Report on yesterday's happiness initiatives: 2-for-3. I went for the walk (and even had a DEEP REALIZATION ABOUT LIFE like you'd hope for while dragging the dog around the block in a high wind & sub-zero temps) and I kept the perkiness meter dialed up to nine even when a mild case of "Wow, that wasn't the best sushi..." food poisoning hit in the late afternoon. That bathroom cabinet is still a jungle, but overall the day was a success.
Today's Happiness Focus: LOVE. Lest you click away in the fear of being overwhelmed by sweet sappiness, let me reassure you: Gretchen's take on love is decidedly practical. The bullet points at the chapter opening are things like "Quit Nagging," and "Don't Expect Praise or Appreciation." Nitty gritty stuff that you really have to work at.
She focuses mostly on her marriage, but today I'll be branching out to include my whole family. I'm heading north to meet my Mom & Dad (the ones who now have all kinds of energy because they exercise approximately five times more than I do) for lunch. Because they're my parents, there's a teeny chance their approval matters to me. Just a smidge. So "Don't Expect Praise or Appreciation" hits right at the top of my yikes list. My Mom is the Queen of Encouragement, but she's gotten a lot more candid over the years. And my Dad is at that amusing stage of life when he just says whatever he's thinking. As you can imagine, the results can be, um...interesting. They both have a fabulous sense of humor, so I love hanging out with them. But if I'm looking for someone to hand me my next Girl Scout Badge for life accomplishment, it's not going to happen here.
So I'll cull today's happiness goals right from Gretchen's playbook:
1. Enjoy my parents as people, not as gold-star distributors.
2. They celebrated 42 years of marriage yesterday--I should ask them for a piece of advice (and take it!)
How about you? How can you Live the Love?
1 comment:
Hi Trish,
Loved this post. It brought to mind, my parents, who have long since passed away. My mom was not one to dole out encouragement. Not because she didn't want to, but because she just didn't know how. I learned this much later in life. My dad, like yours, was hilariously funny. I just loved being around him.
It's so awesome that you know your parents so well. Enjoy your lunch with them. They appreciate it more than you know.
My show of love today will be comforting a cousin that I haven't seen in many years, who just lost her dad on Monday. There are no siblings and her mom passed away many years ago. She literally has no family. Never married or had a family of her own. So I will reconnect with her and hopefully I can offer some support.
Thanks for this post. In all honesty, I was dreading this, but now I am looking forward to being there for her.
You rock!
Cynthia
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