Oh Happy Day

My focus recently has been on maintaining a positive attitude! I figure that no matter what life tosses our way it's up to us as to how we handle it! Many years ago there was a commercial on the stations in Orlando (maybe it was a national ad, I don't know). I think it was an ad for Aetna health care but I'm not certain. Anyway it featured this elderly lady. She said (in her little old lady voice) "every morning when I wake up I can choose to be happy or unhappy. I choose to be happy!" Why choose anything else?

With that goal in mind, I've been trying to surround myself with positive images (or as my mentor Jackie says "high frequency vibrations"). Every morning I listen to songs that make me feel good and I dance. I read material to reinforce my mindset. Right now I'm reading a couple of books...

Creating your best life: The ultimate life list guide by Caroline Adams Miller

and

Happy for no reason: 7 stops to feeling happy from the inside out by Marci Shimoff

In Creating your best life Miller recommends watching either "The Bucket List" (Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freedman) or "The Last Holiday" (Queen Latifah). I saw The Bucket List at the theatre so today I went to the library and borrowed "The Last Holiday." If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend watching it. It's a feel-good movie with a message. Don't you love those? My frequency vibrations are definitely elevated after watching that movie!

(pictures of books and dvds from BarnesandNoble.com)

Do you have a "bucket list" or a life list? I've started mine. Two of the things on it so far are:

1) to do the 3-day cancer walk (60 miles!)

2) to learn to make a souffle

I'll let you know some of the other things as I discover them. I'd love to hear about your's.

Today is the 3rd day my complaint-free bracelet has remained in place! WooHoo! I'm enjoying the process of retraining my brain. I've started thinking about things before I say them and it feels really good.

Dolly loves my desk chair. Sometimes she will come sit on my desk as if she wants to be petted, when in reality she's waiting for me to get up! She's a very confident miss! I'm fairly sure she has more personality than any other female cat I've ever known!

Wherever you are and whatever you're doing...I hope that today will be filled with moments you love. Celebrate your life!

Happy Inconvenience Yourself Day

Okay...I admit it...I have a lot of time on my hands (I consider THAT a good thing!) One of the things I enjoy doing with the extra time I have is finding interesting or trivial things on the Web. "Prowling" on the Internet is fun for me, so much so that I sometimes schedule it as a relaxation tool!

Two years ago I decorated a bulletin board in the library using Earth Day as the central theme and in the process found several obscure holidays (National PB&J Day is one of my personal favorites). Every day is a holiday if you look hard enough. Check out the Holidays on the Net Web site to find holidays you want to celebrate!

Today (February 25, 2009) is Inconvenience Yourself Day. Ways to celebrate include random acts of kindness and planned acts of kindness. A group that I belong to recently discussed ways to improve our spirits and one of my favorite ways is to perform a random act of kindness! Planned acts of kindness can be just as rewarding! Have a happy Inconvenience Yourself day!



Toby, the epitome of a 'fraidy cat...hides when he sees birds on the porch! He's a sweet and funny boy and best of all...he LOVES his "mama" (that's me!)







Toby is proof that age and weight are just a numbers. This 10 year-old cat firmly believes he's still a little kitten. Some mornings my "wake-up call" comes in the form of a 15-pound mushball stretching out on my back while licking the side of my face. Other mornings he plays "q-tip" on the bed. If you've never experienced the game, the rules are as follows...smack the q-tip; smack it again; pounce on it; knock it off the bed; jump and get it; jump back on the bed and begin again. From a sleepy-person point of view it feels much like a three-year old bouncing lightly on the bed. It's a very effective wake-up strategy.

Update on Day 1 of "Complaint Free Living" - While not completely successful, I am happy to report I only had to switch my bracelet a few times yesterday, which represents a serious improvement from previous attempts. I'll let you know how "whine-free Wednesday" goes!

Reaching for higher ground

Have you ever had a day when you are going along just fine and then without warning or turn signals, you go from being in a happy place to being in a bad mood? I'm sure we all have those days...even without PMS or menopause sneaking into the situation. The question is what to do about it...ride it out or fight it? Wallow in it or reach for higher ground? Today I faced such a dilemma and boy was it tough!

