art room. Even if it’s just getting things organized and sorted.  Look on Pinterest for inspiration.
  8. Wonder where the afternoon went.
  9. Eat, do more dishes, check blood sugar in there again somewhere once or twice, drink some decaf, play some games, try not to think about snacks, watch some Netflix.
  10. Go to bed and read whatever strange thing I currently have on my Kindle.  Teeth brushed, face washed, blah blah blah.  Whew.  That was exhausting. I hope you were able to keep up with me.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Our eldest grandson had a wrestling tournament here in the city this weekend, so while he and dad and younger brother and grandpa spent their Saturday at that, the girls and I finished up art projects and wasted time on electronic devices.  Well I never claimed to be a great role model. Anyway, it was lovely to have them all here for a couple of nights.

This weekend I had my MRI done (they schedule these things for weekend evenings) so I’m grateful to have that over with.  Not that it’s anything unpleasant except for the hospital gown and the shower cap thing they put on your head, and the headphones and the small enclosed space and the twilight zone noises.  And being asked before the procedure if you have a living will, so that you can dream up all kinds of potential MRI disasters while you’re in the machine.

I am looking forward to getting the results, although not to the appointment where that happens because I foolishly booked it for 9:00 a.m.  Have I really been away from work so long that nine o’clock in the morning seems like an ungodly hour to be out and about?  I mean you’ve seen how busy my average daily schedule can be.  I’ll probably have to work in a nap somewhere that day.  Hey, one more thing to look forward to.

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Ritualistic Showering

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Where the ritual occurs.

Think about your day. Select one of your daily rituals and explain it to us: why do you do what you do? How did you come to adopt this ritual? What happens on days when you can’t perform it?

Thank you Daily Post for this intriguing set of questions.  In a couple of weeks I will have been retired from the work force for a year.  Since cleaning my fridge in August I have not done anything worth blogging about.  Yes, I guess that is kind of sad, but it also makes me extremely happy to have such an uneventful life.

Unstructured, seemingly limitless free alone-time probably sounds boring to a lot of you.  But to my fellow introverts I know it sounds like heaven.  Imagine being asked what you did all day and “nothing” pretty much sums it up.  Bliss.

Okay, I may be exaggerating slightly.  But this got me thinking about my day (please refer to the part where it says ‘think about your day’).  My daily rituals include

  1. drinking coffee
  2. taking a shower
  3. getting dressed
  4. filling or emptying the dishwasher but usually not both on the same day because it’s just me here at the moment, which means no one cares
  5. feeding myself
  6. wondering what stage I left the laundry at
  7. doing important things on my iPad
  8. thinking about art, checking art supplies, staring at blank canvases and that thing I started and don’t like and can’t motivate myself to finish
  9. doing totally unimportant things on my iPad
  10. wondering how it got to be so far past midnight and going to bed.

So the one I am selecting from this list and explaining to you is the ritualistic shower.  Because my Gawd this will be beyond interesting and exciting, won’t it?  No matter what my plans for excursions beyond the front door for appointments or shopping trips for the day may be, this is the one ritual I must perform every day.  Even if I’m not going anywhere except maybe to the basement.

Why do I do what I do?  How did I come to adopt this ritual?  I was born in 1949.  (Don’t panic, I’m only going to hit the shower related high points of my life.). The first farm-house we lived in did not have a bathtub.  The second one had a bathtub but no shower.  My brother thought it was hilarious to hold my face underwater at the beach, instilling in me a lifelong fear of getting water on my face and being unable to breathe.  For years after I moved away to places which had showers I would wash my face and hair in some place other than the shower, and then shower myself from the neck down.

Yeah, strange phobia, but something that was easy enough to live with.  Then I got married and had kids and none of these people I was living with were afraid of water so I slowly made myself get over it.  I passed the tadpole swimming level and the rest is history.

I don’t LOVE the water on my head part, but I can do it now and it certainly saves time.  Because I need a lot of that to get all my nothing done, right?  Anyway, now I can’t imagine a day without showering.

Oh, wait, yes I can.  There is no shower on the island where our summer camp is.  I am going there next week for about seven shower-less days.  Which brings us to the final question – what happens on days when you can’t perform it?

I cry a lot.  Just on the inside.  Outwardly I sigh and begrudgingly use the bathtub and the sink and the river.  And many wet wipes.  This is called roughing it in the wilderness.

The other day I showered and dressed and left the house and went to see my doctor for my yearly physical (and mental state I guess).  One of the questions she asked me was, on a scale of one to ten, how happy would you say you are?  I said seven or eight.  Because, let’s face it, nobody wants to claim they’re a ten.  People would be pestering you all the time for your secret, which would probably drop you down to five in a big hurry.  On days I don’t shower my answer would be two.

However, not drinking my morning coffee would immediately put me at a minus one.  So there are worse things in life I guess.  Showering is just one of my privileged life luxuries. Going without it is simply a kick in the butt reminding me to appreciate it.

Living This Life

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“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.” I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou

One of the Team Pepper prompts suggests finding a quote which says how you want to live your life and explaining it.  There’s not a lot I can add to this, except to say keep learning,  Keep laughing.  Be happy with your “now”.

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