Monthly Archives: October 2016

Week #111 – Ten Weeks to Happyness! (Don’t pretend…make plans: “Go get your wings!”)

"He's got his wings." (photo credit: Grace Church)

“Got his wings.” (photo credit: Grace Church)

Week #111 – Ten Weeks to Happyness! (Don’t pretend…make plans: “Go get your wings!”)

This might just turn into an annual re-post — because it’s worth repeating!  (You can find the original here!)  

Ten Weeks to Happyness starts now…and where better to begin the end of our year than with this refrain:

“Don’t dream it…be it!”

A little backstory: for Rob’s wake, a work friend of mine (who didn’t even know Rob) drove nearly two hours to attend his viewing.  While Jim H. waited patiently on line he saw the photos of the planes, Rob’s pilot log, his flight suit — and on the word board he wrote:

“He’s finally got his wings!”

Jim’s comment remains a poetic completion of Rob’s long held desire to BE a pilot.  And Rob didn’t just dream about it…he pursued it.  He spent time at airports, around planes, talking shop with pilots, logging hours, and enduring long hot summer days on the tarmac at airshows.  I still will never really know what it meant to a boy who never traveled very far from home to be miles high in the air with nothing but a propeller to keep him going!  But it made him happy…and he planned around it…and that was enough for me to believe he could be it!

Are you making pretend…or making plans?

Halloween is a day for pretending…pretending to be fierce or funny, scary or sexy.  To masquerade our secret selves…or maybe even disguise our real ones.  But look closer: is there more to your costume than an attempt to collect candy or win an award?  Is there a dream or desire or longing behind that mask that represents a calling to BE something more in your every day life?

Your Happyness Challenge for the week ahead:  I’ll ask you again…if your “costume” became your clothing on November 1st and beyond…what would you pick?  What props or clues, habits or traits would you need to let people know…this is who I am, this is who I was meant to BE.  Then ask yourself…what is the ONE NEXT THING you need to do to go from pretending to planning?  Write it down — and DO IT this weekend.

Don’t pretend…MAKE PLANS!  Go get your wings!

Spread Happyness — share your dream, your plans, and your support of others in the comments!

10/28/16 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com

Week #110 – Countdown to Happyness! (Spread the Word!)

"Let's get this over with!" (photo credit: D.S.)

Special Guests (photo credit: D.S.)

Week #110 – Countdown to Happyness!!! (Spread the word!)

Greetings Tribe — and Happy Friday!

It’s that time of year again!  TEN WEEKS to the end of 2016!  (And time to revisit our Ten Weeks to Happyness challenges from 2015!)

In January, I challenged you to “Love Your Life” in 2016.  Do you remember?

If you don’t remember…don’t worry!  I warned you that might happen.  That’s why I encouraged you at that time to start tracking your accomplishments.  We talked about a daily list, a gratitude tree, a photo journal, and a Happyness Jar…any system for recording your achievements, successes, highlights, and otherwise happy times THROUGHOUT the year ahead!

Have you been keeping up?

(To be honest…I’ve struggled, once again, to keep mine up-to-date this year!  A cross-country move and re-settling into a new space left quite a gap in my record-keeping!)

As I wrote last year, the turn into October is usually a checkered-flag moment for me…a time to stop, take stock, and set a course for Q4: the finish line of the calendar year.

This month got away from me…again.  A few significant deadlines, the holidays, the debates, a trip to the DMV.  And here we are…just ten weeks away from the end of 2016!

So I’ll ask you the same question I asked you at the beginning of this year:

Are you on track to yell, “I LOVE MY LIFE!” on December 31st?  

Your Happyness Challenge for the week ahead: Have you been keeping track of your highlights?  If so, GREAT WORK!  (And please share your methods in the comments!)  But if not, don’t worry.  Take some time this weekend to look back over your calendar, your emails, your texts, your tweets, and your Facebook wall and make a note of any special or significant moments.  I, myself, have lapsed in my daily rundown — missing several significant moments, including my cross-country move!  The holidays are a slippery slope…don’t let your Happyness get caught in the landslide!  Take time to REFLECT now and set yourself up for a satisfying end to 2016!

BONUS CHALLENGE: Is there something you still need to do that is nagging at you?  If so…you’ve got TEN WEEKS to do it!  Break it down into ten steps…share it with a friend…find yourself a buddy…and then get to work!

