Happy 2010

Happy 2010 Everyone!

I don't mean this just as a greeting and a warm wish to you all for this new year - but as a challenge. 2009 was a particularly hard year for me as you all are probably aware, but we don't need to get into the details. One of the effects of that cumbersome and what seemed like the longest year of the world is that I find it harder and harder to find the joy in things. My motto in life is "Choose Joy". I fell in love with this saying on a mission trip I took like oh, i don't know...13 years ago? I have it as the wake up screen on my phone, I have it written on the inside of my journal and most of my personal belongings. So now, how sad is it that I haven't even been following my own life's motto? Time for a change! - and what a better time to do it that than the start of a new year?

I received a book a couple months back for my birthday called 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People, by David Niven, Ph.D. I decided I should probably read it and put what the scientists have learned to good use. Its once again time to CHOOSE JOY!

Each day I am going to post one of the one-hundred topics in the book and discuss how I can apply it to my life. I urge you, the readers, to do the same - find how you can apply the secret of the day to your life.

Here we go!

Number One: Your Life Has Purpose and Meaning.

You are not here just to fill space or to be a background character in someone else's movie. Consider this: nothing would be the same if you did not exist. Every place you have ever been and everyone you have ever spoken to would be different without you. We are all connected, and we are all affected by the decisions and even the existence of those around us.

This is a hard topic to apply to life in a concrete sense. But what I do know is that without me my family dynamic would be much different, Greg would probably never have learned to love hunting and fishing quite as much, and my friends at work would be 5 lbs. lighter (;0) Who really knows what else, except for maybe my guardian angel. This topic reminds me of the movie "Its a Wonderful Life". If we could all see what a different world it would be without us in it we would probably appreciate what we have and ourselves for that matter, so much more.

Since I probably won't have one of those movie moments, I will take this 'secret' for its word.

There, I am one step closer to becoming a much happier person and I hope you are too.

I am going to leave you with a picture of one thing that really makes me happy

I hope you all enjoyed the large amount of buffalo plaid flannel in this picture. :0)

'Till next time,

Margaret