So, I’ve been reading Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project. I love the honesty and thoughtfulness of her writing. Her personality is organized along fault lines very similar to mine, so her insights are tremendously helpful to me.
Gradually I have noticed myself becoming, well, you know, happier. I never ever thought it would happen. But just as winter turns to spring, things have been warming up and thawing out in my emotional life. And for the first time ever, it is happening as the darkest days of the year approach. In fact, I am not even annoyed by the Christmas music playing in endless loops everywhere, including in my piano studio!
Today’s example of my new happier outlook is the photo above: I just picked those tomatoes from my garden. December 1, and tomatos are still ripening! I can only remember one other holiday season when I still had garden tomatos, and that was because I had picked them green and stashed them in an egg carton to ripen.
In the past, I could have been stressing out about global warming, drought, etc, etc. And it’s not that I’m not concerned about those things. But I have taken all the actions I can, at least for today, to address those concerns. And so for now, I will just enjoy the sunshine and the fresh tomatoes. No griping or worrying about the high property taxes in California, either!
I find it takes a certain mental strength to not allow myself to fall into well-worn, dark negative ways of thinking. I was really down in the trenches every day fighting this issue while I was in cancer treatment and facing major financial catastrophe. But now that I have worked my way through that phase of life, I am able to be in touch with being happy just to be alive. Another example of seeing the glass half full rather than half empty.
