Good Riddance Day in Times Square

On Monday, the Times Square Alliance, the same group that organizes the giant New Years Eve party, held their third annual Good Riddance day from 12 to 1 pm where people could come and shred, smash, and dump "any distasteful, embarrassing and downright depressing memories from 2009." Dozens of people stopped by to shred anything from pink slips, to newspaper articles, to the names of ex-boyfriends.

While you're making out your resolutions this week in order to have a happier, healthier 2010, it might not come amiss to make a list of things you'd like to let go of. Symbolism is a powerful thing, so take all the disappointments from the past year and shred them, toss them, donate them and be done with it. Start fresh for 2010.

What happiness for me will look like in 2050

I find this picture hauntingly beautiful. I was taken by Matthew McDermott during a Vigil for Survival last week. Under each candle, people wrote what their hopes were for the world in the year 2050. I'd love to read what some people wrote, I think it would be interesting to see what people's hopes and dreams are for the future of humanity - one can only hope it has nothing to do with beer vending machines and nothing like the future looked like in "Back to the Future: Part II."

Personally...

I hope that we see a shift to a more conservative society. Just because we can have sex and swear doesn't mean that it should be on tv at 8 p.m. or at all for that matter.

I hope people learn the virtues of accountability and stop expecting a hand out or a bail out to appear around the next corner. 

At the same time, I hope we also learn that compassion and charity is good for the soul and that not everyone chooses to be in the situation they're in and not everyone is looking for a hand out or a bail out.

I hope the world learns that the United States can't always be called upon to solve conflict, and I hope the United States learns that they can't fix the problems of the world - especially ones that have existed for thousands of years. We need to focus on our own problems first.

I hope we gain a true understanding of what processed foods, hormone supplements in our food, and toxic chemicals in our personal care items have done to our bodies and our childrens bodies. Stop greenwashing me and tell me the truth.

Additionally, I hope recycling becomes mandatory and supported by every town and city.

I'm wondering what your hopes are for our future, faithful readers? What would your perfect world look like? What do you hope to see change? 

My friend Monica forwarded me this quote which I think is applicable here:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

*Margaret Mead*

Three things I like about myself - Day 2 of "The Happy Book"

Day two of "The Happy Book" is actually to write about my favorite cliche, but I really don't have one. I'm not even sure I really understand what it means, so I'm skipping it and moving day three into day two.

So day two has now become about finding three things I like about myself and writing them down. This is actually really tough for me. I'm not really that great at talking about myself. Oh, don't get me wrong, I can talk, but I generally just tell stories about other people or talk about interesting facts that I've learned that are applicable to the conversation. I will rarely talk about myself directly. So this exercise is actually really difficult for me and therefore my three things might be slightly lame...so here it goes:

1. I'm fiercely loyal. I've always said that you can say bad things about me, but never, ever say bad things about the people that I care about. 
2. I'm strong, both mentally and physically - although I will admit I lack discipline in certain areas that involve ice cream and chocolate.
3. Why is the last one always so hard? Would it be cheating if I said that I think I'm a good daughter and sister? Does this overlap number 1 too much? Oh well..using it anyway. Family is very important to me, and so while there are times I get impatient...ok...maybe it's downright bitchy...I'm pretty sure that they all know that I'm around when it counts, supportive when I need to be, and that I love them all very much. 

So now it's your turn. What are three things you like about yourself. Write them down and when you're feeling down and having one of those funky days, refer back to them and hopefully they'll lift your spirits!

Day 2 of the Field Guide to Happiness for Women

Today's tip for finding happiness from Barbara Ann Kipfer's  book "A Field Guide to Happiness for Women" is to Walk More. She writes that "Walking helps you get to know yourself better. If you choose to think while you walk, you may come up with solutions to problems or discover insights into your being."

While I completely agree with the sentiment, I don't necessarily agree with the activity. I personally don't overly enjoy walking. I'll do it, but it's frankly not my choice of exercise. Growing up, I always did my thinking and my problem solving while I was swimming. I was mostly a distance swimmer until college and so practices sessions were filled with long distance swimming. What better time to think than when you can hear practically nothing of the outside world and the only other thing you really have to do to entertain yourself is to stare at a black line on the bottom of the pool? It was either think or sing songs to myself in my head...both of which were regular occurrences.

Once I graduated college and swore never to enter another pool again with the intent of swimming laps (that lasted about 3 months, although I've began to go longer and longer without swimming) I needed to find other ways to have personal, thinking time. These days I find it in different places....in spin class, in the shower in the mornings, in those moments right before I fall asleep. For me, these are all times where I can go over the days events, go through my to do list, compose emails in my head, or whatever else needs to be done. It's 100% about me and there's nothing from the outside world that can disturb me.

