How to be happy
So it's been a rough couple of months. Three months ago my car died 300 miles away from home. Thought it would be best to repair it, love my car. As of today, my car is yet again in the shop. Then my refrigerator died while away for the weekend. Then my computer caught a virus. Just yesterday it caught another virus. When your computer catches a virus, your computer is out of commission for days. Did I mention that my shower has a funky smell coming out of it and needs to be pulled up and replaced? You can see where this is going, I've had a lot of things break recently. As a result, I've been spending a lot of time and great deal of brain real estate, blaming, feeling mistreated by the gods and really annoyed. I have even imagined that maybe I was having a serious case of ‘why me’.
Then something miraculous happened this morning. I noticed that my 10-year-old coffee maker once again made the perfect cup of coffee. Ha! So, I told my Cuisinart coffee maker thank you for working so hard, out loud. Then with intention, I acknowledged stuff that worked. By the time I made it to work, I counted ten things that I plugged into, flipped on or connected to and it all happened seamlessly. Sounds silly right? But guess what? I regained perspective and recognized that many things actually do work in my life. I felt myself become calmer, happier and grateful. No this is not some kind of trick that I played on myself.
Take a look at the above picture, do you see both the faces and the vase? The human mind perceptual system categories the visual into figure and ground. Remember Psych 101 on figure and ground? We tend to see the figure first and then the background that makes up everything else. In our families or workplace we see problems as the figure and everything else is the ground. Both exist, but what we choose to see can change your life. So I challenge you today to do this exercise; notice the little things today. Be grateful for the simple. I did it with appliances and felt better, just think if we notice those little things with the people in our lives! Donald Petersen, the former chairman of Ford Motor Company, sent handwritten notes to his employees of thanks for modest accomplishments. He took noticing the little things to the next level, by sharing his appreciation. Often when I ask people what they are grateful for they say God, family, friends or their health. Make no mistake these are incredibly important, but it becomes almost glib and doesn't resonate in a meaningful way. Let's not stop there, dig deeper. See and compliment your kid for being on time, tell your coworker she tells the best weekend stories or just smile ear to ear, when your microwave heats your coffee in 30 seconds (remember folks there was a time that could not happen).
By: Martha Selleck
So it's been a rough couple of months. Three months ago my car died 300 miles away from home. Thought it would be best to repair it, love my car. As of today, my car is yet again in the shop. Then my refrigerator died while away for the weekend. Then my computer caught a virus. Just yesterday it caught another virus. When your computer catches a virus, your computer is out of commission for days. Did I mention that my shower has a funky smell coming out of it and needs to be pulled up and replaced? You can see where this is going, I've had a lot of things break recently. As a result, I've been spending a lot of time and great deal of brain real estate, blaming, feeling mistreated by the gods and really annoyed. I have even imagined that maybe I was having a serious case of ‘why me’.
Then something miraculous happened this morning. I noticed that my 10-year-old coffee maker once again made the perfect cup of coffee. Ha! So, I told my Cuisinart coffee maker thank you for working so hard, out loud. Then with intention, I acknowledged stuff that worked. By the time I made it to work, I counted ten things that I plugged into, flipped on or connected to and it all happened seamlessly. Sounds silly right? But guess what? I regained perspective and recognized that many things actually do work in my life. I felt myself become calmer, happier and grateful. No this is not some kind of trick that I played on myself.
Take a look at the above picture, do you see both the faces and the vase? The human mind perceptual system categories the visual into figure and ground. Remember Psych 101 on figure and ground? We tend to see the figure first and then the background that makes up everything else. In our families or workplace we see problems as the figure and everything else is the ground. Both exist, but what we choose to see can change your life. So I challenge you today to do this exercise; notice the little things today. Be grateful for the simple. I did it with appliances and felt better, just think if we notice those little things with the people in our lives! Donald Petersen, the former chairman of Ford Motor Company, sent handwritten notes to his employees of thanks for modest accomplishments. He took noticing the little things to the next level, by sharing his appreciation. Often when I ask people what they are grateful for they say God, family, friends or their health. Make no mistake these are incredibly important, but it becomes almost glib and doesn't resonate in a meaningful way. Let's not stop there, dig deeper. See and compliment your kid for being on time, tell your coworker she tells the best weekend stories or just smile ear to ear, when your microwave heats your coffee in 30 seconds (remember folks there was a time that could not happen).
By: Martha Selleck
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