What is Joy anyway? Is it when you were a kid and you got so excited you could not sleep because you were going to Playland the next day? When was the last time I had that kind of experience?
Taking a Creative Writing class with Ariel Gore did it for me. I was so excited and the experience was amazing! She does not disappoint, for sure! And I wrote more than I have ever written before.
How can I get more joy in my life? Good question. Meditate? Give up Diet Coke? Hike up Bear Mountain? What brings me joy?
Natalie Goldberg gave a wonderful talk at the Open Center last night and was truly amazing. She filled me with joy talking about an exhibition of work by Impressionist, Pierre Bonnard, (http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp) at the Metropolitan Museum of New York. It takes someone living in Northern New Mexico to tell me about stuff happening at the Met. Viewing this exhibit will bring me great joy.
The other thing is to do the right thing—work out, meditate, eat right, WRITE, and low and behold, joy will follow. That is what they always told me. Do what you love and the joy will follow.
The greatest joy I remember is learning to ride my bike. It is the closest thing I ever came to flying. One hot Sunday afternoon, I took my little red and white Schwinn to the top of the hill and coasted safely to the bottom. I am riding my bike by myself for the first time. What a feeling!
What brings you joy?
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Try, You Die
Do or do not... there is no try.” -Yodda
Today I will go to the gym and I will NOT drink Diet Coke. Water and green tea are my beverages of choice.
What is the most important thing I do today? Go to the gym. Pure and simple, everything else flows from doing that next right thing. The next right thing for me is hitting the treadmill.
My style leans toward procrastination. What can I do to combat this character defect? Make my goals bullet proof? Get out there? Or as Nike has called it years ago: Just do it!
There are times when I wonder what will happen to me. Will I find a job once the economy picks up? Will we be able to pay the mortgage in 2010? Will there be work for me to do down the road? Will I want to do it?
I could spend hours, days, years even really, thinking of all these crazy ideas. Bottom line, I only have today, and I plan on making it a good one. It is time to lace up those running shoes.
What will you do today to improve the quality of your life?
Today I will go to the gym and I will NOT drink Diet Coke. Water and green tea are my beverages of choice.
What is the most important thing I do today? Go to the gym. Pure and simple, everything else flows from doing that next right thing. The next right thing for me is hitting the treadmill.
My style leans toward procrastination. What can I do to combat this character defect? Make my goals bullet proof? Get out there? Or as Nike has called it years ago: Just do it!
There are times when I wonder what will happen to me. Will I find a job once the economy picks up? Will we be able to pay the mortgage in 2010? Will there be work for me to do down the road? Will I want to do it?
I could spend hours, days, years even really, thinking of all these crazy ideas. Bottom line, I only have today, and I plan on making it a good one. It is time to lace up those running shoes.
What will you do today to improve the quality of your life?
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Whole
Whole is a funny word as there is the homonym, hole, which means almost the exact opposite. English is such a funny language.
This is not what I want to write about. I want to be whole. I want to work out hard, drink water and green tea, eat veggies, tofu, and whole (ahhhhhh!) grains. I want to get whole, even shop at Whole Foods, money situation permitting.
Some times I feel like I have a big gapping hole in my soul. The way I fix that hole is to become whole. I need meditation, exercise, and fresh strawberries. I need to be clear on my intentions.
I need to become a Whole Warrior. I need to grow my inner samurai. I need to guard my inner beauty, and create a sanctuary within that will feed my soul.
The only way to get that whole is to heal, to be willing to do the hard work. I need to give up Diet Coke and chocolate. I need to work out 5x week and meditate daily. And I need to find fun, free, fabulous things to do to feed my spiritual child that sits on a red pillow, in a tropical garden, where Pelicans fly above white foam waves, in the land of sweet pomegranate tee-pee.
This is not what I want to write about. I want to be whole. I want to work out hard, drink water and green tea, eat veggies, tofu, and whole (ahhhhhh!) grains. I want to get whole, even shop at Whole Foods, money situation permitting.
Some times I feel like I have a big gapping hole in my soul. The way I fix that hole is to become whole. I need meditation, exercise, and fresh strawberries. I need to be clear on my intentions.
I need to become a Whole Warrior. I need to grow my inner samurai. I need to guard my inner beauty, and create a sanctuary within that will feed my soul.
The only way to get that whole is to heal, to be willing to do the hard work. I need to give up Diet Coke and chocolate. I need to work out 5x week and meditate daily. And I need to find fun, free, fabulous things to do to feed my spiritual child that sits on a red pillow, in a tropical garden, where Pelicans fly above white foam waves, in the land of sweet pomegranate tee-pee.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The Day I Became a Trillionaire
The last time I remember the market being so unstable was during the tech melt down prior to 9/11. Stocks like Microsoft, IBM, and Dell hit the skids so bad; you’d think they had a drug or alcohol problem. Just too hot, too long, and voila, the nature of the market, it cooled down fast. In fact, it went into a deep freeze.
It was around this time, that I got in the habit of checking my 401K balances—daily. I would call up and using my magic PIN number access my retirement account.
Good thing too--our fund manager, while a household name, even the name of a mega bank, had not mastered managing 401K accounts. One time I called and my balance was $1.95. I knew that was not right . When I asked our HR manager what was up with that, he replied just be patient they are working the kinks out of their telephone system.
A few days later, I called again to get my balance and was given a different kind of shock. There was over a trillion dollars in my retirement fund. What made it even more amazing, was in its computer geek voice, it said, “you have 1 trillion, 340 million, 143 thousand, and 243 dollars and 52 cents.” We are talking some serious money.
I ran around the office and cornered one of cmy retirement plan cohorts and screamed, “There is over a trillion dollars in my retirement account.”
“What?” She screamed back across the cafeteria as she got her second cup of green tea. “You have how much in your account, what?!!!”
After I explained, she replied, “Sell!”
The next day the problem was resolved, and the right amount appeared to be in my account which was somewhere between $1.95 and a trillion dollars.
Oh what I could do with that money!
It was around this time, that I got in the habit of checking my 401K balances—daily. I would call up and using my magic PIN number access my retirement account.
Good thing too--our fund manager, while a household name, even the name of a mega bank, had not mastered managing 401K accounts. One time I called and my balance was $1.95. I knew that was not right . When I asked our HR manager what was up with that, he replied just be patient they are working the kinks out of their telephone system.
A few days later, I called again to get my balance and was given a different kind of shock. There was over a trillion dollars in my retirement fund. What made it even more amazing, was in its computer geek voice, it said, “you have 1 trillion, 340 million, 143 thousand, and 243 dollars and 52 cents.” We are talking some serious money.
I ran around the office and cornered one of cmy retirement plan cohorts and screamed, “There is over a trillion dollars in my retirement account.”
“What?” She screamed back across the cafeteria as she got her second cup of green tea. “You have how much in your account, what?!!!”
After I explained, she replied, “Sell!”
The next day the problem was resolved, and the right amount appeared to be in my account which was somewhere between $1.95 and a trillion dollars.
Oh what I could do with that money!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