The point I think Kipfer is making is two fold - first of all, exercise in general will make you a happier, healthier person. I think we can all agree on that. Whether it's walking or not, that's totally up to you. And second, with our lives getting busier and fuller, everyone needs to find a time to decompress and work through issues in solitude. For my mom, she finds that Sunday Mass is her peaceful time to reflect, maybe yours is during your monthly massage, or as you sit quietly in the car waiting to pick your child up from soccer practice. Wherever and whatever it may be, pause and find some time to connect with yourself.

Chinese Fortune Cookies - December 13, 2009 Daily Dose of Happiness

My dad and I looooooove fortune cookies. When we go to Pei Wei, where the cookies are pretty much set up like a buffet and you can help yourself, we always grab a handful before our food is served and then another handful after we've eaten dinner. Tonight we had quite the number of fortune cookies and, like always, some of the fortunes were good, others were lame, but I kept all of them to copy them here. Hopefully there's one you can enjoy:

Your smile is a curve that can get a lot of things straight.

Past experience: He who never makes mistakes never did anything that's worthy.

Be yourself and you will always be in fashion.

Be both a speaker of words and a doer of deeds.

He who grabs the last lettuce wrap is the least hungry.

The simplest answer is to act.

Don't put off till tomorrow what can be enjoyed today.

Emotions can be sweet and sour, so can your meal.

Secret Santa Angel's - December 10, 2009 Daily Dose of Happiness

This wonderfully heart warming story popped up on my yahoo front page today about a group of Secret Santa's in cities nationwide that hand out their own money to unsuspecting, yet deserving people during the month of December. Let me repeat that...they hand out THEIR OWN MONEY. I was sitting in my shop this afternoon as I read this story, literally sobbing and praying for the first time in the short history of my business that no one came through my door.

Spend any sort of time with me and I'm bound to touch on my massive disappointment in the path of humans these days. It seems like we spend so much time worrying about ourselves, our problems, our issues, that we've lost all semblance of common courtesy. When did people stop saying thank you, holding a door open, or doing something so incredibly simple, like flipping a turn signal on? And when did all of this become ok?

These Secret Santa's are the complete antithesis of all of that. This year alone, they will give out a combined $250,000 to $300,000 to complete and total strangers. This goes completely beyond turning your blinker on. All these people ask for is that recipients pay their good fortune forward - not necessarily in the form of money, it can be something as simple as a hug.

Maybe this holiday season we can all attempt to stop focusing so much on our own problems in order to see the bigger picture. And maybe we'll be able to bring each other some happiness along the way.

10 things that make me happy, day one from "The Happy Book"

Authors of "The Happy Book: A Journal to Celebrate what Makes you Happy," Rachel Kepster and Meg Leder write in the beginning of the book that the theme of the book and the secret for happiness is:

Thinking about what makes you happy, makes you happy.

Writing about what makes you happy, makes you happy.

Reading about what makes you happy, makes you happy.

Asking others to think, read, and write about what makes them happy, makes them happy. The nice side effect? It also makes you happy.

Pretty simple logic if you ask me. There's a quote out there somewhere that says:

Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

It's an interesting thought. There's another quote - People are about as happy as they make their mind up to be. So I think the authors of "The Happy Book" might be on to something here.

Anyway, activity one from "The Happy Book" is to make a list of things that make me happy - anything and everything that makes me happy - small, big, profound, simple. So that's what I'm going to do. I'll do ten things only - I'm afraid if I do to many more it will start to read like those facebook notes that were floating around for awhile "31 things you don't know about me" or some crap like that. Feel free to think about, comment on, or write down what makes you happy. Then I suggest when something negative happens, focus on the happiness list and not on the negative list. These are in no particular order:

1. My animals. With two cats and a dog, my little 1200 sq ft house sometimes seems like a mini zoo and a disaster waiting to happen, but animals really do make life brighter and better.
2. Coffee. I really don't think I need to enlarge on this topic.
3. A new book. Horace Mann once said "A house without books is like a room without windows." I believe no matter what, no matter the genre, the method, the title, you can always get something from a book, even if it's just the pleasure of curling up under the covers with it.
4. My family. No matter what they are my home. And home is where your story begins.
5. Warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.
6. A really good, nasty, sweaty cycling class.
7. Friends. I may not have a large quantity of friends, but I have some great quality friends and to me, that's the most important thing.
8. The internet. Seriously...what did people do before yahoo and google? These days, pretty much all my information comes from the internet. How to figure out my quickbooks file, finding new products, how to get rid of fleas, making an appointment to get my carpets cleaned. Literally everything.
9. My business. I honestly wake up every day and I'm excited to go to work.
10. Writing. I may not always know what to say. I may not always say interesting or important things. But I enjoy doing it. It helps me focus and helps me process.

So there you have it. 10 things that make me happy. Hope you are able to find some things in your life that make you happy as well!