I’m trying to be happier, so on Fridays, I’m writing about all of the stuff that has put me in a good mood lately. Stop gagging! Hey, I’m serious.
Writing these posts is a worthwhile exercise because it causes me to focus on positivity.
One of my favorite things to do is wander aimlessly. On my walks, I look around and take notice. It’s amazing what you see if you force yourself out of tunnel vision and start paying attention.
Was Thoreau the original frugaler?
I love this quote. When you think about a purchase as spending a bit of your life, it changes everything. Always spend mindfully. Make sure that what you’re buying is worthwhile.
A teacher wrote this on her whiteboard at my children’s school:
I’ve been farting around with meditation lately. It isn’t always easy. but this bumper sticker was a reminder to stick with it:
Graffiti! This “artist” should learn how to spell so they can skillfully deface public areas:
I like this better:
I don’t even have to leave the house to come up with material. This is what happens when my children commandeer the label maker:
Along similar posterior lines, this never ceases to amuse me:
Seeing a mantis always excites me greatly. (the mantis was less than excited to see me)
I love looking at the sky at sunrise and sunset. This was the latter.
And here is one at dawn. The sky looked like this for less than 5 minutes. I’m glad I captured it.
What cool things have you noticed lately?
That last picture is really nice, part of me wants to walk straight out of the office right now….. (correction, all of me actually).
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Yeah, that picture turned out really well! I took it with a 4 year old phone too, so I was surprised.
Really? That is amazing!
Our windows face West so my wife and I always love watching the sunset. It’s incredible how things look for just a couple of minutes before it disappears. It always keeps us in awe.
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Yeah! The light at sunrise and sunset changes everything. It’s amazing.
I LOVE that Thoreau quote! Being intentional, and finding joy in the moment, is a skill that has to be developed.
Take the time to develop it, as you’re doing. Life will be better as a result.
45 minutes from now, I’m going to swim across a lake w a guy I work with (he’s from England, and it attending a biz conference with me this week). Enjoying time in the water makes me happy. A co-worker has a drone, and is making a video of the Brit and my swim. I can’t wait! That video will bring back memories of what I know is going to be a great experience.
Find experiences that make you happy. Then, find a way to remember them. Great post!
Whoah, good luck with the swim!
There’s some lovely pictures there Mr. 1500!
I especially like that quote from Thoreau. Truth!
Have a great Friday, and stay positive!
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Thanks Tako!
I’m with ya on meditation. Setting my mind at rest for just 10 minutes is a lot harder than it sounds. I’ve gotten off the track for the last several months and need to get back on.
Oh man, it’s very difficult, especially when I have anxiety to begin with.
I try to do guided meditation on YouTube, and those are always really nice. They’re also free, which I love. Check ’em out if you wanna ease into full-on self-guided meditation. And oh sweet lawd I spit out my coffee when I saw “butt cheeks”! You are raising some humorous children. 🙂 Out of curiosity, what camera do you use? Those pics look dynamite!
I’ve had a hard time staying happy lately, and it’s 99% due to work, unfortunately. But! We started our garden and it is SO COOL to see all the little seeds sprouting. Our radishes in particular have taken off–it’s soo cool to see them growing.
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The Happy Philosopher recommended Tara Brach which are really good. Now, I’m on #8 of Headspace, but when I feel motivated, I’ll do a second Tara Brach one too.
I tried some of Tara Brach and started to fall asleep in the pauses. (But I love her books!)
I found ‘the honest guys’ on youtube. They’ve got a good 5 minute meditation, but also some nice ones to fall asleep to. 🙂
Great post to start my Friday with. You’ve got some good photography skills. Heres to a great Friday and weekend!
If you take 1000s of pictures, one or two are destined to turn out OK…
I read Walden about a year ago and loved that quote so much I wrote it down. This is exactly how I think about spending today. It’s the same idea as “Life Energy” from Your Money or Your Life.
Here is another favorite quote I wrote down from Walden:
“Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.”
Damn, so many good quotes. I googled it and found this gem:
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
I’m disappointed to say that I haven’t read even one page of Walden. I just added it my ever-growing book list though.
I found Thoreau’s writing style to be a tough read. But, Walden is so worth the effort for us non-conformist outdoorsy types.
Oooh I love the last one! Maybe the Bich person was being ironic? Naaaaa, going with bad spelling. I can’t be positive but the picture of living out your dreams is from art that someone did along the strand (by the beach) here in the south bay where I live in LA. When I was training for a 1/2 marathon, I used to read them as motivation as I was running down the strand. There were a bunch. Anyhow…cool? I walk to work sometimes and I just enjoy seeing all the various architecture of the houses in my neighborhood. The styles are very diverse. It’s like house porn. I like to play, “which one could be mine.” even though I will probably never own…at least here in LA.
Yeah, the “Bich” person probably was being ironic, but I prefer to think of them as moronic since they defaced a beautiful public area.
I’ve noticed that the birds are slowly starting to migrate back to MN. Soon the temperatures should start to go up. Spring is here!
I love the last picture. It looks so calm and peaceful there.
Yeah, last picture was Salida. Love it there.
This is an awesome idea. You get to practice your photography and also appreciate everyday goodness. Life is just too busy and we let all these good things pass by without noticing.
Hmm.. Let’s see. I got a bunch of thank you notes from the kindergarten class. I went in for PJ day and made chocolate chip pancakes for them. It felt awesome to get those notes.
Very cool. Thank you notes are a lost art.
“One of my favorite things to do is wander aimlessly. ”
I love it. My goal is life is to wander around, learn a lot about various things, and connect them together. This is how I have accomplished most things in life anyway ( no, I do not have a 10 year plan)
I am curious, have you experienced some negativity recently, which has caused you to try and be more positive?
