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| Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash |
“Don’t let yesterday’s bad times or bad feelings influence
today’s thoughts and mood. You shouldn’t choose to dress for yesterday’s rain
if there are sunny skies today.”
—Karen Salmansohn, Instant Happy
Everyday adventures
This Post Brought to You By…Electricity! Or, Post-Irma Reflections
September 18, 2017
I’ve never before considered electricity a simple pleasure,
but I certainly do now. Following Hurricane Irma, which roared through Florida
Sept. 10-11, we went without power for almost four days. I’ve never been so
happy in my life when I came back from the barn last Thursday to see a light on
in my house! Since then, I’ve been grateful every time I flipped a light switch
or woke up to find coffee ready in the coffee pot.
Really, how did people live before electricity? I’ll tell
you how: they labored to produce meals and clean clothes, they lay sweating in
their beds at night (or shivering, depending on where they lived), they never
got a good look at themselves in a mirror (probably a good thing, judging by my
own appearance last week), their thoughts and energy were consumed by mere
survival.
The past two weeks have been mostly about getting ready for
a major hurricane, riding it out, and putting things back together again once
the storm was over. Because Hurricane Harvey was fresh in my mind, I took
Irma’s threat seriously, bagging ice from our icemaker and freezing water in
every available plastic container. I prepped the house for guests, since my
(divorced) in-laws would be staying with us, possibly for an extended time
depending on damage and/or power outages at their homes. I counted canned goods
and gallons of drinking water, dug out our emergency lanterns and candles, and
began a search for extra D batteries to power fans that might keep us cool
enough to sleep.
We cleared our yard of things that could become flying
missiles, my husband brought home all the computers from his office in case it
was destroyed, and I brought all my tack and tools home from the barn in case
the tack room blew away. Evacuating 20+ horses wasn’t practical for a number of
reasons, so we marked them all with some form of ID in case fence lines were
destroyed and they escaped their paddocks.
And more.
And then we waited.
By Sunday, we were huddled in front of the TV watching storm
coverage and obsessively checking Irma’s projected track. We suffered hours of
fear as the storm approached, especially after we lost power and we had a
harder time tracking it. It was terrifying lying in bed that night while the
trees groaned and the rain pattered, and we wondered whether a tornado spawned
by the storm would wipe us out, and whether Tank would be OK.
What a relief and a joy it was to wake up Monday morning to
find the house intact, and after a visit to the barn, my horse in one piece. I
think relief must qualify as a simple pleasure.
Irma wasn’t a fun adventure, but it was an adventure.
It challenged my planning skills, as well as my commitment to stay positive and
not make a bad situation worse. I had to let go of worry and projecting what
might happen. I had to believe that whatever happened we would be OK and we
would get through it. When my mind skittered ahead to wondering how long we’d
be without power, I wrestled it back to the present moment.
We were lucky. We had no damage to our home and we have our
power back. We had major clean up to do (see photos below), and lost some food
from our refrigerator and freezer. We found some holes in our hurricane
preparations that must be addressed.
This weekend while we collected debris in our yard, we also
watched butterflies flit from plant to plant. As I wrote this I heard birds
chirping and cicadas shrilling. Things look pretty much the same when I look
out the windows. But they don’t feel the same. At least for now, I hold simple
pleasures, like electricity, a bath, or light even more dear than I did before
after seeing how quickly they can disappear.
Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts—it means
something to know that others are thinking of you when you’re facing a scary
situation.
If you want to help the people of Florida who are faced
with a much more difficult road to recovery, here are some places you can do
that:
Charity Navigator's list of charities providing assistance following Hurricane Irma
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| 41 bags, one trash can, and one tree |
We came through the storm just fine, including Tank. We still don't have electricity, so I'm writing this from my husband's office. Lots of clean up ahead of us, but we're grateful it wasn't much, much worse. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!
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| Driveway |
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| Front walkway |
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| Tank says, "What's the big deal?" |
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a little meh.
I’ve fallen out of the habit of sketching (again), Tank’s issues have wreaked
havoc with my schedule, and I’ve drifted away from my goals. I need a way to
regain my enthusiasm and motivation. Just in time for September’s new beginning, last week I happened upon blog posts from two different people who
in their own ways extolled the virtue of tracking. The first was Laurie
Perry (of Crazy Aunt Purl—now Crazy Tourist—fame) whose cute little stickers
and printable charts caught my fancy. The second was this thoughtful post from
Raptitude, which is worth a read in its entirety. (Go ahead and read it, I’ll
wait here.)
I believe in the power of tracking, and have used it at
various times to make changes in my habits. I’ve tracked money in/money out,
what I eat, my workouts, and for one week every quarter I keep a time log of
what I do all day. Tracking is great
for maintaining habits or making changes. Remember the Jerry Seinfeld Method for establishing a habit? It relies on tracking.
Why I like tracking
I like the practice of tracking because it gently helps me
to become aware of what I’m doing. I often live in my head, distracted,
daydreaming, decidedly not present. I’m forever thinking of what’s next
rather than paying attention to what’s now. At the end of a busy day,
I’m left wondering what I did—and why I didn’t do what I said was
important to me.
