Quotes from Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project

If I had thought of creating a Misery Project, and consciously worked to make myself miserable, I would be a trememndous success.

When one quotes from a law school graduate's book, one must be conscientious about attribution, and copyright. So please note that these quotes are from The Happiness Project, copyrighted 2009 by Gretchen Rubin, published by HarperCollins. The questions start on page 295 of the hardcover edition.

Answer the following questions:
What makes you feel good? What activities do you find fun, satisfying  or energizing?
What makes you feel bad? (Blogger's addition: are you addicted to what makes you feel bad?) What are sources of anger, irritation, boredom, frustration, or anxiety in your life?
Is there any way in which you don't feel right about your life? Do you wish you could change your job, city, family situation or other circumstances?
Do you have sources of an atmosphere of growth? In what elements of your life do you (blogger note: or did you, if you are truly miserable) find progress, learning, challenge, improvement, and increased mastery?

Sheldon Kopp: All God's Children Are Lost, But Only a Few Can Play the Piano

Kopp, Sheldon. All God's Children are Lost, but Only a Few Can Play the Piano. New York, NY: Prentice Hall, 1991.
1. No matter how well our lives are going, there will be times when we ask ourselves, "Is that all there is?"
2. When  you think the meaning of life has been lost, what you need to find is yourself.
3. Everyone feels lost and alone at times.
4. The fulfillment we need lies buried deep inside us.
5.  Where are you in your life?
6. Why aren't you more like yourself?
7. If we endure the holy insecurities, we can find the higher power within us
8. No one else can find your higher power for you.
9. When you follow your heart, you will find your way hoome to your true self and the people you love
10. The traveling and the sense of arrival are inseparable
11. To live your own life, you have to create your own story.
12. If you withdraw from others for a while, you can discover who you are that they aren't.
13. Making an inner journey is a risky business--it can transform your life.
14. The solitary path to the depth of our souls leads us to the edge of oru aloneness and back to a place among others that is truly our own.
15. Every soul has its own shadow side.
16. In the dark night of our souls, we can begin to see the sparks from the higher power within.
17. Trying to will ourselves to be different won't work.
18. The only victory lies in surrender to oneself.
19. All of you is worth something, if you will only own it.
20. Accepting our weaknesses frees our strengths.
21. We all experience predicaments that make us feel upset and unprepared.
22. Every crisis presents a crossroads, and paths open up we may never have seen otherwise.
23. Whether or not life is fair is irrelevant.
24. Asking "why me?" is useless. The only question that counts is, "Where do I go from here?"
25. What if God doesn't want us to be caged in our lusts, but to be free in them?
26. Then whatever goes on in our imaginations is nobody else's business.
27. We want so much to seem normal and nice, we're tempted to hide the very things that make us singular.
28. The false images we create to conceal our real selves from others may fool ourselves as well.
29. Until we realize that the monster of others' expectations is jst a paper tiger, we remain threatened by their concepts of who we ought to be.
30. When we honour our peculiarities, we can make the most of all the unique things we are.
31. We must know what we feel, say what we mean, and do what we say.
32. Why would God make us all so different and then allow only one way to serve Him?
33. When we act in accord with both our heads and our hearts, everything we do becomes a form of prayer.
34. Whatever we are undertaking at the moment is the most important thing we can do.
35. True hope is possible only after we experience true despair, facing all the little deaths in life and the great death that awaits us thereafter.
36. Feeling fully alive doesn't depend on what we believe in, but on how we experience each great and small moment in our lives.
37. God dwells wherever people let Hiim in.
38. We can let Him in only where we really stand, where we live a life that is truly our own.

What to Read in 2012

Memoir from Antproof Case - Mark Helprin
Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson
Atonement - Ian McEwan
The Good Soldier - Ford Madox Ford
White Teeth - Zadie Smith
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
Crossing to Safety - Wallace Stegner
Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
Ficciones - Jorge Luis Borges
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood
Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Professor and the Madman - Simon Winchester
Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder - Lawrence Weschler
Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood
Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri
The Long Loneliness - Dorothy Day
Dick Davis Dividend - Dick Davis
Confessions - St. Augustine
Story of Philosophy - Will Durant
1Q84 - Haruki Murakami

It is embarrassing that I have not read these. At my age.

links for a happy new year

http://yogaeatrun.com/home/2011/12/30/grocery-shopping-101.html jenae frick shows you how to reduce time and cost at yonder supermarket

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/a-plan-for-2012-that-youll-actually-follow/ Carl Richards shows you a Plan for 2012 you will actually follow

http://lifehacker.com/5872627/the-best-time-to-buy-anything-in-2012 The best time to buy anything in 2012

