Two Tools I Use

by

Hammer, pliers, and chisel on a workbench

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know that I’m always getting excited about one tool or another that is going to be The Greatest Thing Ever to help me be more productive. So at one point I was touting something called a Pomodoro, a little online timer that has you work for 25 minutes without any interruption and then take a break for 5, with a 15-minute break every fourth section. It was supposed to make your productivity explode, as you’d have all these pre-set distraction-free periods. But it didn’t really work for me very well, because if I really got going on something I didn’t want to have that timer going off at the 25-minute mark. And,to be honest, I found the restriction on breaks to be annoying. So I took it off my phone. Other tools, probably too numerous to list, have met the same fate.

Read more

Do you ever say, “I don’t feel like it”?

by

Spiral market by hours

I do—all the time. This is a blog about choosing to be happy, so you’d think I’d be advocating for following those feelings. Hey, just do what you want and let the rest slide!

I make the distinction in my book between “self-indulgent happiness” and “self-disciplined happiness.” (See the sidebar for ordering information; this section is in the first chapter.) The first rarely leads to anything lasting, although there may be a brief flare of enjoyment. So, let’s see—what have I done to waste time since starting to write this post? (Which doesn’t include what I did to waste time before I started this post):

Went ahead and finished up our subscription to The Denver Post. We had decided not to renew this year, but then they kept 

Read more

Small Choices with Big Consequences

by

boy at crossroads in a mazeI wrote last weekend about my “small, cushy adventure” at the Bible Study Fellowship area-wide conference at the Denver Convention Center. A great time of learning and blessing, And my position of being a group leader has also been a source of those same things. How did this all come about? From two very small choices. First of all, I wanted to join a daytime Bible study that fit in with my son’s then-schedule of taking the light rail to the Auraria campus for his classes. I did some online searches and found that there was a location just three miles from home with times that made it very doable for me to give him a ride. 

Read more

Admitting to Addictions

by

typing on computer keyboard while wearing handcuffsHey, Gretchen and Liz! Thanks for another helpful podcast which I’m going to shamelessly borrow from. I know, I know—I do this all the time. But when you hear stuff that makes you say, “That’s so totally me,” well, you have to use it, right?

Anyway, those of you who follow the podcast will know that Liz admitted about a year ago that she had been addicted to this game called Candy Crush. I’m not sure what you do with it; I can proudly say that I have never spent one minute playing any kind of computer/video/phone game.

Read more

Don’t Say, “Why Didn’t You?”

by

figure looking at a giant question mark

If you think about it, “why didn’t you do so-and-so?” is a supremely useless question. Irritating, too. I was reminded of this idea Sunday when I met up with my husband in downtown Denver. Parking was problematic, to say the least. Jim ended up parking in a pretty expensive lot across the Convention Center. I started to say, “Why didn’t you just park on the street?” And then I stopped myself. Why ask? Obviously if there had been a spot he’d have grabbed it. But what if there had been a plum spot right in front? (Which there wasn’t.) So what? He’d already parked in a paid lot. The deed was done. At that point it was moot.

Read more

The Ordinary Is the Extraordinary

by

Girl with a clock face on her face with icons and a city skyline in the background

I wrote in the previous post about my weekend in the lap of luxury and how much fun it was. Today? Back to normal, ordinary life. I’ve just wasted some time trying to find a couple of quotations that I wanted to include in this post but decided it just wasn’t necessary. Let’s just get on with the ordinary day!

Any number of people have written about their lack of appreciation for the mundane until it’s over. Normal life is going on without their paying much attention, and then it stops. Maybe it’s something that just happens in the normal course of things: the last child goes off to school, or leaves home. The aging process moves along until one day you realize you can’t do something you always took for granted. You forget to water the new bushes and they die. (Not that that has ever happened to me!)

Read more

I Am Having a Small, Cushy Adventure!

by

Hotel room side table with lamp beside bedThis weekend Bible Study Fellowship is having its regional conference in downtown Denver, and as I write this I’m sitting in my luxurious room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Attending the conference isn’t really optional for group leaders, and no, BSF didn’t pay my way. I’m enjoying myself very much and learning a lot. Yesterday afternoon my husband dropped me off at the light rail station and I sat on the train thinking, “This is so much fun! It’s an adventure!” (Honestly, I did think that, or something close to it.) I didn’t come with anyone from our leadership group, and my roommate at the hotel was assigned to me and not someone I know at all. She’s nice and perfectly friendly, but she’s off with her own friends. I came with the attitude that I’d just go with the flow and see who I met up with. Here are some ideas that have occurred to me as the weekend has progressed:

1. They aren’t trying to confuse you.
My lack of anxiety about this and other outings, something that

Read more

Practical Wisdom from a Politician

by
James Baker, civil servant
photo credit: Wikipedia

​It’s actually from a statesman, but that’s not as alliterative. The politician/statesman in question is James Baker, who was White House Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury under Ronald Reagan and Chief of Staff and Secretary of State under George H. W. Bush. This isn’t a political post; I do puh-lenty of that sort of thing over on my “Personal and Political” page. That’s not this.

So I was listening to a new podcast called “The Global Politico” in which Baker was being interviewed. (I have fallen off the cliff about reading/listening to books these days; I’ve switched over almost totally to podcasts and news articles. I’m sure at some point I’ll get back to books. Follow the link if you’d like to listen to the podcast episode and/or read the accompanying article.) Anyway, he’s a wily old fox, I must say, and a fascinating person in his own right. He started out with a bang, discussing some recent controversies, and had this to say:

Read more

Do You Berate Yourself or Encourage Yourself?

by

PictureRight now my husband and I are transferring my website over to a new server. (I think I may have mentioned this before.) Anyway, one project I’m having to accomplish is the re-doing of my recipes, putting them into the new recipe plugin. (I may have mentioned this, too.) Honestly! What a pain! It’s very hard to get all ginned up about re-doing stuff when it’s much more fun to do new stuff. So I’ll say, or put on my to-do list, “I’m going to re-do six recipes today.” And then I get involved in checking my e-mail, or reading yet another political article, or whatever, and

Read more