Category Archives for happy

How To Be Happy Right Now

Happy people live healthier and longer lives. They thrive in their careers and enjoy personal loving relationships.

Decades of research show that happy people lead more successful lives than their counterparts who live ho hum, dull or unhappy lives.

The secret to success lies in being happy first.

So how do you be happy NOW?

Happiness is Watching Life Happen – Sometimes (Mostly You Want to Make Life Happen)

You can feel happy by observing the simple things in life. Instead of doing, doing doing, sometime just sit back and watch the wonders of life.

I live out in farm country in Southwest Idaho. When I moved here (this will sound silly) it didn’t really hit me how far north my new home is – until…

As we approach the longest day of the year, the sun does not even set until close to 10:30 PM. We get only about 4-5 hours of darkness as it rises between 5 and 6 AM.

I like the light. The only drawback is remembering to watch the time so I go to sleep! If I forget to keep an eye on the clock I easily stay up writing or reading until 2 AM. That works for me because I can sleep late if I want to.

In fact, since I moved out here I became a night person again. I was a night person most of my life. Hmm. I had not realized how much my life changed with a brain injury back in 1996. I became a morning person back then.

Why do I like the long hours of light? I like to watch what goes on in my world. Frankly not a whole lot happens out here – just enough to interest me and keep my life-long thirst for knowledge alive.

Like right now, it is after 9 PM and the farmer just started spraying or feeding his crop of sugar beets. I think when he runs the tractor he feeds because other times a crop duster flies overhead.

Seems late to start be working but then I have no idea about how to grow crops on a large scale. I just enjoy watching how farmers produce crops.

And my watching paid off because as the sky darkened with a thunder storm (well, at least the thunder part not sure if it will rain or not) the farmer came down the road traveling at a good clip, all his bright lights illuminating his way. I never saw the lights on the tractor before. I guess I never saw him work at night!

Another intriguing activity for me is watching my sprinkler system water the lawn. Now you may think this is weird. Okay. I never had a sprinkler system before. Out here, because we live in a high desert, unbelievably dry desert) everyone has built-in sprinkler systems.

I just turned mine on so I am running the cycle to track what waters where in my yard. This is fun for me.  I guess it is easy to entertain me because every little thing fascinates me!

Egad. I just noticed the smog enveloping Boise. I am every so grateful I moved out of Boise. I definitely do not like to see the air I breathe. That was a big reason for my leaving the East Coast. Dang! My gorgeous mountain views have been temporarily reduced to faint outlines!

How blessed am I to be me living here at this time?

Happiness: Love Where You Live To Feel Happy

To feel happy in life love where you live. Your views, home, neighbors all contribute to your daily mood and well-being – or the lack thereof.

I live in farm country. I am blessed with views of fields of grain, alfalfa, sugar beets, wheat and hay. Today I got to see something you hear about, and talk about and even sing about yet most of us never actually experience it.

I live on a ridge and the wind blows almost non-stop. The farmer’s fields, across the street, are level but open. So the wind that bows across the area sweeps across his fields.

The joyful, peaceful and fun view I now see is waving hay. The grass is waist high on the man who maintains the fields which means when the wind sweeps across the fields it moves in waves.

I fee like I am watching a ballet choreographed by Nature. Hmm. I am actually watching Nature dance o’er the land. It looks rather like what you see in sports stadiums when people “do the wave.” Funny. This is far prettier to see, in my opinion.

I guess I never looked out at the tall grass before. Now I see the sage-covered hills doing the same dance – well the grass in the non-sage areas, that is.

How lucky am I that I get to live here? This, for me, is close to paradise.

Do you live where you want to live? Do you get to see views that inspire – or excite – you?

I grew up with a beautiful yard that was enclosed with evergreen bushes. I always had a beautiful view of Nature – until I got married and found our house flanked by houses, very close-by houses.

Thank goodness I got to leave that environment and find places with huge backyards. Only none had the view I find now.

What made the difference for me? I learned to consciously request what I want in life. I learned to request how I want my house to look and what I want to see when I look out the windows. I even asked for the neighbors I want.

Interestingly, when I consciously request how I want my life to look I get about 90% of what I ask for and then some. You see there is a trick to asking for what you want. Come closer and I will reveal that secret to you.

When you ask for something, consciously allow it to enter your life. In other words, do not build walls that keep it out. AND finish your request with the words, “This or something better.” Without those extra words you limit what the Universe can deliver.

Self Esteem: On Feeling Invisible

Self esteem shows up in many ways. some are less noticeable than others. Did you ever feel invisible – and figure out how to hide that feeling?

