Choice.

the "top"

            
I touched on this topic a little bit last week, and by no means have I "mastered the art of happiness," but I have a little more I'd like to share on the topic :).

In the past few months, I've made a concentrated effort to "weed" through every area of my life- how I spend my time- and with whom I spend it with… activities, friends, obligations, social events, ...even the blogs in which I follow- and how much time I spend on commenting(!), emails that I choose to open- or subscribe to, articles I read, t.v. shows I watch...  At 36 years of age, I feel like I’m [finally] developing an acute sense of what works and does not work.

Wow.  It has made such an incremental difference in all faucets of my life… my writing, creative endeavors, time spent with others, in my health- and overall well-being. 

Little upward steps in the right [for-me] direction… a positive (rather than negative) momentum.  And the days/moments that I start to get down/unmotivated/frustrated (because of course, there are still plenty of those moments), I seem to be able to pull out of them quicker and back in the right direction… rather than just getting sucked into that state of negativity- the “downward spiral.”

  

With the clutter cleared out of the way, it's so much easier to stay- or get back- on track… to get back to the things, people, places that DO work… and even better- to bring more of the "good stuff" into the picture.  Cause isn't that always the case?  When my home- or a room, or a closet- is filled with junk, not only am I unmotivated to clean it… not only am I frustrated by it's current state… but I am totally uninspired to add anything *new into the equation… to do that project that I've intended to do, to try out that new recipe, to purchase new office supplies…

What I do each day, each week, each moment is a matter of choice.  And while I have responsibilities & obligations to contend with, life does not just happen to me. 

So, today, on my very first day of my 36th year, I chose to do something that works.  A grueling hike, with a good friend.  I didn't say "what works" is equivalent to "fun" or "easy" ;)… and even though I never thought we'd get to the top, we did.  And it felt good.