On Happiness: Pancakes

flippingpancakesJeff Goins is an author, blogger and speaker. When he and his wife were expecting their first baby  he decided to make pancakes for her one morning, after she turned down a number of other breakfast options. (No, that’s not Jeff in the image)

Jeff has tapped into a key component of happiness: finding joy in the everyday events that make up our lives. By chronicling this event and pausing to reflect on it, he is savoring one episode out of many to come that will take on sweeter and sweeter signficance as the years go by.

Too often we rush through daily activities, taking them for granted as if they were all the same. They are not really. Each time we arise, get dressed, cook breakfast and go to work, we are having a new experience. Sure, each resembles previous ones, but each one is distinct. The more we can pause to enjoy these moments, the more we fill up our happiness reservoir.

Read Jeff’s blog post to get the full story as he describes the steps he went through to turn out to finally create the pleasing version of his stack. He ends by wondering if he and his wife will ever have mornings like this again.

Here’s how I commented on Jeff’s blog.
===============

Hi Jeff,

As a mom of 4 adults and 3 grandkids (who are adults too,) I want you to know that your pancake episode is all too common.

That first batch of pancakes is always the sacrificial batch because for whatever reason getting the grill, skillet or whatever you use to just the right temperature is an endeavor. No amount of experience helps you here. I doubt if restaurants that specialize in pancakes even get this right.

Getting the spatula first is the farthest from our minds since we are focused on getting the consistency of the batter just right. (We all do it the same way you did.)

I commend you for keeping the pancakes warm in the microwave. Not every man husband cook  thinks of that.

Enjoy these mornings. You won’t have any more mornings exactly like these, but once you add kids to the mix, getting the pancakes right will be the least of your concerns. As soon as they are able to hold a spatula safely, start teaching them to make the pancakes, if for no reason than the entertainment value. Your life will move into color and 3-D.
=================
What everyday event from your past is precious to you now?

==================

Could you use inspiration to create happiness everyday? Check out my Everyday Happiness cards at http://florabrown.com/products-classes/everyday-happiness-cards/

 

March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month–Early Detection Can Save Your Life

Are You Missing the Beam?

After I read a rautomaticdoorsresized--canstockphoto1828174ecently released longitudinal study about the spread of happiness in a social network, I noticed this comment from one of the readers.

 

In another more distant time, I was quite depressed, and found that walking up a corridor the automatic door would not open for me, although it would for anyone else walking up the same corridor … This happened over some weeks and did little for my self-esteem.


It was only later that I realised that I was walking along the edge of the corridor, and the others were walking confidently in the centre and that I was missing the beam.

This comment struck me of as the reason we miss the good that is available for us in life.
Staying along the fringes for whatever reason can certainly cause us to miss the sources
so readily available if we were in line with them.

If we are already suffering from low self-esteem or depression, it doesn’t take much to
confirm what we already believe to be true. A self-fulfilling prophecy sets in motion.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could put ourselves in position to receive good so we don’t
miss the beam?

Here are three things that have worked for me.

1. Do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

This Golden Rule is so universal that various versions of it are found in over 21 religions.
Here are a few.

  • Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is
    commentary.” Talmud, Shabbat 31a.
  • Sufism: “The basis of Sufism is consideration of the hearts and feelings of others. If
    you haven’t the will to gladden someone’s heart, then at least beware lest you hurt
    someone’s heart, for on our path, no sin exists but this.” Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Master of
    the Nimatullahi Sufi Order.
  • Yoruba: (Nigeria): “One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first
    try it on himself to feel how it hurts.”
  • Native American Spirituality: “Do not wrong or hate your neighbor. For it is not he
    who you wrong, but yourself.” Pima proverb.

None of these sayings suggest you be a doormat or let others use you. But extending
kindness or refusing to knowingly hurt another, has a greater effect on you than it does on
others.

2. Give what you want to receive.

I recently shared with my sister that I had received a card from one of our childhood
friends.

She quickly shot back at me “I never hear from any of those people.”

To which I asked, “How many times have you written to them?”

She hadn’t kept in touch with our childhood friends over the years, and yet she wondered
why she hadn’t received the very thing she hadn’t given.

Are you guilty of wanting to receive what you’re not willing to give?

(Luke 6:38 NIV) Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down,
shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you
use, it will be measured to you.”

3. Act as if

“If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.” Willam James

This is a tough one for me, but it has worked for me more than once, not just in terms of
qualities, but things as well.

