Day 5 of the Happiness Challenge.

Today was supposed to be a day alone in the house while hubby took the two small children out for the day. Boy child did not want to leave the house so the day went a bit haywire from the beginning.

Remarkably I still managed to get through a significant amount of the housework catching up that I'd earmarked as today's jobs. My clean laundry is now sorted and put away, not a giant pile threatening to take over the laundry room! I made some interesting discoveries about how to clean stains from the toilet - gumption has shifted a lot of the marks, and Tea Tree Oil seemed to help lift some of the stubbornest areas.  The Tea Tree Oil was a bonus find, as I was simply trying to add a freshened-up smell to the room by pouring it into the bowl, and the chemical fizzy reaction was unexpected!  I managed to clear off the shelving surface in the entry, it is back to being functional, with only family photographs on top, not the flotsam of our lives!

On the downside I've made a spectacular mess by attempting late in the day to clean off the top of a bookshelf that was a dumping ground for all the children's craft - it now covers our kitchen table in a layer of unidentified muck, despite my having sorted and removed half of the pile already!

I was fairly grumpy by day's end, as I didn't exercise, or see my Dad today, both of which frustrates me. The intention was to do some Tai Chi tonight, but I fell asleep instead, so no exercise endorphins for me today.  And for some reason (let's blame winter) my diet seems to be firmly grounded in 'bad food' still, despite the threat of ear infection (I am prone to them if I eat too many grains), bread remains firmly at the centre of my dietary experience!

Am I grateful today? Very much so, grateful that I am making progress on the house project, grateful my children are so delightful and very grateful for the snippets of Bruce I managed to play today in the gaps between children's movies on the computer! 

Tomorrow morning I'll make seeing Dad the first stop of the day, and make sure to not only walk, but to get some peace through enjoying the beautiful surroundings I'm blessed to live near.  Yesterday evening waiting for the boys to see Despicable Me 2, I was blessed with this gorgeous riverfront dusk.

Day 4 - crafting inspiration

That's my day - out with children I not only have inspiration for what to craft but how to store it all thanks to the inspiration of my friend Lyn.

Here are the crafty ideas I've photographed today that look nice and simple. I love simple.

This one is a paper bag monster. Streamers /wool / paper strips for hair, and patty cake eyes. Everything else can be drawn.  I've just been inspired as to how to sort Pinterest as well - I haven't done it yet, but need a board called "Paper Bag Craft" - because there are a ream of paper bag oriented crafts.

We have a giant canvas that I picked up on sale for under $20. I love the idea of just covering it with paint any way we want to for "messy play painting".

I love the simplicity of these flowers. You can buy the flower cardboard from discount stores, and the rest is shiny paper - cellophane!

I love the simplicity of shiny octopus, and they also had shiny sea star. Clever ideas. Also hand fish. This is something to put on my 'under the sea' wall. Also to cut out of the giant cardboard I'm sure I could still find around the place.

Today was about average in its paying attention to all things positive. I spent the whole day and evening out with children, so exhaustion has kind of set in. A good time was had, plus a late night, so hopefully a sleep in tomorrow!

Challenge Day 3 - found here

Challenge Day 2 - found here

Challenge Day 1 - found here

(I am experimenting with ways to make this blogging process more navigable for myself here, so far no breakthroughs)

Daily Mantra - an effort in consistency

"things go horribly wrong despite my best intentions." - This part of Monday's blog has me thinking. After all it is kind of the crux of it all. Why would things continue to 'go wrong'? Unless of course I perhaps am not doing one of the below things, like expecting the best of myself, and giving myself reasons why I CAN do things, believing in myself.

william paisley‏@YourPocketGuru20h

If you always expect the best out of yourself & life you will get it! You are worthy of having it all... never forget that! #ypg

Organising Energy‏@OrganisEnergy20h

@YourPocketGuru and always believe in the best of yourself - I find I need to believe, not just expect, I am the best me including quirks!!

This conversation went on to discuss how if you don't believe, then its not expecting, its wishing. Quite the interesting thing for me to contemplate. I think I have a very strong tendency towards 'wishing' and calling it something else altogether. To check out the conversation, follow me @organisingenergy on Twitter.

