OK, it’s Monday night and I’m high.
High on life. Coming off a nine day vacation straight into a new job. Where I get to do interesting things with people whom I genuinely like. At home, I find myself surrounded by loveliness. A sparkling jewel of a pool. The wildflowers and roses in the backyard are singing in the rain. Our grill still has gas in it from last summer. I paid all the bills and had some dollars left until payday. The children are acting like Von Trapps. It was Father’s Day and they made hand print art in a wide variety of adorableness.
That kind of high.
Here’s a good soundtrack to that kind of high. It’s called “Follow Your Arrow” by Kasey Musgraves, from her album Same Trailer, Different Park. Get ready to whistle for the rest of the day! I don’t listen to the radio much these day (or the Pandora-Sirius-youtube-interwebs either) so it took an episode of CBS Sunday Morning to introduce me to this album. One listen to one song and I was on amazon buying it!
On another note (I promise to tie all this together, but first, to make a long story longer…), I’ve started subscribing to Seth Godin’s blog on the advice of my friend Michelle. He’s a marketing guru (so is she!) but his daily thoughts on customer service, viral marketing, social media, etcetera get me thinking. The other day, his topic was“Angry Is a Habit.” Here’s an excerpt:
It’s easy to imagine habits like a scotch after dinner, biting your nails or saying, “you know” after every sentence. An event or a time of day triggers us, and we go with the habit. It’s easier than exploring new territory–it’s merely a thoughtless response to an incoming trigger. But emotions can become habits as well. Distrustful is a habit. Lonely is a habit. Generous is a habit.Happy is a habit. Because I’m happy today–and that “happy” translates to a complex combination of rested+energetic+validated+challenged+cherished+nourished+useful–I see happy things all around me. All around me in the same flea-bitten trashy house filled with the snot-nosed kids and the piles of laundry. Seriously, we are so behind on laundry that I wore maternity underwear today. And they weren’t exactly baggy. Whatever!
But when I’ve had the chance to follow my arrow for a while, I get back to this happy place. Just now, I looked over and saw Jinx the cat asleep on my cesspit of a desk. I saw the little kitten my dad rescued from a trash can instead of the teetering stack of bills and magazines. It’s 10pm and the kitchen still smells like the dinner dishes that are stacked in the sink, but that wrecked kitchen means we have plenty of food and I made a tasty meal from it. Carlos still didn’t eat it, but he manages to thrive on a diet of bananas and air with some dog hair stuck to the bananas.
I tried to grill hamburgers tonight, but thunderstorms put an end to that. So I broiled them, but they were still pink inside after 30 minutes and the smoke alarm going off twice. So I fried those bastards in a frying pan right on top of the stove. And while I waited for them to cook, I looked out the kitchen window and enjoyed watching the butterfly bush drinking in the rain.
Well, when I get this high (ON LIFE), I start to ramble I guess. And I want to eat cake and Doritos, but that’s typical for any night.
So go make lots of noise, kiss lots of boys, kiss lots of girls if that’s something you’re into…when the straight and narrow gets a little too straight…follow your arrow wherever it points.
What are you seeing differently today? Which way is your arrow pointed?
It’s funny for a girl with manicured nails and dyed hair that I find an extreme amount of joy lately just sitting in the pasture with a trio of baby goats in my lap. Sometimes you find joy in the strangest places 🙂
That doesn’t sound like a strange place at all! I can’t imagine being anything BUT happy if I were snuzzling a baby goat.
The keynote speaker at my 4day conference in Savannah this past weekend did a six hour presentation re: Reverse Paranoia. The idea is to think that the world is conspiring to help you rather than out to get you. If we can hold that thought, we can greet the day with good vibes.
Would it help if I came and did the laundry?
Oh, that’s nice! No one ever talks about that concept. I am so high that I got organized: meals are planned for the week, laundry done, kids clothes laid out!
I love those kind of highs. It’s been a while, but I’m working on getting back there. Thanks for sharing about yours. Yeah, that whole underwear thing–you crack me up, but mostly because I’ve been there, done that. Love that you got your special week with family, and then back to the new job. All that joy bubbling over, good stuff, really good stuff.
You’re still in the “Just Keep Breathing” stage right now. We’ll get to bubbling over in a little bit!
Thank you for the grace in that. I really need that right now. Yeah, bubbling over. I’m putting that on my one day soon I hope list. In the meantime, breathing sounds pretty fine to me right now.
Great song!!!! Gratitude is a habit, one I make sure I cultivate every day. And gratitude pushes my needle all the way over to happy if for some reason I am not getting there directly.
Love me some Seth, and thanks for the compliment. Amazing isn’t it – how simple it can be to just be happy – even amid all that is? THANK YOU for the reminder, too!!!
I am astounded at how often his advice resonates with me. It’s not just marketing!
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