Posts Tagged ‘laughter therapy’
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Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
The snow is coming! The snow is coming! You know, being an adult in New England kind of sucks. Because you want to get reallllly excited about a snowstorm on its way. Especially one that has the potential to bring 14″ of snow.
When I was a kid I would wish and hope and hope and wish for snow. Because if it happened during the week, that meant a SNOW DAY! Bliss! No school! Sleeping in! Making snow forts all day long. Hot chocolate! Movies! Did I mention NO SCHOOL?
However, the MAJOR SNAG as an adult is that the majority of us hearty New Englanders have to heave our hibernating bodies out of snuggly, warm beds when it’s snowing. We brave the treacherous roads, risking life and limb, to get to work.
Yep, work. There is no snow day. No day off. It’s a total and complete bummer.
I want to stay up late and watch the first flakes start to fall! The storm should be rolling in by 2 a.m. and get progressively heavier by sunrise. Instead, I am trying not to be anxious about shoveling out of the driveway at a decent hour before getting stuck when the plow comes by. I worry about picking the least harrowing route to make it to work in one piece.
So, to ease the anxiety, Craig and I decided to throw a little snow party.
Translation, we made yummy popcorn on the stove.
Hey, whatever works, right?
Tags: gratitude, laughter therapy, winter hibernation
Posted in Cooking Adventures, The Daily Balance | No Comments »
new year, new tracks
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011
Hello! Happy New Year to you! So, did you survive the holidays in one piece? Can you believe that it is 2011 and January is here? Yikes. It sure did sneak right on up, didn’t it?
I hope you had some time to kick back and relax over the holidays like I did. It was sooooo welcome and needed. I had time to sleep in and time to loaf around—and I did so WITHOUT GUILT. I absolutely relish the fact that I can be absolutely leisurely still. I fully understand that these days are numbered, and I felt really lucky to have had the week off before Christmas so that I could be at home and spend some time being ridiculously selfish. I wish a little of that for everyone now and then. It is rejuvenating.
I also had time to clean, time to hang out playing with nieces and nephews, time to read, time to bake, time to run errands, time to see friends in town, time to go to a few holiday parties, and time to go for long, challenging runs.
And while I did go back to work last week, I had Friday off. It was nice to come back from vacation and ease into the routine with a 4-day week. Plus, coming back to work when half of your office is on vacation is awesome. It’s quiet and you can get so much done! I sorted through copious amounts of old email. I organized files. I cleaned up my desktop. I got all my dates put onto the calendar for 2011.
Now if I can carve out a tiny bit of time each week to STAY organized—that will be real progress.
So yeah, now here we are. A brand new year. 2011.
Swinging back around on that track to face January again. A chance to rethink old ways and bad habits, a chance to make new plans, a chance to set out on new journeys and make new tracks.
What will this new year bring? I am open to the possibilities. I am ready for the ride, and I hope you’ll come along with me!
What new tracks would you like to make in 2011?
Tags: alone time, gratitude, housework, laughter therapy, running, winter
Posted in The Daily Balance | No Comments »
snow and solstice
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
Wow. In the space of 24 hours, we got our first snow of the season here in southern New Hampshire, there was a total lunar eclipse, and winter solstice happened.
Early evening snow sky!
Mother Nature is kicking some serious you-know-what with that trifecta, and she means business.
And I love it. Cause, well, it has to be said… Happy Winter! Are you thrilled? Sad? Indifferent? I am welcoming the hibernation season this year. Yeah, that’s right. I am reclaiming my utter disgust for winter. Early. Now. I will not fight winter this year.
Instead, I will use winter as a time to retreat a bit and refocus my energy to slow things down. My current pace is not sustainable. I need to reprioritize a bunch of things in my life.
Is this vacation talking you ask? Absolutely. Give me just a few days of not focusing 1000% of my energy on work, and suddenly I am like a brand new human waking out of a long dream.
I am not knocking work. I will not. Work is work, as I have said before. It is reality. And it invigorates my mind. But my inability to let work go as-of-late is not a healthy thing. This week on holiday feels like such a wonderful gift, and I want to learn from it.
I like slowing things down. I like tackling my to-do list. I like making time to finally get my holiday cards finished.