Fitness Motivator‏@Fit_Motivator23 Jun

Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't I give myself reasons why I CAN.

Something I saw on twitter suggested that I should believe in myself more - believe that I can be the best me I imagine - that's worth thinking about!

a comment...

Organising Energy‏@OrganisEnergy24h

“@Fit_Motivator: Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't I give myself reasons why I CAN.” good 4 when inertia strikes 2 get you moving

(yes the graphics are clumsy, but its midnight!)

I also said that "I feel like I need a plan, or a mantra and a plan." So my mantra for the week is to make an effort daily to give myself reasons why I CAN, to expect myself to be able to, and believe in myself. Maybe that isn't quite a mantra, but I'm sure I'll get there with some fine-tuning. 

 

What I'm finding is that just having recognised the need to be mindful of my attitude is helping me.  Today despite not feeling particularly positive, through the whole day, I have simply kept going doing what needed to be done, sometimes slowly, sometimes with a great deal of energy.

 

And I'm proud of my efforts, I have a somewhat sorted toy space, I've scrubbed a floor, looked after the animals, and I've even had a lovely chat about the very sad state of politics in this country.   I'm filling in my little spreadsheet daily, and doing whatever is required to get over the little (and big hurdles) that life throws at me.

 

Here's a pic of today's cleaning up efforts. As you can see I'm big on practical, light on for image, with very haphazard labels! Might get pretty ones to replace it if I could be stuffed going to the shops.

 

 

 

On another note, a funny thing happened to me on the way home from Tai Chi tonight, I ran out of diesel going up a hill!  I was only about 2.5 kms from home, and aside from the first 500m of steep dark hillside, the rest was on my regular walking route that I cover in about 10 minutes from home.  So I simply turned off the engine, hopped out and walked briskly home (my mobile phone wasn't working so I did feel a little bit of need to be hasty). It was the best feeling to be able to just do that without thinking twice! Bruce Springsteen and the ESB have had such a big influence on my whole life, not only am I fitter, and calmer but I'm more insulated against the negative than I realise!  I am finding a whole new level of intolerance for negativity that I believe is self-preservation kicking in, allowing me the emotional space to deal with my own problems!

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings in the way of successes and challenges; so far I feel like I'm doing great with my routine, especially regarding the children and getting them regular with brushing their teeth.

Challenge Day 2 - found here

Challenge Day 1  - found here

(I am experimenting with ways to make this blogging process more navigable for myself here, so far no breakthroughs)

 

Day 2 - positive energy

Today was the first day of my school holiday plan. I think it went well. More or less according to plan.  I'm blogging on the mobile so will keep this brief as its time for sleep too. It was an emotional day today as I cleaned up (again) a large quantity of the children's toys that have gotten into a sorry, disorganised state. So many factors contributed to this - illnesses, acts of God (just the one storm actually) and emotional attachment to chaos (not me!!)

What I find incredible is that on my walk tonight, when thinking on what I was grateful for, I found myself turning around a negative (hubby's horrible toy toss method of making chaos) and found naked being grateful FIRST today for the fact he got the toys all in one location! In a day of many blessings I'm so glad I changed my thinking on this!

Best bit of today was building a campfire and having toast, potatoes and marshmallows :)

 

 

Health & Happiness Challenge Day 1

I have started two new blog posts tonight, as well as a spreadsheet to help me keep track of my challenges for the week.

Today was an extra work day for me while the children saw cousins with their Nana and Pop. So it didn't leave a LOT of time for exercise (I did a quick 10 minute walk before being picked up from work), or for reaching out to friends (so I emailed photos of the children to the family).

My Bruce time was mostly during the walk, although I did have my mindful Bruce attitude all day, holding my head up higher, and being happy in myself.

I'm grateful for another 2 hour drive home without tears and wailing from the little children. I'm grateful my cat survived a second day without his midday medication.

My diet could have been better as I had iced coffeee (yum!); but I also have had 1/3 of my water and I've eaten plenty of Kale today.

