Detail from another kitchen
painting. These things
are long and thin. The theory
being that anyone can find a long,
thin place, even in a small
house. But I must say they look
great cropped.
To continue from yesterday -- I tell my students that
people believe erroneously that being happy is frivolous,
a state preferred by people with feeble brains.
I assure them that in fact the opposite is true. Happiness
is a skill, and takes a highly developed and imaginative
brain. And I go one step farther -- I say it is a choice.
You can choose to be happy, angry, miserable. The
people at The University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology
Commons agree with me. And in fact you can learn to be
happy. Dr. Martin Seligman at Penn says that the
difference between happy people and unhappy people
has very little to do with degrees of wealth, illness or
freedom from harsh life circumstances. Happy people
think differently. That's the difference.
So on this very busy Saturday let me give you
more reasons from this small semi-detached house in Toronto.
10 More reasons to be happy
1. I slept in.
2. I read my fabulous book for an hour!
3. My husband Steven made dinner.
4. Our power stayed on in the severe storm today.
5. My friend is over using our power because hers
is off and we're going to have coffee and talk.
6. I've marked all of my exams (117)!!!!
7. And that means I'm finished marking!!!!!!!
8. My son applied for 30 summer jobs today.
9. I read wonderful blogs and imagined my life in art next week.
10. I'm going to watch a movie on TV with my sweetheart.
Have a wow-this-10-reasons-to-be-happy-idea-is-
making-me-happy! day
