Posts from — February 2006

http://www.elevenlemons.blogspot.com/

http://craftapalooza.typepad.com/crafted/2006/02/coloriffic.html

http://selfportraittuesday.blogspot.com/

If people and events can determine your happiness, they can determine your unhappiness. Determine your own happiness, and people and events will take care of themselves.
    
— Alan Cohen

What does joy look like? Most of us would most cetainly say it would not come in the form of a self-photo.

I love this whole idea of blogging. “Ordinary” people journal online sharing their gifts, ideas, inner thoughts and information. Some for the fun of it, some for the art of it, some to drum up business. It seems blogging gives people the opportunity to remove their self-editing factor and reveal more about themselves. I love it. Being real offers a greater opportunity to grow.

This morning I came across this blog site, http://selfportraittuesday.blogspot.com/. Forgive me, but I never found the author’s name, but the site is wonderful and poignant. She invites women to send in a self-portrait photo once a week. I see you cringing already at the thought… that’s it… that thought of self-criticism that immediately and slyly pops up in your thinking process. Where did that come from? What’s that about? How to we transform that thought of self-judgment to one of great appreciation for who we are? Without that, happiness remains partial and illusive.

The author of Self- Portrait Tuesday reflects on this idea and asks, “…What really makes anyone of us more beautiful then another, because if beauty is bones and skin stretched over them like in the magazines in books stores then we all have some issues.

It’s time to let go of some of the issues and not wait to be someone else’s definition of beauty to be happy, to honor our wonderous being, to embrace our magnificence.

So whether you post it or not, what photo of yourself would you take that represents your deep wonder, that allows your aithentic self to shine through? If you believed you were magnificent, truly believed it, who would you be. What steps can you take to recognize that authentic, happy, and worthy person that is coverd up, weighted down, and held back by misperceptions and limiting beliefs? Become your self-portrait of joy.

In Joy,
Rhonda

“Finish each day and be done with it . . . You have done
what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget
them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well
and serenely.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

APA and Positive Psycholgy (www.apa.org)
The Positive Psychology Initiative at the American Psychological Association and positive psychology listserve.

Character Counts (www.charactercounts.org)
Character Counts is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian character education framework that teaches the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. The Character Counts Coalition includes thousands of schools, communities and nonprofit organizations.

Human Happiness: Its Nature and Its Attainment (www.gethappy.net)
Dr. Fordyce has recently published an on line book called Human Happiness: Its Nature and Its Attainment. He is one of the foremost experts in researching happiness academically. His book has two volumes, the first explains the nature, emotion, and personality about happiness and the second has his formula on how to attain your maximum level of happiness. His writing style is fun and easy to ready yet still maintains the academic rigor we all respect and trust. We are extremely grateful for Dr. Fordyce’s contribution to the happiness movement!

The Happiness Club (www.happinessclub.com)
What is the Happiness Club? It is an organization with the mission to promote the benefits of being happy through meetings, newsletters, and an informative web site, to the people in our community, and around the world.

Authentic Happiness (www.authentichappiness.com)
On your journey to Authentic Happiness, make use of this site to track your progress. You can take any of the questionnaires from the book Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment.

The World Database of Happiness (http://www1.eur.nl/fsw/happiness/)
Thank goodness for Ruut Veenhoven who collected and organized all of this helpful information.

Bay Area Hoopers (www.hooping.org)
Hooping makes people happy!

Compliments of: www.happyzone.com

A learned Buddhist teacher and friend asked me to clarify this point on happiness.
All those who suffer in the world do so because of their desire for their own happiness.
All those happy in the world are so because of their desire for the happiness of others.

–Bodhicaryavatara

“How might your life have been different if there had been a place for you? A place for you to go……a place of women, to help you learn the ways of woman……a place where you were nurtured from the ancient flow sustaining and steadying you as you sought to become yourself. A place of women to help you find and trust the ancient flow already there within yourself……waiting to be released……

A place of women……

How might your life have been different?”

Circle of Stones
Woman’s Journey to Herself
Judith Duerk
Innisfree Press, Inc.

“Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life.”

– Mary Manin Morrissey

Love is the way I walk in gratitude.

– A Course in Miracles

Your gift to the world is not what you do. Your gift is your happiness.

— Alan Cohen