I phoned my father, it was lovely to speak with him after a busy day yesterday, and to hear that the private physiotherapist I have in to see him weekly was a highlight of his day as she took him for a longer walk than the staff usually do.

My excel spreadsheet looks a little like this:

 

Was flat, now a new week of challenges!

I'm a bit frightened. I have psoriasis coming back. New outbreaks on my legs, and my arm scar tissue is doing the opposite of fading.

There are so many things that I can attribute it to, but my gut says it all boils down to that extra special spark of happiness post-Springsteen and the E-Street Band concerts. 

I know I've eaten badly, for enough weeks that it is affecting me, so perhaps it is that. I know my exercise has dropped off with the cold wet weather, illnesses and extra child at home.

I know that my stress levels have skyrocketed with various unavoidable dramatic personalities, including my son's exhausted end-of-term teacher-inspired nervousness at everything. 

What I don't know is how to make it better. I have written so many words in my searching for various motivations and direction, yet still manage to come to this place where things go horribly wrong despite my best intentions.

I feel like I need a plan, or a mantra and a plan. Goals. I find it difficult to cope with when my goals aren't met on time. I was pretty heartbroken when I didn't reach my goal weight at the end of April. Since then I've tried to be more flexible, but then, without a solid goal, it is easy to slowly seep into excuse making by default. That place where you don't actually make excuses, but you excuse yourself from having to be responsible. 

I did this for a whole week recently over my son's school troubles. In some ways the week of 'not dealing with it' gave me some breathing space, but on the other hand, what kind of emotional state was I already in that I needed to re-create an emotional buffer that took a week in the making?

Part of the problem might have been that I've let the blog get out of control, so instead of having a daily reflection on how I'm doing, its barely a weekly review.

I'm sure I did  this list only a few weeks ago - exercise, blog, Bruce, gratefulness, Tai Chi, friendship.  I think its time for another 'challenge' where I focus on these elements as well as the special school holiday additions of children-time and cleanout-time. Challenge week time it is. First challenge will be getting to the blog daily!

I also left out diet! After naming it as the second most likely cause of disease disaster, I need  to remember at least the basics of no bread, 3 bottles of water and some Kale every day.

Exercise and tai chi are self-explanatory - daily!

Bruce - get some of that him daily too!

Gratefulness - a daily record of what I'm grateful for, at LEAST.

Friendship - connect with my exercise mates, or phone a friend

Children and cleanup time is part of my school holiday plan to begin with.

Wow, that is a very structured, full kind of challenge.  Perhaps it is about time.  I do wonder where in there I'm going to fit other things, like the evil budget word, or following up to fix my Dad's hearing aids.  So so many things. 

First a little bit of Tai Chi and a little bit of gratitude followed by the necessary fixing clothes for work tomorrow.

I hope you've made it this far through this very inwards and reflective journal for today!

If so, how wonderful is this? This is Evan's man-hug, from his sign request for the same.  It might seem crazily out of context, but its here because Evan's story makes me smile, and reminds me of how amazing it feels to be so close to someone who has such incredible energy and zest and shares that on such a magnificent scale.

Today I'm grateful that Evan shared his moment with so many Brucebuds.  I'm especially grateful to get home at night with two happy children (as compared to the screaming to get out of the car variety). I'm also grateful that my cat did ok by himself for the day. 

What are you grateful for today?

EDIT: note to self for this week - turn out the light!

Bruce Springsteen Happiness by Maggie

Not long ago I asked my newly found Bruce Buds on facebook if anyone felt able to put down in words the amazing positive effect Bruce Springsteen has on their happiness. This is what Maggie wrote (any words from me are added in italics):

In 1979 I was a spotty, introverted teenager with a massive inferiority complex and a boyfriend who was obsessed with British bands.  I've always had a passion for music but, at the age of 17, I was only just beginning to discover this about myself. My then boyfriend loved Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and whilst I definitely liked them, there was something missing for me. There was no emotional connection and I needed that. I discovered that American artists and bands came closer to what I wanted and it was with that in mind that, on that fateful day in 1979, I wandered into our local record store to buy a compilation tape of American rock music.  There was a track on it by someone I knew very little about at the time; Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run.  I had no idea, when I took that tape home that day, that my life was about to change forever!