Last year I read a book called A Complaint Free World: How to stop complaining and start enjoying the life you always wanted by Will Bowen (AComplaintFreeWorld.org). If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. The author points out that we often don't even realize how much we complain because we get into the habit. He provided his congregation with purple bracelets (like the yellow Live Strong ones) and instructed them to switch the bracelet from wrist to wrist each time they caught themselves complaining. He challenged them to go 21 days without switching the bracelet because studies show that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. I have a bracelet and I'm going to start wearing it because I believe that my thoughts create my reality. Complaining breeds negativity which then contaminates my world and the world around me. I've decided I want to surround myself with positivity instead.

It gets tricky because we have ways of blanketing our complaints, using words like "challenging." I find myself using that one A LOT! The thing I want to remind myself is that phrasing a complaint in glowing terms doesn't change the fact that it's a complaint! If I say I'm "challenged" by something that represents a GOOD challenge (like setting myself a goal to go 21 days without complaining! :) then it's not a complaint. If, however, I say that dealing with telemarketers is a challenge, the "challenge" has become a code word for "pain in the butt!" I hear myself using this term frequently because it sounds so much more "upbeat"! So how about if instead, I just quit talking about dealing with telemarketers. Does talking about them really make them go away? Nope...it just gives them more of my time and energy than they've already taken! So...here's my goal...I'm going to make Tuesday, February 24, 2009 Day 1 of my Complaint Free "challenge." Anyone care to join me in this uplifting venture?

Speaking of uplifting...

A very special friend sent me this lovely "dancer." My friend, Journey, is one of the most inspirational women I've ever known. It's no surprise then that she would discover this ornament that hangs above my meditation area!

Today's "whiskers" moment: Lacey is a bit camera-shy. It's almost impossible to get a picture of her face. She's more of a behind-the-scenes kitty who is always glad to lend a helping paw for typing assignments!

Sending you wishes for happy thoughts and complaint-free days!

The things we keep

The last couple of months have really made me stop to think about the things we keep. Cleaning out all of mom's possessions and deciding what I wanted to bring home with me has been enlightening.


By nature I'm not a sentimental person so there was no real temptation to want to keep it all but there were a few items that really called to me...


The last time I saw mom she told me a story about these two pieces. When my dad was around 8 years old he worked all day one Saturday for his aunt. She paid him 25 cents (this would have been around 1935). The next Saturday he worked for her again to earn an additional 25 cents. He used that 50 cents to purchase these two figurines for his mom!













My mom loved angels. They were EVERYWHERE in her house. Some were frilly, some were glass...etc. This wooden one (with Believe carved into the bottom) was probably one of the most simple ones she had. I love it because it's unpretentious and beautiful to the eye and touch! The angel is holding a heart. I think it's a good representation of mom...she did believe. She believed in her faith and her family.

This little rocker really spoke to me. It's foldable and has such pretty lines. I can easily envision it in the "parlor" of my someday Victorian house! Sometimes the past, present, and future come together. This is one of those pieces that embody that for me...the past of it being in mom's house, the present pleasure I have in it here in my own home and knowing that it will look nice in my dream home!

What are the things you keep?

Speaking of keeping....Miss Dolly is one of my two "adopted" kitties. Last year her person died at the age of 91. The lady's daughter couldn't keep the cats due to allergies so Dolly (and Lacey) came to live with us. We're very happy to have her.

She certainly has made herself at home here! She enjoys her sunbathing! I interrupted her nap taking my pictures but I am pretty sure she's been able to fall back asleep!

We're having lovely weather today. It's almost spring-like here. I hope that wherever you are, you're making memories you will want to keep!

Finding the things that bring joy

My first blog! I've been reading blogs for quite some time now and enjoying the glimpses into other people's lives and creativity.

Why "sunshine and cat whiskers" you wonder? It's all about JOY (yes, capital letters - yell it out loud joy). Sunshine (as in Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves) is my chosen theme song. It makes me get up and dance (not always a pretty picture, buy hey, no one is looking!) Do you have a theme song? What is it and why did you choose it? No theme song? Why not???

As for the cat whiskers...well...my four feline babies all have lovely whiskers. And nothing gives them more joy than a good whisker/chin scratch.

Tyler has lovely long whiskers, despite the fact that his "daddy" once trimmed them!

So how do you define joy?