Tag: thoughts on life

Appreciation —> Happiness

Posted on by jplatt27

Yesterday Jess shared this nugget of wisdom over on Makeunder My Life:

“Stuff doesn’t make people happy. The appreciation of stuff makes people happy.”

As soon as I read this in my Google reader I stopped and immediately posted to Twitter:

Then I pulled up MML to get the URL, hit “Tweet,” and continued reading.  The next line was “Yep, go ahead and tweet it.” And then I felt like a complete tool.  But that’s not the point of this.

The point is that Jess’ statement is so true. The beautiful duvet we got for our wedding doesn’t make me happy; the sight of it on a nicely made bed and the thought of the comfort it provides makes me happy.  Owning a new black cardigan doesn’t make me happy; appreciating that it was exactly what I was looking for, is soft, fits me perfectly, and was only $17 makes me happy. The diamond earrings I got for my wedding don’t make me happy; appreciating their beauty and the fact that they go with everything and I can wear them every day makes me happy.

I think this statement applies to relationships too.  Having a husband/boyfriend/partner doesn’t necessarily make you happy.  Appreciating the laughs you share, the thoughtful things they do for you, the comfort you feel when resting your head on their shoulder or getting a big hug, that’s the stuff that makes you happy. This goes for family members, friends, co-workers, kids, and probably pets as well.

So it’s true appreciation yields happiness.

I’d love to know:

Who or what are you appreciating these days?

PS–A big thanks to Colleen for teaching me how to take a screen shot today!

be where you are

Posted on by jplatt27

be where you are

this mantra flowed through my yoga class yesterday as the instructor kept reminding us to be in the present moment, be in the class.  “check in with your thoughts,” she’d say. “are you in the present moment? don’t think about what happened yesterday or the business of the week ahead. just be present on the mat, breathe in, breathe out.  be where you are.”

i’m remembering this this morning as i get ready for a busy week ahead. i remind myself to be where i am, to breathe, to take things one at a time.

where are you today? check in with your thoughts and bring them back to the present. breathe in.  breathe out.  be where you are.

quarter-life crisis

Posted on by jplatt27

there have been a few times since college that i felt like i was having a quarter-life crisis.  the first was the end of summer 2009 when i wondered where am i going, what am i doing? i’d been in a cubicle for six months and would describe my day as beige.  i think my engagement took my mind off it for a little over a year.

but after the wedding and honeymoon those feelings of where am i going, what am i doing slowly started to creep up again. the summer passed in a blur and we’ve been busy every weekend since mid-july and most weekends before that.  now fall is arriving soon and our weekends are still busy and as i look into my future i feel like i’m on a treadmill of 9-5, 9-5, 9-5 in a beige office that either has too bright florescent lights or dim lamp lighting, my eye sight deteriorating from staring at a computer all day.

if there’s one thing i learned in the last year, through the process of planning my wedding, it’s that family and friends are the most important. love and family and friends, and sharing happy times, helping through the bad times, parties, get-togethers, and vacations in between, that’s what life is all about.

and there’s never enough time with friends and family.  so we fill our weekends up with visitors and trips home and then feel like there’s never enough time to relax, to take care of things on the to-do list before its back to the monotony of 9-5, 9-5, 9-5.

my life doesn’t align with this key realization that family, friends, love, and enjoying it all are what matters. but still i’m torn, feel obligated to pursue a higher degree though it may or may not be in line with the life i’d like to be living.  but then again maybe done the line it will provide me with the life i want to be living.

so what now? how do i tell myself that i’m where i’m supposed to be? that there are opportunities ahead of me that i can’t see just yet? i’m always telling others to enjoy the ride.  that i’m still in the exploratory phase and that’s a great place to be.  it’s good that i have so many things that i’m interested in currently and who knows how they’ll all come together in a few years or even a few months.

how do i move from feeling smothered and in limbo to enjoying everything that i have going for me? a fun, warm, loving husband, a city that i adore, a good-paying job with lots of opportunities to learn, and friends and family that i so look forward to seeing.

have you felt a quarter-life crisis?  what was the subject of yours?  how did you/are you dealing with it?

how do you cook?

Posted on by jplatt27

i have a theory: the way you cook parallels the way you live your life.

for example: mike and i always follow recipes.  in life, we play by the rules.  we’re not big risk-takers.

mike likes to get everything prepped and ready to go before he begins cooking.  he cleans up as he goes and likes to do the dishes as soon as the meal is finished.  in life, mike likes to explore all the options before he begins. he makes sure that everything is set before he makes a big decision. in school he would work on papers little by little, never waiting to the last minute or pulling an all-nighter.

when i cook, things tend to get a little messy as i jump right in and figure it out as i go.  lately, i’ve been much better about reading through the recipe and collecting the ingredients up front but my natural way is to do everything as i go.  in life, i have a general plan or place i’m working toward but i tend to have a lot of things going at once and i figure it out as i go. when it comes to cleaning up after a meal, i like to relax for a bit after the meal and take a break before i tackle the dishes.  in life, i’ll have an experience and need some time before i’m able to process it and move past it.

so what do you think?  how do you cook?  does the way you cook parallel your life?