It hit me like a bolt of lightning!!

It was like someone had just awakened me with a 50000 volt cattle prod!! 

Within half an hour I was back on the bus to that record store to buy the Born To Run album!

The emotions it evoked in me, the way it made me feel- I couldn't even start a description.  Here was a man who understood me! He wrote about longing to break free from his life and find something different and better. He yearned for change.  And he wrote his feelings down, set them to music and let me share in his dreams!  I felt as if he was singing not only to me but about me! Happiness is almost an understatement!!

 So, 34 years and numerous live shows later - here I am!!

 

Bruce-obsessed to the very core!

It's not just his music that makes me happy.  It's his lyrics, his performance, his charisma and most of all the person that he is.  I feel I can trust him.  I feel that he shares his thoughts, his emotions, his life with me through the power of his words and music (and don't forget his incredible presence!).

 

At the time of writing, Bruce is in the middle of a two year world tour and by the time it finishes, I'll have been lucky enough to see him 8 times on this tour in 13 months in the UK, Europe and the USA.  It's easy to feel ecstatic whilst all this is going on but there's more to it than that.  Bruce has soundtracked my life.  My eldest son was born whilst BITUSA (Born in the USA) was still going strong.  My daughter was born to the sounds of Tunnelof Love and that album also saw me though the break up of my first marriage.  The lyrics made me feel that Bruce was going through the same things as me and it gave me such emotional support through the tough times.

When I met my second husband, he wasn't a massive Bruce fan but he owned some of his albums and music was already a passion for him so it didn't take long for him to understand that Bruce isn't just a singer.  He's a way of life!!

By the time my youngest son was born we were in a bit of a Bruce-drought album wise - Bruce was raising a family of his own -  so during that time I was obsessively playing his greatest hits. As a result, Chris has grown up to the whole spectrum of Bruce's music and he's the biggest Bruce fan in the family after me!  This is Chris with the incredible convoy of E-Street Trucks, as Bruce tours with a massive stage set-up and huge E-Street Band.

 

Over the years we've evolved as a family of Bruce fans and the thread of Bruce's music runs through us and helps to keep us close. Each family member has their own musical tastes and preferences, but Bruce is the one we share.  The one that brings us together! The incredible high of a live gig is something we share over and over and when the gigs are all done, it's back to the CDs, DVDs and photos.  Facebook is the new way to stay Bruce-high, get news about Bruce and generally stay up to date. I've made some close,  lifelong friends through chatting to them about Bruce and swapping histories and stories.

I'm not sure I can put a name to the emotions that swirl around my head when it comes to Bruce. How can you give a name to something that has filled your life with emotion for over 30 years.  Something that has told a story as if it were your own story, that has seen you through good and bad times without ever letting you down and raised you to such heights that you thought you would never come down?  My personal opinion is that it's as close to the perfect definition of happiness as I can possibly get.

Thank you Maggie!

Best Friends

Uh oh! That moment has arrived.  Despite knowing it would happen, the fact it has taken 18 long months to flourish has set me into a little bit of complacency.

And now my daughter has a best friend, at her expensive, exclusive private school.  It is funny the choices you make as a parent, and the alarming consequences of those choices as they reverberate over the years!

And now my poorly maintained, messy, mid-renovation everywhere, less-than-perfectly kept house really must somehow be dragged from the sorry state it is in, and be made to appear at the very least, respectable.  Preferably in the next week or two, so that they can have a playdate in the holidays!

A daily routine

What a novel idea!

I'm going to make an attempt at this in the coming weeks of the school holidays. So that I can be a 'real Mum', something I apparently have been slack at recently.

