JoyfulLuci Uses Her Words

Design can make you happy

Here's an 18-minute video that's well worth watching even if you're not a designer, about how design can make you happy.  There's a lot to think about in there.

(I'd have uploaded it, but it's too big for Vox.)

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/50

(And yes, I'm cogitating about more posts, lengthier ones with original thought in them ... they're cooking, I promise.)

Good vibe tunes

Never fear!  I haven't abandoned this blog, only gotten distracted awhile!  And I'm working on a major, mondo message to post, but I've got a lot of polishing to do on it.  No point in putting something on here that will confused rather than enlighten, right?

In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you my "Good vibe" playlist on my iPod.  This is the music I listen to when I want to boost my spirit, my emotional vibe.  Some of the music is there because I have sentimental connection to it, some because of the rockin' rhythm, and others purely because of the lyrics.  (And some of it is decidedly naughty, but I find it pleasurably so.)  Most of the time when I listen to this playlist, I'll skip over particular songs, and I'm always on the lookout for new music to add and shuffle through here.

If you've got suggestions for music to add, I would LOVE to hear them.  What music makes YOU feel happier?

Name, Artist
You Are The Universe    The Brand New Heavies
May I Suggest? (Duet with Michael Feinstein)    Lee Lessack
This Is Your Life    Joe Cocker
Back To Me    Kathleen Edwards
Don't Worry, Be Happy    Bobby McFerrin
Do You Realize??    The Flaming Lips
Exactly    Amy Steinberg
Add to the Beauty    Sara Groves
Make Someone Happy    Jimmy Durante
The Good You Do    Christine Kane
Funkier than a Mosquito's Tweeter remix    bangers&mash/ Nina Simone
Better Than This    Kimberley Locke
Better Together    Jack Johnson
U + Ur Hand (explicit language)    P!nk
Only One Shoe    Carrie Newcomer
Unwritten    Natasha Bedingfield
Don't Stop    Fleetwood Mac
Wonder (Remastered Single Version)    Natalie Merchant
If You Love    Howard Jones
No One Is To Blame (New Recording)    Howard Jones
Things Can Only Get Better    Howard Jones
We Make The Weather    Howard Jones
You're The Buddha    Howard Jones
O-o-h Child-The Posies    Various Artists - Pravda Records
P.O.V. Waltz    Harry Nilsson
I Feel The Earth Move    Carole King
Think About Your Troubles    Harry Nilsson
Anyone At All    Carole King
   
   

And please do share!  Tell me what you like, and if anything here surprised you.  If there are some that you want to hear and can't find, maybe I'll post some of them here in the audio section.

Woo lite

We have chalkboard painted in a big rectangle on one kitchen wall, and I jot down things for my shopping list there as I realize we need them.  Sometimes the boys write stuff, too.  It's usually fairly chaotic, until the day when I copy things down onto a piece of paper or into my Palm so I actually have a list I can take to the store, and wipe down the rectangle to start fresh again.

The other day, my husband told me he had to actually look at one of the entries for several seconds to figure out that "Woo lite" wasn't some sort of woo-woo thing, but simply "Woolite."

Gave me a good laugh.  Even the Mister knows my reputation as woo-woo!

How We Choose To Be Happy

I've got a new book from the library -- How We Choose to Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People--Their Secrets, Their Stories.

I'll let you know how it goes.  So far, I like it a lot.

Jumping for joy : credit to Scott Noelle

This morning I've not been in a very joyful space, struggling with some parenting issues.  But I found this in my e-mailbox, and decided to quote it word for word.  Copyright and full credit to Scott Noelle.  I encourage all parents to subscribe to his blog.

THE DAILY GROOVE ~ by Scott Noelle
www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove

:: Jump for Joy! ::

A young girl, having recently completed a growth
spurt, is discovering the power in her longer legs
by literally jumping for joy.

"Can I reach the top of the fridge? . . . Yes!"

"Can I touch the basketball net? . . . Almost!"

Everywhere she goes, she's looking higher, wondering
what's now within her reach, and thoroughly enjoying
the discovery.

Fast-forward several years... She's trying out for
the college track team, doing the high jump. She's
competing with several good jumpers for a place on
the team *and* an athletic scholarship. They keep
raising the bar; the pressure to perform is intense...
The joy is lost.

As a conscientious parent, *you* are like a high
jumper! Your parenting vision is lofty, and sometimes
it may seem the bar is set too high. Those are the
times to lighten up and remember that parenting is not
a competition -- to remember that JOY is the reason
you keep reaching higher.

http://dailygroove.net/jump

Feel free to forward this message to your friends!

Copyright (c) 2007 by Scott Noelle

Not joyful, but meditative, which is always healing when joy is harder to find

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Wednesday morning, I dropped off my sons at their kindergarten and daycare, and was on my way home to make myself a set of prayer/meditation beads.  I wanted them in preparation for trying a Sufi Remembrance Practice that I'd just read about.  I was intrigued by the article I read, written by an American cardiologist who has found this practice to be remarkably healing for his heart patients.  I'd pulled out my stash of beads and was considering how I wanted to lay them out, when something drew me to my computer to check my e-mail.  What I read was a shock.

