Hello to all and welcome to my new blog.
My family and friends enjoy gathering to philosophize and analyze various thoughts and issues that arise in their day.
So I hope you will feel free to join in, to comment, to philosophize and to analyze any thoughts that arise for you or in response to what you read here.
To begin, I thought I would share something that has been on my mind lately.
I created a workshop that is also my new e-book, coming soon, called “Celebrating the Small Stuff”. The workshop was hatched from a research study that I found where individuals’ emotions were assessed after viewing Facebook. The results found that some individuals’ moods were lessened or had fallen into a somewhat of a depressed state due to judging their own lives against others after looking at posted pictures and comments. The participants did not acknowledge that these pictures on Facebook were merely snippets of time. They were not a true view of what life is like every minute of everyday.
I contemplated how to address this phenomenon in workshop form.
With a focused keen eye, I began to observe what makes life worth living for others. I observed that most peoples’ lives have their ups and downs but everyone has moments of glory within their story of life.
We all have snippets everyday that glow with cherished relationships, personal passions, and purpose in life. It may as small as the smile that someone tosses to you as you walk down the street or the smile you give to someone else and the satisfaction that comes with that gift of giving. It may be the ability to recall a laugh or sounds of the ocean in your mind.
I have since attempted to keep a keen eye and observant lens to watch for the cherished moments of others and what nurtures life.
I recently came upon an article that discussed the findings of a nurse caring for individuals in their last days on earth.
She compiled a list of the top five things that people regretted as they left this world. Their regret list is as follows:
- I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
- I wish I didn’t work so hard.
- I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
- I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
- I wish that I had let myself be happier.
I found all to be very poignant. But number 5 stuck out to me. Letting ourselves to be happier?
Can it be that easy? Do we keep ourselves from feeling content?
What does it take to allow that to happen? What small things do we need to pay attention to, acknowledge, discover, explore and celebrate each day?
Letting myself be happier is a struggle. Moving on with my life is scary and uncertain. Self deprevation is a form of suicide.