My idea of what goes into a daily routine would be:

Morning routine, consisting of breakfast, brushing teeth, getting dressed and putting on laundry & dishwasher.
Early morning cleaning focus - getting stuck into the often ignored projects, like cleaning out cupboards, sorting toys.
Mid-morning snack, followed by craft / food time with children - so while they're eating, I'm setting up for a late morning of entertaining cooking or construction
playtime for them, washing up / laundry folding / daily routine task time for me OR this is when we do errands / shopping needed for the evening's meal.
Lunch
post-lunch cleaning focus - tidy up and 'make nice' whatever room the morning was in
afternoon learning time with children - reading or playing, maybe toy sorting every afternoon (there are lots of toys)
Then afternoon tea, me cooking dinner, more general 'daily' tidying, including clean clothes put away from laundry to bedrooms.

Then tea time, showers, night-time routine. Read a book and tidy up all clothes and toys.

Little people to bed, wash up, adult night-time routine including taking out bin, cleaning the sink.

On days when I am left alone in the house I need another routine, more like:

1. Tackle major project
2. eat and relax
3. all 'daily' cleaning
4. either another major project or a significant 'regular cleaning' job, like scrubbing floors / vacuuming.
5. relax!


Thats what I'm going to go with for now, hopefully something like this will come to pass.

Negativity and Affirmations

I've had a lesson today. A lesson in balance. While feeling utterly overwhelmed with the weight of negativity around me, I discussed this on my facebook wall with friends.  And after a bit of too-ing and fro-ing in the ensuing discussion, I posted this:

Tai Chi is perfect! It has soo many proven health benefits and I have to make a real effort now to actually do myself harm with it. Also I don't like to sit still, so I find holding yoga poses totally alien to my nature. On the other hand, Tai Chi is 'walking meditation' and its perfect :) Some days just area bit bodgier than others, I've had a few weeks of that with one thing and another and this has turned out to be a reaffirmation (I'm fast learning that reaffirming important things needs to be done over and over and over ad infinitum) of all the good things I know I need to keep up to stay healthy. Will my third finger remain arthritic? Geez I hope not but even if it does, I know if I keep up all the walking, tai chi, gratefulness etc then it won't really matter as it will get better when all that is going on. Really I'm just sooking about Bruce in Europe. HUGE first world problem.

What I've learnt is that I really must keep reaffirming my faith in myself. Reaffirming the importance of all the thing that are integral to my happiness and healthiness isn't something I need to do now and again. I need it daily, or as many times as its necessary to keep me as disease free as I was in April this year.

 

 

So even negativity serves a positive purpose, because when it creeps (or rushes) in, then its time to reaffirm the exercise, the Tai Chi, the gratefulness and the determination to live life and enjoy!  Its interesting how even the less exhilarating ride to the bottom of the ferris wheel can be filled with anticipation of the next exciting ascent to the top!  I missed out on the ferris wheel ride at this year's Agricultural Show, but I think I've been on my own personal wheel with great highs and deep dips!  Right now, according to my theory, I'm on my way back around the wheel, on an upsweep :)

Taking care of yourself - an epiphany.

I've had an epiphany. Not a very pleasant one, but an incredibly poignant light bulb moment. I'm sitting in my broken down car, on the side of the highway, waiting now for over half an hour for a row truck to collect myself and my disabled car in the pouring rain.

I have been watching European concerts for Bruce Springsteen with increasing agitation and envy  (check this link for why); what if this is his last tour? What if he stops touring and goes home to New Jersey for the next 2 years? These thoughts are what fuels my desperation to see him one more time, while I can.

And then there it was. My 'oh hell' moment, when I realised that had I argued more, or better, 10 years ago to have my frequent flyer points reinstated after they expired when my credit card company stopped automatic affiliation with the frequent flyer points, then I would have enough for my family to travel to Europe. (This happened in the traumatic year my mother got ill and died, so I was not paying attention to such things until it was too late).

What this is teaching me is that to not take care of something might seem to only have 'imaginary' consequences, the reality is that I am now sitting in THAT moment, where my much saved, loved points would have transported me from my suburban existence and taken my whole family on an amazing overseas holiday. My consequence for not sticking up for myself 10 years ago is right now, this very minute, realising that yes, that vague time in the future does come around! It's like when you are young the idea that smoking will ruin your health is a vague notion at best - some imaginary calamitous future disease - it does come to pass!