Many years ago when I wanted to end a 37 mile commute and move closer to my job,
I spent every weekend combing the classifieds and traveling to model homes in new
developments and older homes in established neighborhoods. My plan was to find the
home I wanted and then begin plans to sell my then current home.

One Sunday evening when I returned from house-searching, I heard a very clear
voice say, “You don’t really want to move!”

It startled me since we were still unloading the car, and it was clearly not my kids’
voices.

“What are you talking about?” I thought back to the voice in protest. “I do want to
move!”

“No, if you really wanted to move, you’d sell your house first.”

I don’t know which was more shocking–a voice speaking to me, or the thought of selling my
house before I even had the next house in sight.

But I was convinced that this was a clue that I had to act as if the house I wanted was
already mine. So, I proceeded to put my house up for sale. It was a scary move, but I was
convinced that it was the thing to do.

From the moment the For Sale sign went up on my home, a series of events began to
unfold. The most miraculous was a friend calling to offer to sell me a house she had
inherited that was within 10 miles of my job. The remaining events unfolded like the
script in a well-written play. Within 7 months my house was sold, my new home was
out of escrow and I was moving into my new home two weeks before summer vacation ended and
my teaching job resumed.

If these three ways of getting in line with your good don’t resonate with you, think
instead of your cell phone, digital TV or wireless internet service. No matter how great
your equipment, surely you agree that it must be in an area where signals are present, and
you must be aligned to receive those signals.

The concept of wireless service does not mean no connections are required. You still
must have equipment that at some level is wired into a source.

We, as humans, must be aligned with a source as well. It doesn’t matter whether you call
your source God, Jehovah, higher being, Mother Nature, science, private intuition, the
goodness of mankind or Verizon.

Acknowledging your source and aligning yourself with it is what enables you to
successfully connect with your good.

Do you have a strategy that helps you avoid missing the beam? Tell us about it.

The Best Advice to Take You into 2012

newyearsign--canstockphoto6801461At the end of each year we are always given loads of advice to help us reform, update and upgrade our lives in the new year. This season is no exception. Here is some of the best advice for improving your personal and business life.

Let’s start with what you shouldn’t do

from Harvard Business Review’s article, Five Things You Should Stop Doing in 2012 . This article boils down to stop checking email constantly like one of Pavlov’s dog, avoid mindless traditions by doing something different, detox  from reading things that annoy you, avoid work that’s not worth it, and test ideas before you commit.

Losing weight is the most common New Year’s resolution,

but with its history of failure it’s far better to think of a healthy lifestyle. Check out this article with sound advice.

4 Healthy New Year’s Resolutions | Zing Blog by Quicken Loans

Many people are under false impressions that playing sports and taking time out of your schedule to exercise will interfere with the goals you set out to achieve. Thus, I have compiled a list of four healthy New Year’s

Maybe you will want to skip the usual resolutions and go for just one simple one

Mariela Dabbah: My New Year’s Resolution

I don’t want to go on living as if every year of my life were a disposable container. That’s why my New Year’s resolution has nothing to do with your usual suspects.

Maybe you could use some iPhone apps to help you with your resolutions.

Set your New Year’s resolutions with these iPhone apps – iPhone

For a systematic approach to meeting your New Year’s resolutions, plan it out with the Big Change app for iPhone ($2.99). Whether you want to exercise more, drink less or save money, the Big Change app has a setting for

Or maybe you should just go for a New You evolution instead of resolution

Check out what business and life coach, Shirene Urton, had to say about this in a recent interview  Make a New You Evolution Not Resolution–Shirene Urton

Now tell us , do you set resolutions, and what are your favorites?


How Will You Celebrate 'Happiness Happens' Month

boyslaughing-canstockphoto5609036August is Happiness Happens Month, started by the Secret Society of Happy People in 1999. The group is no longer a secret since they boast over 14, 000 “Likes” on Facebook. You can learn more about them on their website, http://www.sohp.com

The Society has three purposes for this month:

  • Recognize and express happiness
  • Listen to others talk about their happiness
  • Don’t rain on other people’s parades

These sound like some good ideas for any time of the year, but it won’t hurt to be extra mindful of creating your happiness this month.

Some of the ways you can celebrate

  • don a pair of silver shades (because happy people always see the silver lining)
  • laugh (laughter is still the best medicine)
  • smile (and the world smiles with you)
  • post on Twitter about what makes you happy, using the hashtag #HappinessHappens

What are some ways you will celebrate this month?