Happiness Books
I'm on a mini new year's knowledge quest for happiness. I first read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, which was very earnest. What I came away with is that happy is a verb. It's a frame of mind and action that you choose. You choose to act happy. Also you should try to be a good person and help people. It's been a couple weeks since I finished the book and these are the two points I remember.
Next I read The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. He is a NPR journalist who travels to The Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Moldova, Thailand, Great Britan, India, and back home to America to learn about how people in these different places think about happiness. This was a much more enjoyable read. According to him, we need trust, gratitude, social connection, and nature to feel content. We shouldn't think too much about being happy, because doing so makes it hard to be happy. Flow is good. Having a culture is good.
My next book is Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford. I'll post my thoughts about it.
I have decided to take more pictures. Real pictures, with a real camera. That was something I loved doing in high school and I still find very satisfying. Last weekend I went to a bellydance hafla and took pictures of the dancers and then shared them with them on their facebook group. I got good reactions- they liked seeing the pictures and it made me feel connected to the evening. One dancer made my shot her profile pic. I also felt generous sharing the pictures because when I perform I really like seeing the pictures afterward. I think taking pictures of things actually helps me be more present in the situation. However the key is using a real camera and not my phone. The phone removes me again and drives my thoughts to sharing crap on social media. This is not satisfactory. No throw away pictures.
I am also trying to organize my pictures into memories using Shutterfly. Another thing that can connect me to people. A few days ago I spent an hour with my dad labeling scanned pictures of his childhood on my Shutterfly page, which we then shared with his brother and cousin. My father is in poor health and I find that these pictures are the key to finally understanding his past. Less successfully, I compiled all the pictures I could find of my dance troupe's performances over the past three years and shared the albums with them. I got no feedback on that, but it was enjoyable for me.
I want to read real books this year and have given myself a goodreads challenge of 18 books this year.
So- I am using all sorts of social media to pursue my goals! And returning to this ancient blog to attempt to digest it all.
Next I read The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. He is a NPR journalist who travels to The Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Moldova, Thailand, Great Britan, India, and back home to America to learn about how people in these different places think about happiness. This was a much more enjoyable read. According to him, we need trust, gratitude, social connection, and nature to feel content. We shouldn't think too much about being happy, because doing so makes it hard to be happy. Flow is good. Having a culture is good.
My next book is Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford. I'll post my thoughts about it.
I have decided to take more pictures. Real pictures, with a real camera. That was something I loved doing in high school and I still find very satisfying. Last weekend I went to a bellydance hafla and took pictures of the dancers and then shared them with them on their facebook group. I got good reactions- they liked seeing the pictures and it made me feel connected to the evening. One dancer made my shot her profile pic. I also felt generous sharing the pictures because when I perform I really like seeing the pictures afterward. I think taking pictures of things actually helps me be more present in the situation. However the key is using a real camera and not my phone. The phone removes me again and drives my thoughts to sharing crap on social media. This is not satisfactory. No throw away pictures.
I am also trying to organize my pictures into memories using Shutterfly. Another thing that can connect me to people. A few days ago I spent an hour with my dad labeling scanned pictures of his childhood on my Shutterfly page, which we then shared with his brother and cousin. My father is in poor health and I find that these pictures are the key to finally understanding his past. Less successfully, I compiled all the pictures I could find of my dance troupe's performances over the past three years and shared the albums with them. I got no feedback on that, but it was enjoyable for me.
I want to read real books this year and have given myself a goodreads challenge of 18 books this year.
So- I am using all sorts of social media to pursue my goals! And returning to this ancient blog to attempt to digest it all.