You Are Awesome, So Smile! And get Validation

My Mom posted this Friday night and I am still smiling after watching it. I highly recommend taking the fifteen minutes to check out this digital short starring TJ Thyne (many of you will know him from his work on Bones). The message couldn’t be clearer so get out and spread the word all over the place, tell everyone you know today how awesome they are and make someone smile!

It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green

Kermit the Frog shared with us forty years ago just how awesome it is to accept ourselves unconditionally, and he encouraged us to see the rest of the world through those same tolerant eyes. Kermit is green and he at first is unhappy that he is the same as the trees or mountains, unhappy that he can blend in so easily with the rest of the world to be potentially passed over.

There are days when all of us feel green, in the sense of this concern with being ordinary, but in the end Kermit accepts that being green makes him the perfect version of who he is. Enjoy your own green today!

Happiest Places in America

Coastal locations in the United States have been hit hard by the current state of the economy so where should one be living to be the most financially secure, happy? Well, a good place to start is Nebraska.

Unfortunately I could not locate a place where this video was available to embed so please check it out on:

ABC News -- Happiest Place in America

The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People

A good friend of mine gave me a hardcover copy of this book by David Niven, Ph. D. a bunch of years ago when I was leaving a job and setting off on a brand new adventure. She is one of the most positive people I know and this gift meant so much to me that although I have given many things away over the years this book has remained planted on my shelf and referred to often. It is a quick read and so uplifting. I would like to share ten of these secrets now and strongly encourage everyone to purchase this book right away for a good dose of happiness to the soul!

☼ Cultivate friendships.

☼ If you’re not sure, guess positively.

☼ Pay attention. You may have what you want.

☼ Volunteer.

☼ Make your work a calling.

☼ Get a good night’s sleep.

☼ Keep a pen and paper handy.

☼ Don’t ignore one part of your life.

☼ Give yourself time to adapt to change.

☼ Have a purpose.

Within each of these headers are a couple of corresponding pages with suggestions for ways to complete them, stories of people who have fulfilled them or quotes from people that relate to them. It also does not hurt that scattered all throughout the book are a whole bunch of smiley faces ☺☺☺ encouraging feelings of joy.

I hope you all have a happy day!

Smiling Faces

This is really cool to watch the face come to life in front of our eyes. Hope it makes you smile as big as the face on the page.

Fun to End the Weekend

When we have a healthy attitude towards life, we uncover the beauty, wonder and inspiration within us that enables us to really appreciate those same qualities outside in the world.
-Craig Nicholson

Here Comes the Sun

Part of the environment is how we feel. When hope is prevalent and feelings of happiness abound we all tend to sigh in a collective smile. One of the simplest ways we can feel happiness is through color. I have discussed color before as it relates to Green and our associations to it from a psychological stand point but when I use words like sunshine, cheerfulness or joy what is the first color to come to mind? If you answered yellow you are not alone.

I need to get a little personal for a second to explain something a little bit odd but something that happens to me a lot. Frequently I have very vivid dreams, in my own estimation I dream in color and most mornings I wake to remember something, if not everything, about my dream the night before. It can be a song, person, feeling, location or a myriad of other things. I truly believe these things are meant to guide me in some way, just like when I am driving down the street and see a sign. I consider the dream symbols I remember to be telepathic "signs" if you will. Yesterday morning I awoke remembering buttery yellow. Nothing more; I do not remember why or in what realm the color was used, it was just the thing I remembered from my night in cozy dream land.

Tonight we watched our first episode of Forecast Earth on The Weather Channel and upon coming home I decided to check out their website to see if there might be something cool to post about. On the front page, I came across an article about yellow being considered as one of the hottest colors for 2009 as reported by Pantone it made me shake my head and chuckle.

Clearly even I was in touch with getting a little hope and cheer in the new year!

Based on Sensational Color:

Yellow shines with optimism, enlightenment and happiness. Shades of golden yellow carry the promise of a positive future. Yellow will advance from surrounding colors and instill optimism and energy, as well as spark creative thoughts.

Well that sounds pretty great to me so how about -- paint a room in sunny yellow, wear a pair of yellow pants or just draw a big smiley face on a yellow post it note for our monitors in order to remind ourselves that positivity and exuberance are not outdated concepts!