A dear old friend from farwaway e-mailed me to tell me that her new love had been murdered on Saturday. She gave me just enough details to have a sense of how this event rocked her world, and told me she was going off to the funeral and would call me ... eventually.

I knew, in that moment, that I was interrupted in making the beads because I needed to make them for and send them to Ann.  My practice of the moment in making the beads was to imbue them with the loving attention that I wanted to give her, to help her heal her newly broken heart.  As I worked, I focused on my Reiki symbols to add to the intrinsic power of the stones.  I warmed my hands and my heart with the deep love that I have for this woman, my friend.  I put as much healing and loving energy into the strand of beads as I could.  I thought of the history she and I share, helping each other heal our hearts, how often we shared tears as well as laughter.  I prayed a lot as I worked.

Early this morning, I tested the beads in meditation, making sure I had sufficient slack in them for their intended use.  Running them one by one through the fingertips of my right hand, I held my left hand over my heart and tuned into my breathing, as instructed by the article.  The Sufi practice focuses on inhaling the healing energy of Love or Spirit and, as you exhale, speaking the name of Allah and focusing the vibration of the word into your heart.  (The instructions said that if you weren't comfortable speaking "Allah" than you can sigh "Ahhhhhhh" instead.)  Ideally, one should use the beads to count 500 breaths, but one round (of 111 beads) was all I could manage before my sons woke up and I needed to shift into Mama Mode.  Still, it was a remarkably calming, quieting experience, one I hope to build upon after I send this package to my dear Ann and make my own set of beads.

My friend's experience reminded me again of the value of This Moment, even as we build dreams for the future.  Her experience tells me to be careful not to delay Joy, to treasure my moments with my sons and my True Love, as well as the quiet moments of meditation when I connect with Spirit, and to speak often of my gratitude for all of them.

I wish I had a picture

Let's test my skills at describing the scene ...

After I dropped off my son at daycare and was walking to my car, across the street there was an enormous dog sticking his head out a car window.  I don't know whether it was a Neufoundland, a Saint Bernard, or some gigantic Heinz 57 sort of thing, but its head took up the whole vertical space the window left open.  Huge, freaking huge.   Big Dog was clearly very interested in the scene, but in a way chilled out, big-dog sorta way, you know?  Just a gentle giant, taking it all in.  He looked so chilled (and incongruous, in a relatively small car), so I wanted a photo, but I wanted to get a little closer first. Wouldn't you know, by the time I got close enough, the driver had rolled up her window so he wouldn't escape while she ran into the post office?  Damn, I missed the shot!

Then I unlocked my car and realized I could hear a wee, sharp, barking sound, clearly not from Big Dog.  As I sat down behind the steering wheel, I realized the barking was coming from the pickup in front of me, where a wee, sharp, little terrier was trying to make his point ... to the Big Dog!

It cracked me up!

Metaphorically speaking, I love the contrast.  Big, comfortable, curious, serene, watching the world go by without alarm or fear ... or little and manic, trying to hide one's fears by making as much noise as possible, the biggest bravado one can portray.

I realize that I'm stereotyping breeds, and I understand that terriers actually ARE fierce little animals, bred to attack.  But in my usual, self-centered storytelling manner, I saw this scene as a metaphor for my own behavior:  I was reminded again that my own barking seldom accomplishes much ... but often makes me look silly, in comparison to the rest of the world.

So there ya go:  joy and a little zen, all wrapped up in two furry packages.

Welcome, spring!

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The forsythias in my yard are blooming madly, a reminder of the wild abundance that nature brings forth after the apparent deaths of each winter.  When I was a little girl, I was disappointed that they didn't smell pretty, but now I can appreciate them purely for the wild abandon of color.  Who needs smells when you've got this outrageous display to engage you?

The bush was in shadow when I shot this:  I may head back to take another one later, after the sun makes it past the treetops on the hill behind our house.

Welcome to Joy!

My New Year's Resolution this year was/is Joy.  Focusing on joy rather than ... anything else.  Looking for wonder in my life, appreciating the small things (including my two small, beautiful sons who are growing like weeds), watching my thoughts to encourage joy rather than continuing to invite negativity, however unintentionally.  I've also been hoping that my new dedication to Joy will help me give up addictive behaviors (computer solitaire, and endless blogsurfing, anyone?) and wandering through my time in a fog.

So now it's mid-March and I've been doing pretty well with my resolution, but it occurred to me today that I want to document this path, and to post things that may be good reminders for myself as well as other readers.  (After all, anytime I want to write to this blog, I'll HAVE to focus on joy, won't I?  Good practice!)

I invite anyone reading this to share your joys with me through words or pictures or whatever.  Ask me questions, if you like.  And yes, I would appreciate reading appreciations from you, too.  But only when you truly feel you want to give them to me.

Maybe sometime I'll tell you about my old family motto ("Work and be miserable"), but for now, I want to stick with the Beauty Parts.  Of which there is a plethora, an abundance, a cornucopia!