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/are-you-ready-for-a-really-good-year/ Willie Jolley asks if you're ready for a really good year.

http://bestculinaryrecipes.com/news/a-recipe-for-simplifying-life-ditch-all-the-recipes.htm Wow, this is brave. Ditch all the Recipes to Simplify life.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2016829657_hoarderpersonalhealth22.html Robin Zasio says it's time to say goodbye to all that.


 http://www.wisebread.com/25-small-new-year-s-resolutions-you-can-start-today 25 Small New Year’s Resolutions You Can Start Today, Mikey Rox for wisebread.com

30 Things to Stop Doing to Myself

From Ken Ashford's "Seventh Sense" Weblog.
Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.  
Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become. Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled.
Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.  
Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you likeeveryone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.  
Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.  
Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.
Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us. We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.  
Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive. But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.
Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. – If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else. Read Stumbling on Happiness.  
Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action. You cannot change what you refuse to confront. Making progress involves risk. Period! You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.
Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.  
Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons. – Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company. There’s no need to rush. If something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason. Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.
Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work. – In life you’ll realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.
Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others doing better than you. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.
Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own. Ask yourself this: “What’s something I have that everyone wants?” Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. – Life’s curveballs are thrown for a reason – to shift your path in a direction that is meant for you. You may not see or understand everything the moment it happens, and it may be tough. But reflect back on those negative curveballs thrown at you in the past. You’ll often see that eventually they led you to a better place, person, state of mind, or situation. So smile! Let everyone know that today you are a lot stronger than you were yesterday, and you will be.
Stop holding grudges. – Don’t live your life with hate in your heart. You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.” Forgiveness is the answer… let go, find peace, liberate yourself! And remember, forgiveness is not just for other people, it’s for you too. If you must, forgive yourself, move on and try to do better next time.
Stop letting others bring you down to their level. – Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.
Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. – Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway. Just do what you know in your heart is right. Stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break. – The time to take a deep breath is when you don’t have time for it. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.
Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things. The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you. Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done. Read Getting Things Done. Stop following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile. Don’t take the easy way out. Do something extraordinary.  
Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s okay to fall apart for a little while. You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove that everything is going well. You shouldn’t be concerned with what other people are thinking either – cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.
Stop blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can achieve your dreams depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life. When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life. Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is impossible, and trying will only burn you out. But making one person smile CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their world. So narrow your focus.
Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy. One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time? Three years? Five years?” If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.
Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen. Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.
Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs. Instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else is missing.

a goodie from Henri JM Nouwen

Imagine yourself as deeply convinced that your kindness to your friends and your generosity to the poor are little mustard seeds that will become strong trees in which many birds will build their nests. Imagine that, in the centre of your heart, your smiles and handshakes, your embraces and your kisses are only the early signs of a worldwide community of love and peace!Imagine that your trusting that every little movement of love you make will ripple out into ever new and wider circles -- just as a little stone thrown into a small pond. Imagine, imagine! Could you ever be depressed, angry, resentful or vengeful? Could you ever destroy, hate or kill? Could you ever despair of the meaning of your short earthly existence? -- Life of the Beloved, pp. 123-4.

November definitely a time for a change

The more I read from pro-challenger and pro-incumbent blog posters and commentators, the more I am convinced things cannot change. No one yet made any predictions. I won't name names but here's my prediction action plan: Look for a frickin' job that can cover private school or moving expenses to Shoreline, Bellingham, or a small city in BC. # of Seattle School Board seats up for re-election: four two will be replaced with vote spreads over 5% one race will take days to certify, and a lead will erode by 3% one will be a major disappointment It just takes one or two new faces on the Board (probably two) to make a change. I want all of them in, but for that to happen 52% of the Seattle citizens filling out ballots for School Board directors have to agree with me. if all four incumbents get back in I am leaving SPS. Maybe even the city. If three incumbents get in I am homeschooling People have had umpteen opportunities to give reasons for supporting the incumbents beyond "they're my friends" and "they have experience." When he was interim King County Executive the Seattle Times endorsed the no-experience candidate Susan Hutchinson. Yet four people, three with corporate management experience, show few signs of understanding or performing their duties as elected officials and they're endorsed because they have experience. Others' rationales are "I don't have to explain why I am voting for them." Isn't that convincing? My son has a right to a decent public education. I may have to spend a lot of money I don't have to either spruce up the house to sell it, or to put him in private school, or to buy a car to drive him to another school district. Systemic and managerial failure account for the ills plaguing our school district. I don't see how privatizing public education will help, but I obviously don't think like an American.