I like hanging out and being silly. I like lounging on the floor with my 5-year old nephew “imaginating” that we are at the North Pole. We spent the afternoon together on Monday and had a blast. I have zero toys at my house, but we improvised our North Pole with holiday decorations plus odds and ends. It didn’t matter because we thoroughly entertained each other. Does it get any better than honest-to-goodness PLAYING? Sheesh, I really like 5-year-olds.
(Please observe that the rubber lizard in the foreground is wearing a scarf. Of course he is. It’s THE NORTH POLE. That’s how it’s done!)
I also like pausing to notice just how dirty the kitchen floor is. I like seeing the sun set at just 4:00 in the afternoon. I like going for a long, slow run. I like trying to do yoga and feeling slightly ridiculous because my body just doesn’t bend like that. I like slow-cooked hearty dinners. I like hearing all about Craig’s day. I like staying up waaaaay late to try to take in the darkest night in several hundred years… oh, you know…
And there is no reason why I shouldn’t be able to balance all of the wonder with work. Everyone does it to the best of his/her ability. I am no different. So I think the key is setting more healthy boundaries. Keeping myself in check. Practicing mindfulness not as a chore, but as a welcome relief. Not getting swept away in one extreme or another, but finding that gray-area-middle-ground that inspires quiet joy and delight. Internal peace.
I am going to have to come back and reread this post almost daily as the coming weeks engulf me. It won’t be easy, but I am looking toward making new tracks in 2011 and I am ready.
Hello Winter (darkness), my old friend.
Tags: alone time, exercise, gratitude, laughter therapy, mindfulness, running, winter hibernation, yoga
Posted in The Daily Balance | No Comments »
december thankful
Saturday, December 18th, 2010
I am so very thankful. I am on holiday until after Christmas! There. I said it. Out loud.
I am going to do my very darndest to REALLY be on vacation. I need a work break. We all do from time to time. It is healthy to detach from the ever-present work. No guilt. No worry. Taking a break is good for the mind, body, and spirit.
And I am so ready to focus on being present for the holidays. With my house still relatively clean, now I will spend some time doing a little maintenance and organizing… and RELAXING.
I will listen to holiday tunes while I bake biscotti in the kitchen. I will get those holiday cards out before the holidays have passed! I will watch the cardinals outside my living room window. I will take care of the slowly rotting pumpkins still on my front stoop (oops). I will hang out with my nieces and nephews. I will sit in absolute quiet in my living room and maybe, just maybe, read a little from my giant stack of books piling up.
I will smile and laugh and kiss Craig under the mistletoe.
I will start thinking ahead to 2011. I will breathe slowly and deeply.
I will answer to ME.
Tags: alone time, gratitude, housework, laughter therapy
Posted in The Daily Balance | 1 Comment »
half-way through december
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
Can December really be half way over? Nah….. But, alas, it is true. Yikes. Time is just whipping right along. So here are a few things I’m slowing down to be grateful for in the middle of December.
• Craig is home safe and sound from Iceland! It is so nice to have him back. Seeing him smile after we’ve both had long days at work warms me up and makes me happy.
• Because Craig is now home, I have my camera back and can take photos again!
• Our house is still really clean! This is good news, since we tend to wreak havoc on our little home during the work week. I’m trying hard to keep things picked up… getting the dishes into the dishwasher… wiping down the counters… you know…
• Holiday cards are arriving each day! It is so much fun to open them up, read them aloud, and then decorate our doorway between the kitchen and dining room. While I have yet to mail mine, I am making headway on getting them done. By doing a few each night, I don’t feel so overwhelmed.
• Belly laughter! Tonight I gathered with some coworkers after work to toast a great friend and colleague who is leaving work soon. It was such a blast to kick back, hang out, and laugh over all the things we share at work day-in and day-out. Connecting outside of work with folks I spend so much time with was pretty darn cathartic. And funny.
• New pants! I’ve been stuck in a clothing rut. Wearing the same few pants that I love. And today I hunkered down and completed a whirlwind shopping trip on my lunch hour with one goal: find new pants. And it worked! I am thrilled.
• Snow flurries! While we haven’t been walloped with “real” snow yet, it has been flurrying off and on over the past few days. I love watching the lazy flakes fall. And I get such a kick out of catching the first snowflakes of the season on my tongue. Makes me feel like a little kid all over again.
Tags: gratitude, housework, laughter therapy
Posted in The Daily Balance | No Comments »