When my daughter was little she had trouble expressing her feelings using words.  So to facilitate her explaining it to me, we would equate feelings to characters in Winnie the Pooh. Tigger was when she was hyper, owl was when she was pensive and piglet was when she was just feeling blah. This was a piglet sort of week for me…it was really hard with finding the bright side.

Gratitude

  1. I managed to untwist the top off the nasal spray before my nose dried out
  2. The bus time app actually worked
  3. managed to get a seat at Shake Shack
  4. Husband arrived safely in Canada
  5. Amazing friends who I can have deep and shallow conversations with
  6. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga and Shallow
  7. It wasn’t too cold while we were outside waiting to see Rachael Ray
  8. The handyman was able to unclog the tub
  9. I finally got the printer to work
  10. The random guy in Whole Foods who got the canola spray from the top shelf for me
  11. The subways were running great when I needed them to
  12. My dog did her business in the afternoon so I wasn’t freezing outside at 10 pm trying to get her to poop
  13. Ham and brie on a baguette

Calm

  1. Getting to the movie theater with enough time to go to the bathroom and get a good seat
  2. Knowing I have amazing friends
  3. Soft, comfy blanket
  4. exercising
  5. cooking
  6. Stopped feeling guilty about hating the book club book and committing to reading it in small chunks and stopping before I throw e reader out of window
  7. Pink tulips!!!!!
  8. chestnut scented soy candle
  9. face mask
  10. writing corrections with freshly sharpened pencil
  11. manicure
  12. 10 minute shoulder massage (if I win the lottery it will be weekly full body massages)
  13. Getting errands and chores out of the way early
  14. having a little pity party- sometimes a little cry goes a long way

 

37 thoughts on “Gratitude and Calm”

  2. You know, I think maybe you are feeling sad lately, because you know your daughter will be going to College. It’s a happy moment, but also sad. The house becomes quiet without our children, family dynamics change, children sprout new wings of independence.

    It’s not easy. We all go through this. The goal is finding new passions in life, so our hearts do not feel lonely. We are used to being “parents,” it’s hard when this role changes. Hang in there! :>

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    1. Actually I had three completely unrelated, non family incidents this week that made me go wtf? The bleh is having the patience and fortitude and wisdom to figure out what to do about them, and then actually do it

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    1. Thanks. I’m reading this book, “calm” Michael a ton Smith, and the first exercise is to write down gratitude, calm, and highlights. It’s actually pretty good. I’m finding that I naturally do certain things when I need to calm down…I see the patterns. Very interesting

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    1. No. It’s a book called “sapiens” which manages to both oversimplify and make things grandiose all at the same time. It’s a tedious read

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      2. I need to be in a mood. But say for example, in a book club discussing a memoir, doyou say, …wow it was cool when she did that….yeah….yeah….yeah….silence cause what else do you say

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  11. I love the use of Winnie the Pooh characters to classify moods. I am glad you didn’t have an Eeyore week!
    My book club is made up of a collection of published authors, college professors, a museum exhibit curator, and other impressive women. Sometimes we choose a book that many of us don’t care for, but we always have interesting conversation related to the book. It’s the first book I’ve been part of that actually focuses on the books. It’s really wonderful.

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    1. My book club is great…same thing…we actually discuss the books. But the books were reading. “Sapiens” is this guys theory of humankind from the Neanderthal/sapiens beginnings, and parts are just convoluted. The author manages to over simplify and under simplify things that happen and why they happen. I don’t know how we’re going to discuss this book in a reasonable manner. Re Winnie….you know how you try to get kids to use words to express how they’re feeling, but kids don’t really have the vocabulary , so as big Winnie fans I thought that each of the characters sorts of personifies a feeling/emotion. Since she understand the books and movies she was able to relate it that way, and enabled me to help her out

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  12. I just love your method of using Winnie the Pooh characters to explain mood and emotion. I’m pretty sure there’s a character for each, and even with adults, it feels less judgemental to say to someone who’s over-hyper “you’re being a bit Tiggerish today!” and to someone who seems very down “are you feeling Eeyoreish?”

    “Sapiens” is a big chunky read which I’ve heard lots about. My son-in-law (who has his own business & is dyslexic so must’ve had to really struggle) spoke highly of it, so I’ve downloaded it to my Kindle. Right at the moment though, I need lighter reads, so I’m going with the flow. At some point, when life is less Eeyore and more Tigger, I will dive into “Sapiens” as I like a chunky challenge. But I feel for you over book club selections that aren’t to your taste *and* are hugely demanding of time.

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    1. It’s so hard to help you young child navigate moods. By equating the Pooh characters she was able to verbalize how she felt, and in turn I was able to give her ways to cope with her feelings. It worked for us……Sapiens I find to be overly and under simple at the same time. The author latches onto words and ideas to explain away everything, and sometimes the comparison just doesn’t work. I especially had issue with his chapter stating the importance of gossip in a society. While I understand what he’s saying, I think he over simplified it’s use and purpose. But it’s mainly a lot if book for book club

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      1. Before I left it, my book club picked a heavyweight tome on the behaviour of Monsanto. Yup, that’s right. I wouldn’t have minded it so much if there’d been anything new, but it was just a re-hash of stuff which has been around for years & years. Of course, it was all new to the young woman who selected the book having just become a keen healthy living vegan, so she positively bounced with vigour and zeal about it. I just felt tired, cynical and old. When another group member chose a book written by his lifestyle guru Jordan Petersen, I decided it was time to take a break. It was more than just this, of course, but they formed a pretty big straw!

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      2. Right? Sometimes these books just make you feel cynical, because with age comes wisdom, experience and a more finely tuned bullshit detector

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