Posts Tagged ‘Grateful’

Fireflies: Happiness engineers extraordinaire!

Posted on Monday, June 6th, 2011

One of my favorite things about spring/summer are fireflies, and I saw my first ones a few nights ago. I knew them growing up, when my father/mother/daughter family spent a couple of weeks with another such family up in northern MN, fishing, and then they disappeared from my life as it became much more urban-focused. Eventually a friend moved to the country, and I re-encountered them when I went for summer visits, but it wasn’t until I moved to N.C. 10 years ago that they became such a large part of my spring/summer consciousness. I had an especially meaningful experience with them a few years ago when, unable to sleep, I got up around 3am and went into the kitchen, which had a sliding glass door to the deck. And there, on the deck, were about 20 fireflies which, as I watched, settled into a perfect circle on the deck floor and just lay there, blinking, until dawn. I had never seen such behavior, and to this day don’t know what it meant, except that I felt very connected to these creatures, and filled with a silent joy which arises again each spring with the first sighting.

Joyful Moment 1/31/11

Posted on Sunday, February 13th, 2011

The Packers had won, there were beautiful, light flurries coming out of the mountains, and a bassoon concerto was playing on the radio; what could be better?

Joyful new phrases to share

Posted on Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Have a grateful day! A friend told me he heard this from a cashier, and it brought me up short. I am always telling people to have a great day, but this feels so much better – because if I am having a grateful day, it is automatically a great one.

Enjoy your treatment. I recently heard this from an acupuncturist. It was a great reminder to focus on enjoyment, and I did. I enjoyed the tingling sensation running up my legs, I enjoyed listening to the various breathings of the other people in the room (this is a traditional style clinic in which several people are treated at once), I enjoyed looking at the tree and sky through the skylight. I enjoyed taking an hour with my own thoughts, as I focused them on feeling better.

Make a loving, not a living. I truly believe that if you love what you do, the living part will automatically follow. So try loving what you do, or do something else. (I’m not always able to do this myself, but it is a good practice for a master.)

Today is the best day ever! Someone in my MasterMind group began starting his days with this; I followed suit, and it really makes a difference in how my day goes.