Happier at home
Preparation
The true secret of happiness lies in the taking of genuine interest in all the details of daily life.
-William Morris, "The Aims of Art"
When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy.
- Oscar Wilde
To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth. (p12)
Sometimes, choosing to " feel right" means accepting some " feeling bad." Happiness doesn't always make me feel happy...
My ordinary routine should reflect the things most important to me. (p13)
It's not goal attainment, but the process of striving after goals- that is, growth- that brings happiness. (p14)
*Possessions
Find a true simplicity
We need to project ourselves into the things around us. My self is not confined to my body. It extends into all the things I have made and all the things around me. Without these things, I would not be myself.
- Carl Jung, C. G. Jung Speaking
Cultivate a shrine/ Go shelf by shelf/ Read the manual
⋯⋯"Keep it simple" wasn't always the right response. Many things that boosted my happiness also added complexity to my life. ⋯⋯＂Keep it simple" would impoverish me. (p27)
Jesus said: " Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. "(p29)
To be happier, I have to notice what I'm doing, and why, and how it makes me feel. (p41)
When I know exactly where to find the things I'm looking for, and I can easily fit a letter into a folder or a towel onto the shelf, I have a comforting( if illusory) sense of being more control of my life,(p55)
*Marriage
Prove my love
Where Thou art- that- is home-
- Emily Dickinson
Kiss in the morning, kiss at night/ Give gold stars/ Make the positive argument/ Take driving lessons
⋯⋯if I want my life to be a certain way, I must be that way myself. (p63)
Saint Therese of Lisieux declared, " It isn't enough to love； we must prove it." (p71)
⋯⋯＂When the student is ready,the teacher will appear." (p78)
⋯⋯Choose the bigger life.(p79)
*Parenthood
Pay attention
It is impossible to win the great prizes of life without running risks, and the greatest of all prizes are those connected with the home.
- Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography
Underreact to a problem/ Enter into the interests of others /Go on Wednesday adventures/ Give warm greetings and farewells
*Interior design
Renovate myself
If better were within, better would come out.
- Simon Patrick, Works
Resist happiness leeches/ Dig deep / Respond to the spirt of a gift/ Abandon myself control
That's what I wanted: my own " built-in happiness." I wanted to be emotionally self-sufficient, so I didn't depend on other people or circumstances to boost me up, and didn't let them drag me down. (p106)
*Time
Cram my day with what I love
One lives in the navie notion that latter there will be more room than in the entire past.
-Elias Canetti, The Human Province
Control the cubicle in my pocket/ Guard my children's free time/ Suffer for fifteen minutes/ Go on monthly adventures with Jamie
⋯⋯to choose a single word or phrase as an overarching theme dot the entire year.(p129)
I do have time, if I make time for the things that are important to me. (p134)
Completing one challenging task supplies the energy to tackle another challenging task. (p151)
*Body
Experience the experience
Happiness, knowledge, not in another place, but this place, not for another hour, but this hour.
- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, " A Song for Occupations"
Embrace good smells / Ask for a knock, give a knock / Celebrate holiday breakfast/ Jump/ Try acupuncture
* Family
Hold more tightly
He was like a man owning a piece of ground in which, unknown to himself, a treasure lay buried. You would not call such a man rich, neither would I call happy the man who is so without realizing it.
- Eugene Delacroix,Journal
Follow a threshold ritual/ Have an uncomfortable conversation with my parents/ Plan a nice little surprise/ Collaborate with my sister
* Neighborhood
Embrace here
Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.
- Gertrude Stein, Paris France
Be a tourist without leaving home/ practice non random acts of kindness/ Find my own Calcutta(-Create a secret place)
*Now
Remember now
Safe! safe! safe! The pulse of the house beats wildly. Waking, I cry " Oh, is this your buried treasure? The light in the heart.
- Virginia Woolf, " A Haunted House"
Now is now
I'm not happy unless I think I'm happy.
I can build a happy life only on the foundation of my own nature.
The only person I can change is myself.(p263)
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