Saturday, January 7, 2012

My Crazy Life in an Acronym~ part 2







Welcome Back! I hope you are sitting in a comfy chair, in your most favorite spot, and I hope you have your coffee, tea, or beverage of choice ready to drink as you read. I am ready to continue my “character quality', “My Crazy Life”, acronym with you! My character qualities I am working on in 2012 to be the BEST I can be. If you missed the first two Character Qualities from “My Crazy Life”, I will refer you back to the first blog in this series, so that it all ties together nicely! 




Now on with the Second word in my blog “CRAZY” and it's acronym. My life really is so crazy with all of my obligations with my family, friends, job, extra jobs, hobbies, so that I would definitely define my life as CRAZY... but it is a HAPPY, HAPPY CRAZY LIFE that I lead. I would not change anything about the life I lead. Instead let me share the CRAZY Character Qualities I am focusing on, and I will do that with an acronym for the second word of my blog, “CRAZY”.



  

‘The thing that makes a creative person is to be creative and that is all there is to it.’

— Edward Albee




Creativity is such an important and essential part of who I am.  When I am not creating, I find my mind becoming stagnant, and I find that my activities become activities that simply fill my time~ mindless, empty, non essential time wasters. Creativity gives me joy, whether it is creating a meal for my family, creating with crochet, paint, a glue gun, taking pictures of flowers, creating jewelry with a friend at a local bead shop! Creativity in any form whether by myself or shared with another stimulates the mind! Now you may say, well I don't have a creative bone in my body! Well, I went to google and came up with a great little page on how to develop creativity with some absolutely FUN, CREATIVE exercises at the end... thinking I might give a few of them a whirl. For me, creativity needs to be a part of every day in SOME form. For 2012, I am SCHEDULING IN time each and every day to create something: a meal for my family, a friend. A walk to take pictures. Time to sit and just dabble with paints. I hope you will see the importance of developing some creativity for yourself.




http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Creative








"Another fresh new year is here . . . Another year to live! To banish worry, doubt, and fear, To love and laugh and give! This bright new year is given me To live each day with zest . . . To daily grow and try to be My highest and my best! I have the opportunity Once more to right some wrongs, To pray for peace, to plant a tree, And sing more joyful songs!"
~ William Arthur Ward






Radiate Joy! Life is SO GOOD. There are so many blessings in my life, and I make a very concerted effort to remind myself of those blessings each and every time they pop into my brain! I have found that when I forget to count my blessings, I become deflated, like an empty balloon. When I am deflated, I have nothing left to give. The spark has gone out, and I have no joy inwardly, and no joy to share with others who are so desperately looking for their own joy. I am a firm believer that my purpose her on earth is to share the joy that I have with others, that they may share in my joy, and find some joy for themselves. My desire this year, is to RADIATE JOY each and every moment, so that others see my joy, and want that same joy for themselves. For me, that joy comes from the Lord: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11. Since I have the joy of the Lord, my desire is to share it with all I know, and even those I don't know. Life is too short NOT to Radiate your Inner Joy!





Negative thinking destroys your brain cells and causes global warming. Source: The Scientific Institute of GetOverIt! ~Dodinsky, www.dodinsky.com

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. ~Roald Dahl






love these quotes! They makes me giggle~ but also make me think and think deeply. I am such an advocate of POSITIVE thinking. Life is hard enough without thinking in negative terms 100% of the time! Now don't get me wrong! There are times when things happen and my hackles may rise and I may stomp my foot, but I quickly talk myself out of getting caught in the trap of 'stinkin' thinkin'.  Bad things DO happen to good people. But I have learned that I can CHOOSE how I will respond when I am blindsided. I can respond with an attitude that is designed to improve, change or accept the problem~ a Positive attitude, or I can respond with  defeat, roll over and play dead, or cursing the gods mentality~ a NEGATIVE attitude. I find myself very attracted to positive people because they leave positive deposits in my personal account. THAT is the person I want to be... depositing 'positivity' into the lives of others instead of sucking their personal accounts dry with my negative outlook! It takes work, focus, prayer and meditation, but I can tell it will payoff in 2012.

 “Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching?” ~Dennis and Wendy Mannering




Think excitement, talk excitement, act out excitement, and you are bound to become an excited person. Life will take on a new zest, deeper interest and greater meaning. You can think, talk and act yourself into dullness or into monotony or into unhappiness. By the same process you can build up inspiration, excitement and surging depth of joy.

Norman Vincent Peale







Each and every day I search for beauty.  I always have. I search for beauty in things I see~ a beautiful sunrise, smell~ a loaf of bread baking, touch~ the smoothness of a shell I find on the beach, hear ~ the sound of my daughter laughing, taste~ freshly made guacamole dip.  There is so much BEAUTY around me! When I am seeking that beauty I am living a life 
chock full of ZEST, and I am SO happy.




I purposely carry my camera with me wherever I go, looking for a beautiful flower blooming, or today~ I caught the unusual bark on these trees that are 'winter barren'. I always add extra spices to anything I cook~ 'zesting' it up as I go. I always keep a bottle of my favorite bubble bath next to the tub, so that I can enjoy a lovely, bubbly bath of hot steamy, lavender scented water. I look for jokes to share with my family, JUST so I can hear them laugh. I try HARD to create a 'zest filled' life, and this year, I am intent on living even ZESTIER! :) How 'bout you?

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bouncing-back/201110/living-zest-secret-happiness







Youthfulness is connected to the ability to see things new for the first time. So if your eyes still look at life with wonder, then you will seem young, 

even though you may not be chronologically young.
Goldie Hawn







(yes this is me... as a child!)

OF COURSE I WANT TO STAY YOUNG! I do buy an assortment of facial creams and lotions, 'skin tighteners, wrinkle reducers, and cellulite ridding products.  LOL A friend shared that she swore by Preparation-H as a 'skin firming product'!  I am still pondering that one.  But I am smart enough to know that while outward beauty may fade, I can still maintain and keep my inward beauty as forever.







Youthfulness is a state of mind. What is that quote, 'you are only as old as you think?' or something like that. Inwardly I do believe I got stuck in a perpetual 'childlike' state. I find I am constantly sidetracked by a butterfly, or a new food that I will inevitably fall in love with. I find new crafts entirely enthralling, Reading helps me escape into worlds I NEVER dreamed I would visit. I find joy in digging for seashells at the beach, and when I find an amazing specimen, I am thrilled beyond words. In other words, I have never lost that child like amazement, in learning something new, in stretching myself to try new things, in experiencing something I have never tried before. On New Years Eve, I created my own little 'bucket list' of new things I wanted to attempt this year. They range from expanding my vocabulary, to taking a trip to 6 Flags to ride every roller coaster. I am trying something new each and every day... may be big, may be small, but it exciting and fun, and keeping me young. I will always be a “Toys 'R' Us" kind of kid.








Well, once again, time has given me no choice but to move to the next exciting thing on my datebook~ and we still have the word “LIFE” to finish and wrap up my blog in 'an acronym'. I hope you have had fun reading, and I hope something grabs you and revs you up. I have so much more to share. And since 'tomorrow' is the weekend. I encourage you to grab your coffee, or whatever! :) and find your favorite blanket, and join me as I finish up my character quality changes. I know I will still have my jammies on... hope you will too. Can't wait to visit with you tomorrow!  Leave me a comment on your way out.  Blessings to you!






Living Laughing and OH SO! Loving my Life,

Patti