Slipped & Fell Off My Happy Track....

  Well, I have avoided any posting because I have been way off my game.  And then I thought don't be a phony, the honesty of the battle with living joyfully is important.  It would be misleading to try to sell that I am always happy and can always see the happy side of everything.  But I really fell, head over heels down the hill for a while.  I was mad about everything, I mean everything.  Although I remained grateful which is easier than happy, I was annoyed.  Little things like the music that plays in shows like Greys Anatomy, the music that keeps you from hearing the dialog.  It's so distracting and annoying!  Endless commercials is another thing.  If they show one or two I'll watch, no big deal but when they show twelve I'm gone.  I am either fast forwarding or I've gone to throw in a load of laundry.  People in blinding bright spandex on bikes who travel in the road as if they are in automobile instead of on a bike.  Then they get into a group and travel three wide. Why?
  People who don't say thank you for anything!  I won't get into politics,  there is so much to be upset about I don't know where to start!  People who tweet every thirty seconds and have to alert the the face book world everything they have a coffee. 
  Don't ask me my opinion and then get mad at me when I don't say what you expected.  Stupidity...oh boy....why am I so intolerant.
  I know we all have our own process and journey and we are constantly evolving so why am I irritated with people who are far along in their process.  Shame on me.
  I am working on getting my happy back.  Lots of reading back to gratitude.  On any given day that you and everyone of your family return home safely it's a flipping miracle, honestly.  I am not going to let myself be mad...I just won't.  But I will wonder if the same twenty somethings that tweet pictures of their lunch will be tweeting photos of their newest prescription or the mailman arriving late or worse a change in bowel movements in their senior years??????
  Let's hope the hell not!!!     

More, More, More......

    It's all about love.  Love of anything emits the strongest emotions, even stronger than hate.  Gratitude is the constant profession of love.  Add love to absolutely any situation and it makes it better.  Any conflict of any size with anybody no matter the circumstances can be made better with love.  How, might be your question, how do you get to a place of love?  With gratitude; practice daily, hourly, minute by minute and an evolution starts to happen.  You cannot possibly practice gratitude constantly and not come ever closer to love than anger or jealousy or revenge or any other negative emotion. 
  The thing is; love given comes back, bigger.  You send send it out and is gains strength like a hurricane that has stalled.  When it returns it envelops you. When you feel bad, you have bed head, sweat pants with lint, you know the kind of day I am talking about, it is not chocolate that will lift you although it's not a bad attempt. 
  Take a shower.  While your in there start thinking about what you love.  Then be thankful for having received these things you love.  Focus on everything that makes you feel good.  Elevate to a better place.  Don't think about bloat or weight gain or ants that want in.  Ignore the green pool, the broken door and empty bag of oreos.   There will always be kids that won't listen and a cat that waits for you to lay out your clothes to take a nap.  Your family may ignore you all day until you begin to do something for yourself.  Then it's an emergency, right?  They need you!  But it's ok, it really is.  Breathe and put a smile on your face.  Focus on the love you feel for them to alleviate the frustration that creeps in when you are not looking.  I wonder why we accept and wallow in despair and frustration so easy, which feels terrible but we feel like treating the emotional ailment with love is so far fetched? What do you do to turn around a bad day??  

elle                   

Teach Your Children To Live Gratitude...

  

  Teach your children to be thankful, to appreciate things.  Be sure they know that it is a great way to bring more of what they love.  It's your job to start teaching this at a young age so they know from the beginning that they have the power to create. 
 Thoughts are things. Attitude comes from thoughts and the feelings that evolve from them.  They aren't helpless. Their destiny isn't blowing in the wind.

                                          Thank you!  
 

Say thank you for rainy days of gray and sunny days warm and bright

Say thank you to the moon that lights your way at night  

Say thank you for the bed you sleep in, soft blankets and a pillows to lay your head

Say thank you for the books you have and the stories that you have read 

Say thank you for your feet, your toes, your elbows and your knees

Say thank you for your eyes, your nose, and your lips that say please… 

Say thank you for hair, it looks so good like that!

Say thank you when it comes out badly, that you have your hat! 

Say thank you for belly buttons and sweaters with lint

Say thank you for cherries and vanilla with chocolate mint 

Say thank you for your toys, your clothes and socks without a match

Say thank you for the dance you learn, the fly ball that you catch 

Say thank you for your fury dog, your cat, your bird, and croaking frog

Say thank you for guinea pig, your ferret and pollywog 

Say thank you for oceans and breezes and spaces

Say thank you sand that ends up in bad places 

Say thank you for onions and broccoli and peas

Say thank you for pizza and French fries with cheese 

Say thank you for doughnuts and pastry that you like

Say thank you for exercise and go ride your bike! 

Say thank you for birthdays and presents and cake

Say thank you for wishes and plans that you make 

Say thank you for drawing and music that’s cool

Say thank you for buses and learning and school  

Say thank you for beach days and snowballs and leaves

Say thank you for sweatshirts with hoods and long sleeves 

Say thank you for oboes and cymbals and drums

Say thank you for pianos and fingers and thumbs 

Say thank you for elephants, lions and bears

Say thank you for smiles and sneezes and tears 

Say thank you for your sister who fights with your brother

Say thank you for your father, your mom and grandmother 

Say thank you your families for kisses and hugs
 

Say thank you for everything……   
 

           For spinach……for bugs

elle

Choices & Perception

  I had been an adult for a long time before I was willing to take responsibility for my emotions, perceptions and decisions.  Are our parents so caught up in the power of parenting that they don't teach us to to be the captain of out own adventure?  No one ever told me as a child I could control my responses.  I had the hardest struggle with realizing that no one could hurt my feelings unless I let them.  I still struggle with that, even though I accept it as truth. 

  It makes any day more welcoming to know that you can control how you will feel.  You are quality-control in your day, all day, everyday!  I don' think I worried about happiness and being positive when I was young.  It didn't seem in short supply.  After all life was full of firsts.  There were just grand canyons full of things to look forward to.  There was a minimal amount of responsibility lightly shaken with the bliss of ignorance and topped with youth and a side helping of time and endless possibilities.  

  Fast forward to 40 or 50, not to many firsts left, but there are a few.  The excitement of looking forward is a little tarnished with "been there, done that".  Responsibility sits on your shoulders like an oxens' yoke.  The fact is you aren't young.  You are younger than some, but not young.  Everything including possibilities has an end in sight on the other side of 40 and more so for every year after.  Right?  Wrong, here's where you choose.  I'm not talking cups half empty or full, either.  Youth trumps age is a perception promoted by media. And I strongly disagree.  

  If you heard a song you didn't like you change it.  A boring conversation will have you excusing yourself and not returning.  Invitations from people you don't enjoy will be declined.  So choose to embrace your life at any phase, reject pessimism, reject fear.  Change your frequency.   

  Start with gratitude and start that way everyday.  Flip every negative to a positive.  There is a positive in everything, look for it; it's there. Keep your thoughts positive and your words kind and supportive.  Think and speak about the things you love, often and with passion. 

  Do not speak about other people in a negative way.  You want to align yourself with loving and thankful thoughts and actions to start the shift.  Learn to laugh at things that might have upset you before.  Your health will thank you for this.  If you are thankful everyday for everything about yourself including the things that aren't your favorites you will you will know you are of great value.     

elle  

Later .......a gratitude poem for kids and resisting the urge to take offense......