Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything. — Aaron Siskind I’m one of those people who take photos of everything. If I want to remember a person, a place, a street sign, orContinue reading “Week Twenty-One: Take a Picture of Something Beautiful”
Tag Archives: how to be happy
Week Twenty: Buy a Small Potted Plant and Give it a Name
A beautiful plant is like having a friend around the house. — John F. Kennedy Before I get into this week, there are a few things you should know about me: #1. I love plants, inside and outside. In my heart of hearts, I am a 90 year old woman who dotes absentmindedly on theContinue reading “Week Twenty: Buy a Small Potted Plant and Give it a Name”
Week Nineteen: Go for a Bike Ride
Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike. — John F. Kennedy This week I experienced the purest expression, to date, of “How to Be Happy”. I’ve talked a lot about cycling in the past several weeks. In fact, my bike has made an appearance in three separate happiness tasks prior to thisContinue reading “Week Nineteen: Go for a Bike Ride”
Week Eighteen: Clean Your Bathroom
We dream of having a clean house – but who dreams of actually doing the cleaning? — Marcus Buckingham It should come as a shock to no one that being happy your bathroom is clean is very different from being happy while cleaning your bathroom. It should be equally unsurprising that I didn’t get aroundContinue reading “Week Eighteen: Clean Your Bathroom”
Week Seventeen: Raise Your Activity Level
If you are in a bad mood go for a walk. If you are still in a bad mood go for another walk. — Hippocrates This is a preamble I wish I didn’t have to write. In fact, the circumstances we currently find ourselves in – shelter in place, physical distancing, quarantine, whatever it looksContinue reading “Week Seventeen: Raise Your Activity Level”
Week Sixteen: Get Rid of Three Things You Never Use
Instead of thinking I am losing something when I clear clutter, I dwell on what I might gain. — Lisa J. Shultz, Lighter Living: Declutter. Organize. Simplify Cards on the table here, this one almost didn’t get done. As the week went on, this little “to do” sat in the back of my mind, poppingContinue reading “Week Sixteen: Get Rid of Three Things You Never Use”
Week Fifteen: Reach Out
Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone’s hand is the beginning of a journey. At other times, it is allowing another to take yours. – Vera Nazarian I thought that this week would be easy. I figured that reaching out to my loved ones would be a pleasant diversion from the emotional unpacking of previous weeks.Continue reading “Week Fifteen: Reach Out”
Week Fourteen: Start Your Life List
The way you are living will have been your life. – Unknown When I was thirteen years old, I started a list. I carried that list around with me for more than a decade and just when I thought it had finally disappeared into the ether, I found it in a box labelled “MISC OFFICE”Continue reading “Week Fourteen: Start Your Life List”
Week Thirteen: Send Someone a Card “Just Because”
A letter always seemed to me like immortality because it is the mind along without corporeal friend. – Emily Dickinson When I was a kid my Nana was my pen pal. I sent letters and cards to other family members, too, but most of my regular correspondence came from Nana. We talked about spring flowers,Continue reading “Week Thirteen: Send Someone a Card “Just Because””
Week Twelve: Listen to an Old Favourite Song
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. – Bob Marley No matter how “evolved” I may imagine my taste in music has become (coolness level: Single Malt Whisky) there is no escaping the flood of dopamine-induced nostalgia when I hear the first few notes of an old favourite fromContinue reading “Week Twelve: Listen to an Old Favourite Song”
How to Be Happy 