Dissolving the boundaries
Posted by Richard Mankhey
Though I’ve not performed quite to my desired level of blog-post frequency, I refuse to feel any guilt about it. I feel the need to write out the fact that “I refuse to feel any guilt about it” because indeed…the guilt is just sitting there in the outskirts of this gated community waiting until a citizen emerges or re-enters (perhaps walking their dog) so it can gain entry.
So I’ll get to it and post some things that I’ve been thankful for recently:
- Patient mothers who forgive sons tardy with their maternal birthday offerings.
- Seemingly random, but all too appropriate wrecking balls in the form of *Homo Sapiens* that bring a wake-up call to an otherwise zombie existence.
- Sleep! Holy crap! It IS possible to get more than 3-4 hours a night and DAMN it feels good.
- Being bereft of something to help you appreciate how much you like having it when it’s there.
- Nice people on the Metro who don’t know any better and strike up conversations that make me wonder why I don’t talk to people on the Metro more often?
- Being so close and in touch with special people from my past
- My unapologetic drive to make every moment of my interaction with others a “teachable moment”
- I mentioned the sleep thing earlier, right? Yep. Time to be thankful for that right NOW!
Better Late Than Pregnant
Posted by Richard Mankhey
Though at present time I have a limited number of readers of my blog (a.k.a. ‘can count them on one hand and it’s a deformed hand with two fingers and NO thumb), I’m still apologetic for not posting my thankfulnesses last night. So…to atone for my negligence, I’ll write 6 things I’m thankful for in this post in my seemingly futile, but ultimately effective attempt to appease the gods:.
So for Saturday the 24th, I’m thankful for:
- FINALLY getting a favicon that I’m happy with for my website
- Waking up on a weekend before 9 am to work on aforementined favicon and website.
- Fighting instinct to get off my butt and go out in DC with Jason for a birthday party at Duplex Diner on 18th and U St. I’m just happy I could spend time with Jason when I could have flaked on the whole shindig. It was well worth it.
And for Sunday the 25th I’m thankful for:
- Sleeping in (and Jason for being so amenable to me being so lazy)
- Mimosas (and overly-attentive waiters who bring them to you…and recommend garlic bread for an appetizer….and you balk but eat it and find it to be INSANELY delicious)
- Good intentions and the reason they’re called ‘intentions’ and not ’sucessfully concluded action items’…because despite the fact that I did nothing today that would have normally been on my laundry list of items for the weekend…I loved every minute of it and that’s what I’m thankful for, damnit.
Happy Happy Joy Joy: January 23rd
Posted by Richard Mankhey
Yes, I know I’m a bit late, but I’m back-dating this to Friday, so there.
Things I’m thankful for today:
1. Mom is on Twitter! How cool is that!? She’s using it often and it’s cute to see what she writes. Love it! She pretends to be a techno-peasant but I know deep down she’s as voracious as I am for this stuff because she’s the reason I am a nerd in the first place!
2. I managed to get the monthly bills for the household paid today (set myself back $260.00 temporarily) and am awaiting the PayPal money requests from my housemates to restock my bank account (because lord knows it needs it since I don’t get a paycheck for another week!?)
3. I finally got a picture for my Twitter profile…and it’s an image of my caucasian-afro-fabulous curly hair that has been running rampant on my pate for the past 8 months. I kind of look like a homeless person but at least I’m shaving so the boss hasn’t complained yet. But his wife, however…
Happy Happy Joy Joy
Posted by Richard Mankhey
If I’m to believe everything I read (or at least the things that can teach me how to be a consistently happy person), it is supposedly possible to learn happiness by practicing the habits of happiness.
Some helpful tips I keep in the front of my Molskine notebook (that archaic method of writing things down with paper and ink *gasp* that wages battle against the computer for my attention) are as follows (I made some of these up and some of them I stole from magazine articles):
- Serve Somebody:
Volunteer. Helping others will make you happier as long as you keep doing it.
Give strangers compliments for no reason. Try to give three unsolicited compliments a day.
Write a letter to a family member or friend you’ve not connected with in a long time. An ACTUAL letter; then mail it to them.
- Play to Your Strengths:
Identify your character strengths-curiosity, perseverance, self-control, etc.-and use at least one of them every day. Even better, apply them to a task you detest. Go to www.authentichappiness.org and take the VIA Signature Strengths Questionnaire.
- Get in the Flow:
Take on a challenge that’s barely within your grasp, but not beyond you, to get into a state called ‘the flow’ when time seems to stop and the world seems to disappear. You’ll be happier in this state than when you’re not flowing.
- Three a Day for Better Health:
Every night, write down three things you were thankful for that day. The key phrase is every night.
It is this last point that compels me to write this post. It’s something I’ve been trying to do, but it is hard…most simple, effective things are the hardest to execute…why the heck is that?
At any rate, here is my first attempt to be consistent with the flexing and strengthening of my gratitude muscle by noting the things I’m thankful for every day.
Today’s entry-Three things I have to be thankful for on January 22, 2009:
- My boss’s wife, Laura, came into work at the end of the day today to accompany her husband to a dinner event and saw me as I was leaving and said “Your hair looks adoreable!” And yes, she said it with ITALICS!!! How cute is that?
- For the second night in a row, I have managed to get 6 hours of sleep. While I have had some INSANE dreams due to all the REM sleep, the rest has been rejuvenating.
- I weasled my way into a second ‘trial’ Kettlebell class at my gym without paying to get a good workout AND talk to the instructor because I sent her my outline for the redesign of her website today and wanted to follow up so I could start that project (and so she could start paying me for the work I’ll be doing! Freelancer, yay!)
See? Now was that so hard? No. I can see how this can boost one’s happiness. I admit the first point is purely vain but I don’t care. It’s MY happiness, not yours, so there.
I can’t wait to see what I’ll be thankful for tomorrow!