If you want to give this a shot, too, some things you could
track include:
- What money you spend/make
- What you eat
- Your workouts/physical activity
- Reading/study time
- Time spent painting or drawing
- Days you meditated
You can, of course, take tracking to an extreme, as I’ve
done in the past. But if you keep it simple and don’t try to track too many
things at once, you should be golden.
This is where you can make it as simple or as complicated as
you like. Hint: simple is usually better. You could create a spreadsheet, make
a chart you color in or fill with stickers, cross off the date on the calendar.
If you want to track your time, this is my favorite time-tracking log.
William Butler Yeats wrote, “Happiness
is neither this virtue nor pleasure, nor this thing or that, but simply growth.
We are happy when we are growing.” Tracking is one method of supporting ourselves
in our efforts to grow.
So I’m dusting off my workout tracker, and I’m going to
print out one of Laurie Perry’s charts to keep track of three areas that are
important to me: sketching, exercise, and writing. I’ll get to other areas of
importance soon, but right now this is all I feel I can handle, what with
everything else going on*.
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| You can't get much simpler than this. |
Have you tried tracking? How did it work for you? What would
you like to track now? Please share in the comments!
*Speaking of tracking…we live in central Florida, which at the time of this writing is square in the path of Hurricane Irma. We’re highly likely to be affected by this storm no matter which way it goes, so I may be out of touch for a while after this weekend.
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| Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash |
“Happiness isn’t something to lock down and keep in a cage.
It isn’t a distant finish line either. But you can choose it more often than
not and you can live in a way that isn’t pass/fail.”
—Danny Gregory, Shut Your Monkey
Essential Oils
Change Your Environment, Change Your Emotions—Three Simple Ways to Support Positive Moods
September 01, 2017
Acoustic guitar music plays low in the
background. The ceiling fan spins, the coffee is hot, the paper and pen just
right…on a good day, this is how I set the mood when I write. My office
walls are painted a certain color, the window blinds are always open during the
day, there are shelves filled with books, a glider rocker. I’ve done everything
in my power to make this room a happy place.
To energize, calm, inspire, comfort—whatever the emotion we
want to feel, there likely is a way to nudge ourselves in that direction by
manipulating our surroundings. Whether it’s the music we listen to or the
motivational quotes we tack up on our refrigerator, we create the atmosphere in
which our moods grow. As Sam Gosling, author of Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You, wrote, “Much of the stuff we gather about us and the
environments we create are there not to send messages about our identities but
specifically to manage our emotions and thoughts.”
Here are three simple environmental factors that can
boost—or lower—your mood:
Tidiness
I don’t aspire to Marie Kondo levels of
organization, but it does make me feel lighter and happier when I look around
at tidy surroundings. I like knowing that if I open the hall closet door,
nothing will fall on my head. I’m in an ongoing battle with paper in my office,
and books everywhere else, but I make an effort to keep my kitchen cleaned up
and I make the bed most days because it makes me happy to see it like that.
I’m also prone to taking on a cleaning or organizing project
when I’m frustrated or blocked in my creative pursuits. Some would say I’m
avoiding my work, but I choose to think of it as a way to distract the inner
critic long enough to sneak some ideas by her. Making progress in one area (a
cleaned out hall closet) often leads to progress in another (a completed blog
post).
(Just don’t look in my office right now—eesh!)
Light
The presence or lack of light, especially natural
light, makes a huge difference to me. If we have a run of a few days with no
sunshine, I feel my mood lowering just like the clouds. Light is essential to
the human body, helping to regulate hormones that affect mood and sleep. You’ll
almost always find “step outside” on lists of ways to feel happier, and getting
some natural light is one of the reasons that’s so effective.
Scent
Essential Oils are Having a Moment. Everywhere you
turn, they’re touted as the cure for some malady. So far, my main use for them
has been scent. I diffuse oils in the bedroom, kitchen, and my car. I like when
things smell good! It’s a bonus when those scents have beneficial effects on my
mood, which some research suggests that they do.
According to Christopher Alexander in The Timeless Way of
Building: “There is a myth, sometimes widespread, that a person need only
do inner work…that a man is entirely responsible for his own problems; and that
to cure himself, he need only change himself…The fact it, a person is so formed
by his surroundings, that his state of harmony depends entirely on his harmony
with his surroundings.” To be truly happy, we still need to do the inner work,
but we can support that work with simple pleasures that make our surroundings
more to our taste. So if you find yourself battling sadness, fear, anxiety,
stress or other negatively-charged emotions (and who doesn’t?), take a look at
your surroundings. Maybe there’s something you can change that will help you
feel better.
What is your favorite way to influence your mood by manipulating your environment? Please share in the comments!
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| Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash |
Introduction by Ted Kooser: In our busy times, the
briefest pause to express a little interest in the natural world is
praiseworthy. Most of us spend our time thinking about other people, and
scarcely any time thinking about other creatures. I recently co-edited an
anthology of poems about birds, and we looked through lots of books and
magazines, but here is a fine poem we missed, by Tara Bray, who lives in
Richmond, Virginia.