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“I am curious, have you experienced some negativity recently, which has caused you to try and be more positive?”
My last day of work is 4/13 and I have some anxiety around that. I know it will be good for me, but I feel like I’m abandoning a team that has been good to me. I realize I’m being selfish (I can be replaced), but it still hurts a little.
Beyond that, I’ve never been a super happy person. I’m not depressed, but I skew towards melancholy.
I love to wander aimlessly also. In the nicer weather, I will take walks up to 4 hours, with no particular destination, and just think. I also like to stop and observe nature, or find a quiet place to sit and meditate for a few minutes. I also try to forage along the way. Wild dandelion and plantain leaves are more nutritious than most produce at the grocery store. You might enjoy a book called “Movement Matters”, by Katy Bowman.
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4 hours! I can’t wait to do that! Epic! After 4/13…
I’ve often thought about finding a quiet place down by the stream near our house to meditate. Again, that will be a post 4/13 experiment.
Thanks for the book recommendation.
Great pictures Mr. 1500. The last one reminds me of a quiet morning I had nearby a creek in central Virginia recently. I took a 6 am walk and was stunned by the calming beauty of nature. Felt better to keep eyes open than to meditate with eyes closed!
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Aimless walks remind me of my father. We would be out walking or maybe running an errand on his scooter, and he would suddenly turn down a side street and ask “How about an adventure?” He turned the mundane streets and towns of my childhood into an endless field of exploration, and I could not be more grateful.
Cool things? Toddler BITA and I recently chanced upon a giant slug when we were out walking and we got to crouch down low and watch it eat. My neighborhood is filled with flowers and spring is in the air.
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This is so cool: “How about an adventure?”
How many stop to take a look around every once in a while? It’s such a richer way to live.
This post made me smile, thanks for the post!
Regarding meditation, in the past I’ve tried and failed to meditate regularly. I think the reason was that I was trying too hard and was trying to do it for long periods of time such 30 to 60 minutes.
This time, I’m started slow and meditating for 5mins for several days and then increasing it to 10min. I noticed that because 5min of meditation was easy to do, I was able to stick to it everyday. I also did it right after my daily exercise, so now it’s part of the schedule. I’m now working on increasing meditation time to 10min.
Hopefully, I will be able to stick to it this time. Good luck with your meditation.
I’m not good at wandering aimlessly. I’m a planner, so not knowing is an uncomfortable space for me sometimes. If the plan is to walk from A to B (even if it’s home & back again) with route undetermined, that’s different. One of my favorite things to do is park at the yoga studio (free) and walk into downtown to meet people for drinks. It’s about a mile round trip. There’s an animal hospital along the way that has 2 resident cats, so I always pause to say hi to them. One of the buildings has an overhang, with pot lights, and there are some EPIC spiderwebs. I try to not look at the spiders, but their creations, makes me amazed by nature. Part of the sidewalk is old red brick, and the dandelions that grow in between, how creative they got to create gutters, how roots have made it all uneven… it’s worth the walk to ponder all those things and more.
Happy Friday! Only….2 more to go! 🙂
I do love to stop and take pics as the sun is going down /up as well.
A really good reminder for me to get my head out of my smart phone while I’m walking about and look around once in a while.
Cheers!
Ah, that graffiti is great! Reminds me of when we went into Washington DC to have engagement photos taken (we had won a free photo shoot in a “weird wedding plans” contest) and found some graffiti that said “Life is short” right where we wanted to have pictures taken. Made for the best engagement photo ever 😀
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Wow, that is awesome!
The sun! What with the advent of Daylight Saving Time and the spring equinox, we’re getting more than 12 hours of daylight (and gaining more than five minutes a day until solstice). It’s also been sunny for a week straight.
That may not sound like a big deal to those in more temperate climes, but we Alaskans take the sun very seriously indeed.
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This time of year I’m up before dawn, so those short-lived sunrises are beautiful. Now that the birds are out in full force, I’ll just stare at them for a bit. It’s amazing how brightly colored some of them are.
I’ve been trying to develop a meditation habit. I use Calm and the numbers nerd in me appreciates the stats they collect and remind me of. Longest streak is 5 days, 21 hours and 25 minutes spent meditating over 110 sessions. It’s so hard to quiet your mind.
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The app Insight Timer has a ton of guided meditations! I do one in the morning before I get out of bed and one as I go to bed (to quiet my mind!). It really makes a difference! I also started a daily gratitude journal (The Five-Minute Journal) and that also focuses me to be positive and grateful. Strange that it can be so hard to be positive, isn’t it? The book The Happiness Advantage really helped open my eyes on why happiness can be challenging! Highly recommend it and you could even listen to it on a walk!
Thanks for mentioning Timer. I’ve added it to my list.
I just heard about the 5 Minute Journal on a Tim Ferriss podcast today. I’m going to explore that too.
“Strange that it can be so hard to be positive, isn’t it?”
I know, right!? Kinda sad really when life is so great. Thanks for the book recommendation too. Just added it to my list.
Great set of quotes and pictures…!
Today, I noticed that i am the scary one in our household. The youngest jumped of a tarting block, straight in the 3 meter deep swimming pool. She did fine. I barely survived.
I smile now!
Ha ha, olympic swimmer in about 10 years!
I’ve always considered classical economist Thorstein Veblen the original frugaler. He coined the term “conspicuous consumption” and made a statement to the effect that people could work half as much as they do if they would only give up trying to impress their neighbors (this was in the mid 1800s). Thoreau was born about forty years before him, though. Nice quote and lovely sunrise/sunset pictures.