Getting Happier

When I flourish

2011-05-20T09:45:00.001-07:00

Flourishing--it's more than ruffles on a drum. For me it is even the joy of finding people who are passionate about their worlds and who will share that with me! Today it is meeting youth from around the world who are passionate about space.

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test!

2010-12-24T13:43:00.001-08:00

Yoga?!

2010-12-21T18:19:00.001-08:00

Hey, it's the Empress of Happy here! Whether you celebrate Diwali (November), Hanukkah (earlier), Christmas (nearly on us) or another holiday with which I am not acquainted... Depression can be a big deal this time of year.

Recent studies have shown that yoga beats walking when it comes to making you feel a little brighter.

Something about increasing levels of GABA. Check it out! Try it and see.
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Of Water and Spirit

2010-05-19T12:54:00.001-07:00

There's nothing like the watery death and rebirth of a flood. The out-of-control nature of uncontained water, the false belief we can navigate the currents, the intrusion, the relentlessness. The lovers who die in each others' arms. And, the way we all pull together to be there for each other no matter who we are or where we live--no matter what our conditions. Happiness grows in the midst of this, the rebirth of "pulling it all together again" and possibilities inherent in the pain of starting over. The "Empress of Happy" says this: we can get over and beyond and build anew.
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Spring Happy!

2010-03-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

Oh, it's warming up. My cats are actually stretching out in the warm sun--the Big Guy looks like a rug. He's shed enough to literally burn the motor on the Red Devil stick broom completely up. I'm thinkin' a Lion cut except he'd be so embarrassed I'd never outlive it.

I was so dark-of-the-winter dirt deprived early March I whopped out the strap-on headlamp and planted potatoes by lamplight and tilled at midnight. Planted lettuce, bok choi, onions, chard. This weekend it was early tomatoes, cabbage and onions with leaves and plastic. Oh it was good!

My blood pressure went down, my spirits soared. I'm just plain old Spring Happy.
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Twitter and the Blue Bird of Happiness

2009-04-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

You may be old enough (or not) to remember "the blue bird of happiness." Wikipedia, source of all interesting information says the blue bird (here the species as well as the symbol, I reckon) is "the most universally accepted symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, the renewal of springtime."

I keep seeing Twitter ads with all those little blue birds cheeping and hopping and frankly, they make me smile. Even giggle. It's a good thing. I'm reminded of how easy it is to laugh at anything or even no-thing just because. And I'm reminded of how beautiful the birds are.

I was working in the yard snatching vines off of a bank today and found a dove egg. Now I've seen sparrow eggs and robin's eggs and eggs of all sorts--this is an egg of a different sort. It almost glows with pearlescence. I only know it's a dove egg because I know they nest in this particular cedar.

It's unfortunate that this dove egg fell, and miraculous that it landed intact. Perhaps there was a bluebird watching, or twittering in the cedar announcing the fall and stirring the wind to move branches in such as way as to soften the egg's fall. The beautiful soft glowing egg just sits, being beautiful.

It sits, glowing, on my kitchen windowsill. There's that Twitter commercial again...and all those blue birds

Finding Balance at the Edge of the Cliff

2009-04-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Went to yoga this morning. It was great. Thankfully my yoga teacher has a sense of humor, and looks on yoga as "playful"--a way to see what you body will do, and a shorter distance to the floor when you fall (provided you're practicing balance exercises from the floor!).

"You find your balance at the edge of the cliff," she said, "just when you're about to fall." Is this true or what?! I'd spent yesterday about to fall, even lost my footing a time or two, and gratefully friends helped pull me back to the safety of solid ground. I found my balance, and regained my footing.

Wish the world's leaders could do the same.

Risks Increase for Child Abuse: Self-Care Even More Critical

2009-04-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

The ultimate customer for all of us: our children and the children in our communities. Yet with the economic difficulties, children in families that might otherwise be able to maintain their stability and health become more at risk for experiencing adverse childhood experiences, those ACEs that are so expensive for so long (www.acestudy.org).

Self-care, important all the time, is even more important when stress increases. A lot of times I think we are like coyotes gnawing on ourselves and then lashing out at the weaker simply because our level of self-care is inadequate for our stressors. If we are to protect our ultimate customers, and to reduce the risk of a crippled generation, we owe it to ourselves, each other and them to increase our self-care and, ahem, get a little happier.