When I was a kid some of my teachers called me a philosopher. I understood things in a way the other kids just didn’t see. Computers came out when I was in high school. And my teachers call me a computer. Now, as an adult, some of my friends call me pedia – short for encyclopedia.

Yeah, if you are playing Trivial Pursuit you want me on your team.

A few years ago I started wondering why I know so much and always have something to contribute to most conversations (unless you are talking about sports, which I’d rather play than watch, or television – which I stopped watching five years ago.)

Frankly, I never liked being called the computer and I am not really fond of being known as pedia either. Yet I really like being able to help people when they call with questions or challenges in most areas of life. And I especially feel good when I can offer hope to someone who has given up because no one else knew what to do.

So I used to think I lived with the dilemma of,  “Do I contribute what I know or let people flounder and find their own way in daily life?” Usually I ask if they would like a suggestion rather than just contribute.

What would you think if I told you this way of being me came from a self esteem issue?

Because, truthfully, it does.

When I was little I was so shy that people didn’t notice me. No one heard me when I talked. I guess I spoke in a wee small voice. And I felt just plain overlooked until I figured out…

If I could be the best at everything I did and if I knew all the right answers, and if I was really nice and – okay, miss goodie-two-shoes and always the teacher’s pet – except I was also popular. Kids liked me too. With all that in place people noticed me. People didn’t just notice me they knew who I was. I made friends and won awards and recognition of all kinds!

Finally I knew how to never be invisible again!

Get the picture?

Funny I never realized what I was doing until very recently. All my life I just did it. Talk about habits!

And it didn’t matter when I spoke softly because people knew what I had to say was important and they stopped their conversations to listen. Yeah, like those old EF Hutton commercials!

Okay, I love to learn and that desire fuels my ever-growing knowledge base. And I suspect I would still have all this knowing on so many subjects even if I never had to announce my presence. But I cannot help wondering would I have become so good at sports and music and art and…(I do many things well) if I never felt a need to shine?

I would not change who or how I am. I really love being me except I also like being able to sit back and just watch and listen to others speak and guess and grow without my input. After all, I discovered you only learn something when you figure it out for yourself and apply it for yourself in your own way.

So now I am usually quiet and just take it all in – with a smile.

Happiness Is Living Life For Real (Not Virtual) To Feel Happy

If you want to feel happy see what you can do differently in your life. Here is one way to powerfully make a big change you don’t even now you want to make. It can make all the difference.

Most people I know lead very very full lives these days. I am still getting used to watching little kids walk around with their cell phones. And I only recently discovered what it is people do all day long on the Internet on sites like Facebook. Goodness. People play games all day long – online!

I wonder how may of those addicted players spend time with real people playing games in person. (Oh, I do not mean pretending to be someone else I mean board games or word games) Or how many people actually enjoy playing the real sports instead of the Wii games in their rec rooms.

It seems like life has become one big doing, one very busy very fast and very continual doing! You can do so many things with an iPhone—yikes! I fear if I got one I might not ever have time to just sit and be, or ponder – or share what I know with you!

If you haven’t figured out where I am going with this theme…I want to know when people started living their virtual lives rather than living in the real 3-D world. (Real, such as it we observe it through our five senses.)

Pause for a moment and think about how much time you spend online every day. Really. Stop and figure out how many hours of your life pass every day sitting at a computer interacting or passively observing what goes on.

I bet you have no clue.

Now determine how much time you spend interacting with those who are most important in your life – your partner, kids, parents, friends.

You see, you can never get back the time you already spent. And you can never create more than 24 hours in a day.

I have a recommendation for you. Take a pen and paper and go some place where you will not be distracted. Ready? You know if you don’t do this now you will not come back to it later so take the time now. (Okay, if you are at work then email it to your home email and do it later at home.)

Guestimate how much time you spend online doing the various activities you do: email, social networking, playing games, surfing for whatever, etc. Next, set that paper by your computer(s) and track every activity you do in the next 24 hours.

Yes, write down your actual time. Now no cheating here. No peeking at the clock and cutting down minutes.

Really, no one will know your results but you. This is a wake-up call. I will tell you why in a bit.

Also, in the next 24 ours, write down the actual minutes you interacted with the important people in your life in person or on the phone.

No judgments here, got it?

Just notice. After 24 hours you probably want to wait a few days and do the same routine again.

Make adjustments as you desire.

Why do I say this is your wake up call?  I knew someone who transitioned to the next plane not too long ago. (I know souls never die. hey simply transform.) She knew those were her final days and she said she was afraid to die…because there was so much more she wanted to do in life that she would never get done.