Here's my tow truck - the consequence of not paying attention to my car - now it's broken :(

Lesson for me? Take care of things, all the things. Just like my health, the whole of my life is my responsibility and there are consequences to doing a half hearted job.  I knew that eventually this new sense of self-actualisation regarding my health must begin to permeate the other facets of my life; however I'd always imagined that the transition would be more instantaneous, in the way that seeing Bruce Springsteen in concert instantly transformed my perspective on my responsibility for my own health well-being occurred overnight.  I had imagined that overnight I would have the exact same goal oriented, no-setback accepted, driven and calm resolve about decluttering my house.  This somewhat obscure little 'light bulb moment' that annoyingly seems to require me to find every distasteful incomplete or neglected task in my life and place it as a matter of priority is not what I imagined as the next logical progression of realising my life is wholly my responsibility to live in a happy way.  It may take some getting used it, despite the way I already see parallels between the concept of 'jobs left undone' and the state of clutter in my house. I see many instances of too lazy to find a home for items, or too lazy to return items to their proper place; of jobs half done rather than completed.

Perhaps the link isn't so obscure after all, and this will have a significant affect on my life's clutter!

Labelling the world

One of the mysteries of organising for me is the label.  Personally I don't need labels. If I decide where something goes, then that is it's home and there is no question of needing to put a sticker on it saying so.  My husband on the other hand, simply cannot function without a label, and it has even been suggested to me he requires the 'post-it-note' system of labelling reminders of jobs to be done around the house.

The only labelling exception that I understand is that of labelling food when it is stored in the freezer. I've become quite lax at this lately, however for a good 12 months had a terrific system of using simple masking tape and a marking pen to label the date of freezing and contents.  Not glamourous but effective as masking tape stays stuck when frozen, and the felt pen writes on the papery surface of the tape easily without wiping off.

A funny anecdote about the difference between my husband and myself involves our clean laundry sorting drawers.  I simply had the drawers arranged in age order, mine at the top, then hubby, then the children from eldest to youngest. No labels. He could not function with this, and essentially refused to use the drawers.  One night he got enthusiastic and printed labels from MS Word with our names on them.  He stuck them on with sticky tape and proceeded to help sort laundry for at least two weeks after that!

I also enjoy labelling children's toys with bright pictures.  My favourite way to do this is to cut and paste from magazines, e.g. for a box of play food, stick glossy pictures of food on the outside of the box.  Another way is to clipart the objects into a label, like the one below.

What I am yet to experiment with is the art of post-it-notes to organise or 'label' jobs to be done.  Apparently it works really well for people who need visual aids. I'm hoping to hear more about it from someone who uses it soon.  My organising friends suggested that in order to get  through the work necessary to complete our new 'family bedroom' upstairs that I needed to put post-it-notes on all the spots where hubby needed to contribute, with a date he needed to be finished.  At this point where I have finished my part of the room preparation, that idea is very tempting!

I recently went on a shopping trip for organising, and had limited results from my label purchases.

These food labels have proven themselves long lasting, however I didn't use removable marker on them so the contents labelled once need to be recycled the next time; e.g. I have one container now for 'rice'!

These labels I bought specifically for hubby, but they're still hiding in my 'house' folder waiting for him to love them.

I will admit, since blogging, that although I personally feel no need to label, that there is a connection between labelling and being prepared. No extra thought is needed, or longwinded explanation, and the act of labelling is in itself an act of being publicly organised. Electronically I am now better at labelling photographs for instance, as I organised them by year and month into directories.

It will take time, but I am convinced of the need to use labels around the house.

Maintaining Happiness - Friendship

Something that has done nothing but boost my happiness levels has been good buddies.  Having friends who have a shared dialogue with my passions has been a major part of the support system that keeps my happiness high!  Having my 'walking mates' who share a text message every time we exercise sounds so mundane, but it is wonderful to feel valued, and to appreciate other's efforts. The walking mates have provided me with a sense of shared purpose with these great friends who are thousands of kilometers away, but near in heart.