Most important…keep collecting the good stuff!  Because we need more of that.  More focus on the wins.  More focus on what’s right.  More focus on loving our lives — so that we can live our lives more fully.

I want us to yell “I LOVE MY LIFE!” — from wherever we are — at midnight this New Year’s Eve!  Are you still with me?!

Spread Happyness — share your thoughts and plans to “LOVE YOUR LIFE! in 2016 — and encourage others to do the same!!!

10/21/16 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com

PS: Throughout the next TEN WEEKS TO HAPPYNESS, I’m looking to feature local causes and charities that SPREAD HAPPYNESS to others.  If you or someone you know are responsible for a such and effort, please let me know (via the comments, FB, or at the email above)!  I’d love to reach out for an interview!

 

Week #109 – Send a smile…send mail!

notecard

Week #109 – Send a smile…send mail!

Greetings Happyness Tribe!

These past two weeks I’ve been looking at ways to help others in a time of need.

The first was to ask: “How can I help?”

The second was to “Reach out!”

This week, I want to propose something that I am personally very bad at:

Sending mail!

I know, I know…I do it too!  With even the most basic technology there are SO MANY faster ways to connect with someone.  And forget about phone calls and emails…that is so 90’s!  Now we can text, chat, message, comment, reply, tweet, or post!

And that’s only if you still want to use words!

Otherwise you can like, love, gram, snap, pin, or simply emoji your feelings to someone!  You don’t even need the alphabet anymore!

But there is nothing, NOTHING, like walking to the mailbox, opening it, and expecting the usual pile of bills and circulars…only to find a brightly colored envelope with your name in someone else’s familiar handwriting!

It means: someone really thought of you.

He or she spent time formulating a thought, writing something down, looking up your address, finding a stamp, and dropping that envelope in the mail to reach you at an undetermined date — when they won’t have the satisfaction of an immediate response or emotional feedback.

It is a precious, sneaky, fun surprise.  And like I said, I’m really bad at it!  So…

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: SEND A SMILE…SEND MAIL!  I’ve had seven thank you notes/cards that have been on my list for MONTHS!  Join me this week in catching up on correspondence — and sending a smile to someone’s mailbox today!

Who do you owe a note or card to?  Don’t tell me…tell them!  😉

Spread Happyness — SEND MAIL!  And share your thoughts in the comments (but only AFTER you put a stamp on it)!

10/14/16 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com

Week #108 – When in doubt, reach out!

key-pad2

Week #108 – When in doubt, reach out!

Greetings Happyness Tribe!

Last week I mentioned that I’ve witnessed more than a few occasions this past month where people jumped in to help those in need.

This past week, I noticed again how people are looking out for one another: A mass transit accident, a pretty serious surgery, and now a hurricane warning.

All around, people are checking in with one another!

This week…I want continue looking at ways we can help others in a time of need.

The first thing we have to do though, is reach out.

This can be tricky…because if you are respectful of people’s privacy, you might be uncomfortable prying into a personal or family problem/situation.  But there are ways to do this genuinely, without nosing in. Here are three phrases:

  • “Thinking of you!”  This is true…because you are…and it doesn’t require more information, or even a response (more on that later).
  • “Checking in!”  This may be true, too…and again, while it demonstrates interest in the status of an ongoing event or issue, it doesn’t require more info.  And again, doesn’t require a response.
  • “Wishing you the best!”  This is great when you know someone is going through a challenging time but you don’t want to pressure them with details.  Just to know that people are cheering you on can be heart-warming and confidence boosting, without rehashing all the details.  And again, it doesn’t require a response.

(Notice a common denominator there?)

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: When in doubt, reach out!  This week, if you find yourself concerned, curious, worried, or wondering about someone in your life…REACH OUT!  Do it in a way that allows the person the option of retaining their privacy if they choose…or not obligating them to respond, for whatever their reason (it isn’t always personal).  There are so few areas of our lives where people don’t have expectations of us…checking in with no obligation is a great way to Spread Happyness, and a little grace!

What are your favorite ways to check in on your family, friends, kids, and/or coworkers?

Spread Happyness — share your thoughts in the comments!

10/7/16 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com