I hope this little email will uplift and encourage you to see the good things all around you. In this email:
Food for thought: Are you doing something to follow your dream?
Picture of the day: Happiness journal with feathers and a fountain pen
Daily Funny: Clean up!
Daily Happiness: Yellow tulips
Daily Quote from Jonathan Livingston Seagull
I hope this little email will uplift and encourage you to see the good things all around you.
Thought for the day
Are you doing something to follow your dream?
When I was searching for a quote for today, the words of Jonathan Livingston Seagull touched me. I know people who literally have aske me why do I bother studying Egyptology and write my books even though I have a day job. What's the point? Doesn't it take all my spare time?
Yes, it does. But I have noticed you can follow your dream even when you cannot use the whole day to concentrate on it. I always wanted to be an Egyptologist and an author. So I simply kept on using what ever time I had to study and write - because they are my passions.
Apparently looking at me (and others) doing things to achieve a dream can be painful to those who have chosen not to do so. Or who believe they simply haven't got the time. Others reaching for something they have always wanted reminds these people of the dreams they have denied.
I have seen how this denial can turn someone bitter. They do not want to be with those who are following their dream. Or at least they try to belittle their achievements, to drag the "achiever" down to their own misery. (Misery loves company, as you may have noticed).
Do you have a painful dream inside your heart? Has someone convinced you it is not worth striving for?
Don't believe them. Understand the pain you feel when thinking about your dream is a sign your dream is still alive. Don't wait for long interrupted hours to start heading towards your dream. Find a few moments each day, even if it is only ten minutes. And do something during that time that takes you one step closer to your dream. Each journey starts with that first step, and when you take enough steps, you reach your goal.
This is your life. Live it in a way that increases your happiness.
Picture of the day
Write down the positive things in your day, and let them lift your spirits
I created this picture using two photographs I had taken. One was of feathers in a wall decoration at a friend's house, and the other is the fountain pen I finally bought to myself as a birthday present after years of wanting to have one. I bought it in a little shop in Turin, Italy. The shop only sold fountain pens. You can guess it took me quite a while to get out of that shop...
I thought this would be a nice cover for a Happiness Journal. Writing positive things can make the spirit light as a feather - helping us to soar high and see a bigger picture.
This happened in a friend's family many years ago. She had two small daughters who loved to spread their toys around - but not to gather them away.
One day visitors were coming over and the mother asked the girls several times to take their toys away from the living room. They just kept on playing - and then the doorbell rang. The younger daughter froze for a second. The she got up and run to the door.
"You clean up! I'll delay them!" she yelled.
Do you have a funny story you would like to see published in this letter? An event, what someone said? If so, send me your funny story in an email
(I especially love the funny things children say!).
It is spring outside here in this part of the world, but winter peeks in with occasional snow just when all you'd like to see are flowers and sunshine. But never mind the grey weather outside when you have bright yellow tulips!
What made you happy today? Send me an email so I can add your little joy to future daily mails to bring happiness to others as well.
“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!”