The 'bruce buds' I'm making friends with through facebook and twitter are also a source of camraderie and amusement as I become increasingly envious of the fabulous European tour of Wrecking Ball :)

Spending extra time with local friends has been terrific too, to share hugs, tears, and in the last couple of months, one special friend and I have done a bit of hanging out at each others' houses, lending a bit of hand with the housework, or just some mutually Bruce Springsteen appreciative moments!

I've made new friends through my daughter's playgroup, kept in better contact with old friends, and generally felt more balanced with the community and my circles than I have in ages.  It is amazing how what seems like small efforts make a large difference to overall happiness levels!

We've made a huge effort as a family also to prioritise seeing my father, and are all appreciating that special time with someone who has been dear to us in the past 10 years that we've been living close by especially.

Like my 'Bruce happiness' I find it very hard to articulate the wonderful positives that come with a sense of belonging and kinship with friends and close family, so again, I'll leave it to the music!

Regaining happiness - Bruce

It is a very easy thing to recognise Bruce Springsteen as a major contributing factor to the wave of happiness I experienced since his concerts in March.  What is more difficult is reconciling that momentary high with the ongoing demands of daily life. But I need to believe it is possible, for the sake of sanity!

For a little while there I lost the enthusiasm of playing and replaying songs; I was getting increasingly jealous of the lucky Europeans enjoying their concerts more and more. 

And then I realised that all I needed to do to reclaim the good feeling was to re-live it, including all the song hunting on the net, the mixing up songs and albums into different playlists and finding new songs to enjoy.

I've been experimenting with playing his songs by alphabetical order, with some incredible results!  Quite a few are thoroughly enjoyable back-to-back, although sometimes there is a desperate need to stop the nonsense and go back to playing his albums in the order they are so carefully arranged!!

It is hard to balance the excitement for my 'bruce buds' with the extreme disappointment and jealousy at not seeing him at all in Europe this year; but incredibly, youtube and photos that come through from the tour work a treat to keep the energy alive.

Its his live performances that stand out, as so many reviewers point out, and all his fans know, at least once they've been to a live show!

I'll leave you with a piece of recent enjoyable motivation courtesy of Bruce Springsteen and his remarkable fans.

 

Regaining Happiness - Blogging

This is instalment #3 about the adventure to reclaim the happy calm state from the month of April.

One of the factors contributing to my sense of well-being in the past months has certainly been the act of blogging. I'm fascinated by what makes me tick, by the dynamic that exists that causes me to struggle with expending my energy in sensible ways, and productively.  Blogging helps me to see not only what is happening, but what I'd like to be happening, and finally, I find it incredibly helpful as a tool of reflection, to be able to document the highs and lows, the way I was thinking at a particular time, the repetitive behaviour, a simple reminder of how I'd like to be!

In the past month, my blog posts have decreased from 'most days' to 'most weeks'. I went back to work and so did my husband, leaving so much less time for these quick 15 minute blog updates during the day. The novelty had probably worn off after a honeymoon period, and in addition, I didn't feel like I was doing 'new things' worth blogging about (which wasn't true but it's an interesting reflection on the negativity creeping back into my life!)

Once again, I am shocked and amazed by my tiny bit of internet research. Research indicates that journalling (which is essentially what blogging is) "decreases the symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis"

Whoa! So without realising it, my blogging has been a contributing factor to the reduction of my arthritic pain. Combined with the gratitude, Bruce and exercise, I've been following a near-perfect disease prevention formula!  How incredible and amazing is that?

So in terms of increasing happiness, and maintaining it, apparently blogging or journalling are right up there with simple ways to get the happiness level higher!

Here are some of the links I have found fascinating to read

Journalling to reduce trauma

Benefits of Journalling

Health Benefits of Journalling

Alongside the health benefits and happiness boosting effect journalling acts as a tool for redirection of my thoughts and therefore my future actions. For example, as soon as I began the blog for the first part of this series of 'reclaiming happiness' I realised that I wanted to contribute smaller daily blogs to help me get back into the swing of blogging.

It looks like blogging and Bruce, exercise and gratitude are going to continue to be part of my daily life, for the sake of my health and sanity.