Inspiration from past blogs on the International Day of Happiness

 

Eighteen years ago on February 17, I started this blog.

Tonight I'm including a painting from the archives 

-- A woman and her cats. I painted

this in September of that year, 2008.

I was lucky to teach Positive Psychology for 10 years.  I learned so
much about how to be happy. One thing that makes me happy is
creating work that collectors love. The painting above was certainly
one of them, and a great source of enjoyment for me.

Here are some words from a former blog that are helpful 
as I paint for a show opening April 3 from 2 - 5 at the
Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. in Toronto, Canada.

I loved the richness and pattern on the silk collar of the
subject's blouse.  It was a beauty. Such a pleasure to paint.
And of course I loved the cats. Here's what I said in 2012:

"So what have I learned?  Sometimes in life we
think we're going nowhere.  That's what's so
wonderful about the blog world.  You can see
how far you've come, all the things you've learned
and in my case the great excitement that's come into
my life since I began this happy process.  My blog
was born during a hard time in my life, with relatives in
poor health, and my son going to Korea. The blog
and the people who read it became a source of
delight and strength for me.  When I painted this
portrait I had no idea what was going to happen in
the next months, when my blog would be discovered
by Howard Wolinsky, the Chicago journalist, and
subsequently by Oprah.

Steven was saying today, "your thoughts create
your future," one of the key philosophies of
Louise Hay.  And sometimes your future is
created by thoughts other people have that
are beyond your wildest dreams."

Have a thinking-yourself-into-a-joyous-future day.