Sunday, January 29, 2012

Remembering The Happiness Project and its relevance in my life

This was a passage from one of my posts back in the summer. Today I really felt as though I needed a pick me up. So I decided that it was in my best interest to re-read the most important quotes I got out of Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project . This book made such an impact on me and helped we through alot this summer. 


One of the most important things I have learned is that " when people's minds are unoccupied, they tend to drift to anxious or angry thoughts. And rumination - dwelling on slights, unpleasant encounters, and sad events - lead to bad feelings. "  This hit the nail on the head when thinking about the events of the past few months. I have created a new mind set, when I begin to feel sad about things. I think about my "area of refuge"- this is not a place per say, but a state of mind. Basically, when I start to ruminate (which I must say isn't that often, due to my happiness level being raised in so many different ways) , I think about positive things for example, Clark's face - giving good morning kisses to my chunk, Ithaca is Gorges- farmers markets, Cayuga lake, flowers on the door at 214 Utica, "10 square miles surrounded by reality", aroma of fresh tomato sauce, and feelings I get when shopping at the farmers market with my chunk.




The updated version for today, would be when I am ruminating I try my best to leave the area immediately. Not only does my worrying affect me but it affects the people around me. My biggest fear is to lose people that are very important to me because of something stupid. 
So I  seek an area of refuge that helps me to be the best person I can be for not only myself but for my chunk.  I know I am a great person, compassionate, loving, and giving. 


With my birthday approaching, I have feelings of sadness and happiness. Sadness because my mother always made birthdays so special- you would wake up to a card that said just the right thing. Then you would have the breakfast of your choice and sometimes, if you were lucky you could take the day off of school. The day was for you to do what YOU wanted... I know that we are all getting older, and birthdays don't mean as much as they once did. 
But it is nice to know that maybe the day can be special in some way.. So I will make it special for myself. Because in the end you only have yourself to make happy! 


Until the next time,
There is only love <3 

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Update since the last posting

I realized today that I haven't updated my blog since New Years Eve! This is totally unacceptable :p

Since my last update, I have put Clark into a home daycare. He of course transitioned well in terms of saying bye to me... but he had a bit of a hard time sharing, bopping kids on the head as well as transitioning from one activity to another was a challenge.
Even though I am a teacher and have had this conversation hundreds of times with parents, its hard when you are on the other side of the coin. I have come to realize that of course this is normal behavior and exactly the reason why I chose to send Clark to a small group environment to learn how to socialize and use appropriate behaviors.
He went two days last week, and was sick this week. So he will be back next week and hopefully will transition well once again!

On my personal end , I decided to get a tattoo... LOTS of people were completely surprised that I decided to get one!!! However it was a personal choice and although it has taken some getting use to, I completely love it. The tattoo consists of three stars being "strung" together with some swirly lines. Of course it looks much better than I am describing it, lol. The process was not as painful as I thought it would be.

Typically I am a plain jane, not wanting to stand out from the crowd. Getting a tattoo makes me feel like I might just stand out in a different kind of way.

I am still learning /working on what makes me happy and how to make myself happy. The list of what makes me happy is growing and that's an awfully nice feeling.
I have been reading alot once again. Recently I read "Sundays at Tiffanys" by James Patterson, this is not your typical James Patterson book about mystery and crime. This book was about finding out that your childhood imaginary friend is your one true love. This book was great, I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns.
It made me think...as a child who always had an imaginary family (Big John Stud, Mary, Little John Stud and Peppermint Patty) ...could my imaginary family, truly be out there? Its a long shot, but who knows.... weirder things have happened!
Maybe I have to find my Big John Stud.....and figure out where to go from there.
So that could be on my bucket list.... check off get a tattoo, and replace it with find big John Stud.

Until next time,
There is only love <3