Searching for Happiness

Well, I’m not searching, I’m happy.

But this post  makes me think.

Doland recommends taking one day every week or every month to simply observe yourself:

It’s about tuning in to what you are doing, who you are doing it with and how it makes you feel. How much worry, stress, anger, joy or contentment do you experience on a given day?

Your happiness audit should assess not only major elements of your life, like your job and relationship, but also seemingly inconsequential aspects like how you occupy yourself on your commute and what you eat for lunch. Check in with how you’re feeling and what you’re thinking. You’ll find that certain, perhaps surprising, things give you more pleasure than others, just as some detract.

The solution, according to Dolan, is to deliberately make it very easy to do the things that make us happy. Dolan believes we can structure our time and design our surroundings in such a way that we can quickly make a habit out of doing things that make us happy. These changes are small and incremental, but this is precisely why he thinks they work so well.

Ya, makes me think.type

The Show, The Show!

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My first show (that’s kind of strange to say) is hung. I am so proud to see my letterpress prints at Skin Touch Therapy, a favorite place of mine. Brian, the owner, is a delight. And I’m thrilled he asked if I was interested in hanging my work for two months.

Friend Elizabeth Seaver (from Water Street Studio) helped as I had no idea how to hang prints. But now that the show is up, I’m proud. Who knew I’d be starting this new project/business?

Another plug: my cards are available at Water Street, my Etsy shop, Great.ly, and at Heather’s in downtown Fredericksburg.

I visited Charlottesville this weekend and stopped in at Rock Paper Scissors, where I saw a wall of greeting cards made by people I follow here. So cool! I don’t think I ever want to get into wholesale as that’s another ballgame, but it was fun to see such a variety of work.

 

 

It’s All In What You See

Sometimes people will come in the shop and say, “Do you have a card for _____?” And, of course, I have everything BUT that. So I was thinking I could make something ambiguous that might fill several needs:

It’s the way you….

~hold my hand when we walk

~pick out the perfect birthday present, even when I haven’t asked

~let me cry when I’m sad

The card is blank inside, so you can write whatever you want.

But, this could also go in another direction…

It’s the way you….

~leave your coffee mug on our wooden table all day

~drag me to your parents’ house when I’d rather stay home

 

He he! It’s all in the message.