HAPPINESS.....on the road

MY RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE.....Montrose, Colorado 9/12/05 (Revised 9/28/05)

Please note the title says "MY Recipe for a Happy Life." I want to emphasize the MY because these things may not apply to everyone, and I've probably left some out. So, in no particular order:

* FREEDOM to live my life as I choose

* BE GOOD TO YOURSELF. How can you love other people if you don't love yourself? If only we would treat ourselves as kindly as we do strangers! When you feel down, make a list titled "Things that Give Me Joy." I guarantee you spirits will lift immediately.

* A POSITIVE ATTITUDE. Say YES to life! Besides being positive yourself, choose positive, upbeat, inspiring people as friends. I am NEVER around negative, unpleasant, or unkind people.

* TAKE CARE OF UNFINISHED BUSINESS. Unfinished business gets in the way of living 100% right now. If you have unfinished business in your life, you tend to spend a lot of time thinking about yourself. :You wake up in the morning with this thing on your mind, think about it during the day, and go to bed thinking about it at night -- a lot of time and mental energy wasted. Taking care of your unfinished business, frees you up to reach out to other people and the world.

* LET GO. What's done is done! Put the past behind you. We all make mistakes (what I call learning lessons). Things happen in our lives that we wish hadn't. Don't let the past use up today. Letting go also applies to outgrown relationships. If we keep all of the old, soon our lives are filled so full that there is no room for the new.

* DON'T WORRY. Worry went out with running boards (on cars for you too young to remember). People spend a lot of time worrying about things that will never happen. When they happen, now that's the time to worry -- or better yet take action.

* DON'T PASS ANY OPEN WINDOWS. Keep your eyes open. People often say, "Jane, you know more people here and more about what's going on than I do, and I've lived here for years." When I travel, I read posted notices, flyers, and local newspapers. I also listen very carefully to what life offers. I trust the universe and believe everything happens for a reason. I consider a choice VERY carefully before I say no (and seldom say it!). Things that are put in my path often determine where I travel. That's why I say, "I travel on serendipity and offers I can't refuse."

* INTUITION. Every time I ignore my intuition, I make the wrong choice. Intuition is not just some fly-by-night thing; it is very real. Intuition is a kind of KNOWING that comes with age and experience. The mind stores all the information you've gathered over the years, and it comes back to you as intuition. TRUST IT!

* BE RESPONSIBLE. If you say you'll do something, do it!

* BE REAL. Are you the same person all the time or a different person depending on the situation?

* BE A GOOD PERSON. Kindness is so important; it's what I look for most in a person. When I retired, there was the question of purpose in my life. I soon discovered that there is the opportunity to help someone every minute of every day. It has a kind of snowball effect because helping others encourages them to help others. The saying "what goes around comes around" is true. You will get it back many times over.

* DECIDE TO BE LIKABLE. I met a very nice woman and told her so. I was surprised when she said she wasn't always nice. She had a wake-up call when someone said to her, "You better change your negative attitude!" She thought it over and did just that; now she's one of the nicest people I've ever met.

* LIVE BY EXAMPLE. The world situation seems depressing at times, and we feel helpless to do anything about it. But it all starts with us and how we live our lives. How can we help others if we don't take the time to help ourselves? Don't do anything you wouldn't do if you thought someone was watching. Choices became easy for me when, the Peace Pilgrim said always take the "higher road" instead of the lower. This all leads to good self-esteem and feeling good about yourself, essential to a happy life.

* PAY CASH. If you use credit cards, pay them off each month. It has been proven that we spend more money when we use credit cards, less money when we write checks, and the least of all when we pay cash.

* SAVE. We've all been told to save for a rainy day, and rainy days come to us all - eventually. Years ago I heard someone say, "Pay yourself first." From then on the first check I wrote each month was to savings ($100). Now I'm retired because of it. The book Your Money or Your Life says don't think of money you spend as dollars and cents but as hours, days, weeks, months, and even years of your life -- your life energy -- that you spend on this thing. And IS IT WORTH IT? Another premise of the book is to save all you can, and don't look at the total so much as the interest. Guess what? When the interest equals your income, you don't have to work any more!

* GET RID OF CLUTTER. Two quotes about clutter I like: 1) Get rid of clutter so that energy can flow. 2) Possessions possess you. Part of my business was clutter control. I was always amazed at how much STUFF people had and how it often incapacitated them. Does anyone really need four brooms? Maybe it's an age-related thing, but I find that the more I get rid of the more I want to get rid of. Everything one owns has to be cleaned, fixed, dusted, etc. Think about it.

* ORGANIZE. Being organized saves soooooooooo much time. For example, I remember how frustrated I was each time I looked for a particular pen. Then, I though VELCRO. Now the pen is within easy reach of my bed -- no more wasting time searching. (That's when I wrote the story "Mad about Velcro."

* LIVE AS CLOSE TO NATURE AS POSSIBLE. There's something about being in nature that renews you.

* FUN. I have never let work interfere with play. If I do, I resent it.

* MUSIC. Everything from country to opera. Listening to a tape every morning when I exercise really infuses my spirit!

* DANCING. Not only is dancing fun but great exercise. A bonus is if I dance, I don't have to workout that day, and dancing is a lot more fun!

* VARIETY. Don't get in a rut. Try new things. I have never been bored a day in my life.

* READ. There's nothing like a good book before bed. I usually have at least five books going: fiction, nonfiction, inspirational/spiritual, poetry, health. (My reading list is three, single-spaced pages, and I anticipate all of them! No HAVE-TOs here.)

* SPEAK OUT. It helps for me to remember two things: 1) Silence implies consent. - unknown 2) "Say what you know, do what you must, come what may." - Sofia Kovalevskaya