Once
I climbed the roll of hay to watch the heron
in the pond. He waded a few steps out,
then back, thrusting his beak under water,
pulling it up empty, but only once.
Later I walked the roads for miles, certain
he’d be there when I returned. How is it for him,
day after day, his brittle legs rising
from warm green scum, his graceful neck curled,
damp in the bright heat? It’s a dull world.
Every day, the same roads, the sky,
the dust, the barn caving into itself,
the tin roof twisted and scattered in the yard.
Again, the bank covered with oxeye daisy
that turns to spiderwort, to chicory,
and at last to goldenrod. Each year, the birds—
thick in the air and darting in wild numbers—
grow quiet, the grasses thin, the light leaves
earlier each day. The heron stood
stone-still on my spot when I returned.
And then, his wings burst open, lifting the steel-
blue rhythm of his body into flight.
I touched the warm hay. Hoping for a trace
of his wild smell, I cupped my hands over
my face: nothing but the heat of fields
and skin. It wasn’t long before the world
began to breathe the beat of ordinary hours,
stretching out again beneath the sky.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry
Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also
supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Poem copyright ©2006 by Tara Bray, and reprinted from her most recent book of
poems, “Mistaken for Song,” Persea Books, Inc., 2009, by permission of the
publisher. Introduction copyright © 2010 by The Poetry Foundation. The
introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate
Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not
accept unsolicited manuscripts.
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| Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash |
August has been nothing but “feels like” temperatures over
100 degrees, twice-a-day trips to the barn to doctor a horse who is getting a
little fed up with the routine*, buckets of sweat, changing my clothes two and
three times a day, and trying to muster enough energy to keep up with the rest
of my life. When I think about the past few weeks, I think of the word
“heat”—both physical heat, and the “heat” of adversity.
Caring for an injured horse in August in Florida qualifies
as adversity in that it’s physically grueling, expensive, worrisome, and the
time and energy I’m expending taking care of him is being drawn from other
areas of my life. It’s not a devastating situation, but it is challenging.
Life has turned up the heat—and while I may complain about
it, heat is not all bad. We cook with it and create beautiful and useful things
with it. Heat both softens and hardens. It strengthens and refines.
Heat—adversity—in our lives does the same for us. It
distills and purifies our best qualities. It both softens our hearts and
hardens our resolve. Sometimes it brings to light our worst qualities so
we can acknowledge and work on them. If we never face even the smallest amount
of adversity, we’ll be ill-equipped to cope when one of life’s inevitable
traumas occurs.
Richelle E. Goodrich wrote in Making Wishes, “If you
couldn’t sense heat, you’d not be alive. And if that heat never grew
uncomfortable, you would never move. And if you were stagnant—unchallenged by
unpredictable flares—you would never grow capable of shielding yourself from
harsher flames. So yes, life was meant to drag you straight through the
fire.”
Coping with Tank’s minor injury has forced me to overcome
laziness, become more creative, and plan more carefully so I can keep up with
other responsibilities. I’ve had to pare away some inessentials because I
simply do not have time or energy for them. I’ve had to push myself when I
wanted to quit, and I’ve had to lie down and take a nap because I was too tired
to do one more thing.
I like adversity about as much as I like August (not much,
in case I’ve been unclear). I don’t wish for it, but I also try not to wish it
away because I know there’s value in it. I learn, I grow, I become a more
refined version of me. One better able to handle whatever adversity life
chooses to throw at me next.
What has adversity taught you?
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| Photo by laura skinner on Unsplash |
Unfortunately, I had to confine my solar eclipse viewing on Monday to NASA live-streaming since I procrastinated on getting eclipse glasses until it was too late. Even so, what an amazing event! I got goosebumps watching the sun reappear after being hidden by the moon.
In honor of Monday’s eclipse, here is a passage from
Virginia Woolf’s The Waves that beautifully describes the reappearance
of light:
“How then does light return to the world after the eclipse of the sun? Miraculously. Frailly. In thin stripes. It hangs like a glass cage. It is a hoop to be fractured by a tiny jar. There is a spark there. Next moment a flush of dun. Then a vapour as if earth were breathing in and out, once, twice, for the first time. Then under the dullness someone walks with a green light. Then off twists a white wraith. The woods throb blue and green, and gradually the fields drink in red, gold, brown. Suddenly a river snatches a blue light. The earth absorbs colour like a sponge slowly drinking water. It puts on weight; rounds itself; hangs pendent; settles and swings beneath our feet.”
We can choose to use an event like an eclipse as a marker
between one time and another if we’d like to make a new start or shake things
up. Or it can simply be an awe-inspiring natural event that adds a little
excitement to our ordinary days. One more everyday adventure for the
remembering self.
Did you watch the eclipse?
One more thing—at the post office yesterday, I bought these
cool stamps. They use heat-sensitive ink to mimic an eclipse:
Isn’t that cool?
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| Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash |
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