BiddiesInMyBrain

How to be Happy

1. Remember: You are a miracle - you are unique, unrepeatable and special - just like everyone.

2. Your most intimate relationship is with your thoughts. Change your thoughts and everything changes.

3. It's not about you: 18/40/60 Rule. At 18, you worry about what other think of you. At 40, you don't care what others think about you. At 60, you realize others aren't thinking about you anyway. (And they probably never were.)

4. It's up to you: you alone are responsible for treating yourself well: get plenty of sleep; eat healthy food; find time for quiet, laughter, and those you love; enjoy sunlight; do some kind of movement and stretching.

5. We have 60,000 thoughts a day - just because you think it does not mean it's true. Psychologists estimate that about "99 percent of our thoughts are more or less what we thought yesterday." (Mary Pipher)

6. Have you ever changer an opinion? Don't fall in love with your thoughts, believes or opinions.

7. As Abraham Lincoln said, "People are about as happy as they choose to be." What will you choose?"

8. Choose to be happy just for this moment. Do you need a change of face? Smile at everyone you meet - some will be pleased and some will be puzzled.

Poem

Our minister read this today in the service and it gave me pause:

Heaven
Richard Lehnert

What if you could know
you're better than someone else?
Not better in one small way -
a better lover, listener, cooker of pasta,
writer of poems - but entirely,
absolutely better?

What if you had to choose life
for one of you, for the other, death?
And what if, after long, careful,
anguished thought - because,
after all, you're the better person
you make the right choice?

And what if, later, when you die,
there really is heaven and God
and perfection isn't boring
but endlessly interesting, satisfying,
a challenge you only just meet -
like life, but the rules work?

And what if one day - it's raining or bright
perfect either way - God takes you aside
and you sit down with a favorite drink,
hot or cold depending on the weather,
in your throat its ideal mate of thirst,

and God smiles, lays on your hand
a huge scarred paw, says
That day you chose the better person?
Well you were wrong. But stay
as long as you want -
we like having you here.

And patting your hand
God rises, eyes already gone
in that galactic reach,
looking for the next fool who,
between heaven and hell,
expected a difference.

I Don't Even Know Where To Begin...

It's been a long, long haul!

Things have been a mixture of good, really good, and just very, very strange.

I just got home from Louisville and grading AP US History exams for a week... and will turn around and head to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for a month on Saturday to study historical statistical methods; things suddenly worked out and I received a full scholarship to head north... so off I go. I'll be living in this lovely Victorian house north of the main campus and am tremendously excited about the opportunity; it really is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I am so honored to be picked to go. But it's going to be a LOT of hard work. A LOT.

Also received a teaching award just before I left town on the last trip. It is truly a humbling experience to be chosen for something like that by professors teaching in the field.

Have been having a tremendous experience working with Common Ground, an anti-racism initiative designed to improve race relations in the greater Memphis area. We met for two months in small, diverse groups working to build trust and increase dialogue leading to ongoing efforts in the community. I will be working on incorporating additional diversity into my curriculum this Fall, as well as working with a community newspaper in a very different neighborhood from my own, mentoring high school students via e-mail, primarily editing their copy - though I may commit to other projects with the newspaper if I am able. I will be taking comps this Fall, so that may not be a possibility now... but in the future that is something I would like to do.

Several days ago we had a BAD storm come through here and it wiped out a good portion of the city's power and a lot of trees with straight line winds clocked over 74+, hail, unbelievable lightning, heavy rain... it was unreal and really, really frightening. I kept going back end forth from the den to the bathroom trying to decided where to be while the tornado sirens were going off, half wanting to know what was on tv, half wanting to play it safe in the bathroom. We only lost power for about 2 minutes... but we have friends who are expected to be without power until further notice; our minster and his pregnant wife are currently without power... and about 1/3 of the congregation is without power. Street lights around town are off in sporadic areas... and trees are uprooted everywhere. Just amazing. More severe weather projected tonight and tomorrow.

Must get back to my work. There is so little time this week and so much to do. Will check in as I can - you see what that has meant lately! So sorry for not checking in! But I do have one more thing to post today... so I will get that up and get back to work.