practice 'Happiness Manifesto' periodically

Count your blessings


Today I’m grateful for…

A beautiful sunny Winter day
The weather is perfect. I love cold, sunny days. We live in a temperate climate with mild winters. That makes it easier to enjoy the occasional cold day.

My box of cards
They help me manage my moods. I picked up this idea during group therapy six months ago. I’m glad I have the brains to create an effective set of cards and the skill to draw nice images on them.

My wife’s figure
I am very lucky to have met Kim and married her. She is a beautiful woman. She is young and healthy and has a great figure—womanly hips, full breasts, slender limbs.

Our cat
She’s our friend. It is good to rub her while she sits on my stomach. She’s an affectionate animal.

Our plants
Our apartment is full of verdant houseplants. We’ve bought them over the years and we keep them healthy.

Count your blessings


Today I’m grateful for…

Vegetables
I’m devouring a tray full of tasty fresh vegetables. For a few dollars, I can buy fresh produce from around the country, anytime I want. Red bell peppers, carrots, yum!.

Free DVDs from the library
I checked out a stack of movies from my “Man Movies” list. This week I’ll watch Easy Rider, Kill Bill, 2, Raging Bull, and Rocky. Life is good.

A Fall photo for Calissa
I snapped this one on the way to work today. I was carrying flowers and the colors looked nice beside the yellow leaves.

Children
I’m babysitting tonight. I love caring for little people. It is joyous, even when the six-year old is screaming and refuses to take her medicine.

Medation
I sat on a rock in the park by a stream. It was nice.

Count your blessings


Today I’m grateful for…

Sunshine
It is a beautiful day today. The sun is shining and the air is cool. I live in a temperate climate with mild winters and I am grateful.

A stack of books
James Watson’s The Double Helix, Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman, Descartes’ Discourse on Method, the Bhagavad Gita, James Joyce’s Dubliners, and Machiavelli’s The Prince. Life is good.

A card from Calissa
She sent me a postcard many months ago and I read it again today. It is green. Green is my favorite color, when I’m forced to chose a favorite.

A clean house
I enjoyed cleaning the house from top to bottom today. It was my little gift to Kim today.

Apple Cider
It’s that time of year again. I love the fall.

Count your blessings


Today I’m grateful for…

Jazz
I’m listening to Miles Davis’ 1976 album Nefertiti. It is beautiful and I am grateful.

Good Work
I worked a really long day yesterday, but I got a lot done. I am grateful to have another day to try my best to serve the world through my productive activities.

Calissa
We traded a few comments a few days ago. It was nice to hear from her.

Teens
I really enjoy working with the kids from the Boys and Girls clubs.

Kim
She rubbed my feet last night when I got home from the Museum.

Count your blessings


Today I’m grateful for…

Philosophy
I read the first chapter of Daniel Dennett’s Elbow Room. He’s a brilliant man with knack for writing about ideas.

Good Food
I made a marvelous salad. I ate a delicious apple earlier when we were at the grocery store. Tonight it’s an Indian vegetarian buffet. Yum!

Joy
Kim blew bubbles for our cat Simone after we got back from shopping for Thanksgiving dinner with her friend.

Hip-Hop
I’m listening to Raekwon’s 1994 album Only Built for Cuban Linx It’s a hyper-maschimo, kung-fu flick inspired mafia fantasy over dark beats orchestrated by the GZA. Classic shit.

Fall
The weather is beautful this time of year.

Other Manifesto Notes

Treat yourselfI think I’m going to a take a cue from Calissa and enjoy a cup of tea.Phone a friend
Latifah? Danny?Exercise daily
Yoga with Kim.Cut your TV viewing by half
Hmm…what’s half of zero?

Count your blessings

Today I’m grateful for…

1. Learning
   Spending a few hours this morning moving briskly through several books of the bible. This makes me hopeful about my capacity to take on challenging projects and make progress in them.
   
   
2. Life
   Listening to Bono sing “One Love”. It carries me up.
   
   
3. Love
   I’ve been able to forge a bond with my older sister this month. I look forward to calling her tonight.
   
   
4. Life
   I’m lucky to have my “Choose Life” box to help me get through a funk. I’m glad I made it months ago.
   
   
5. Learning
   I’m grateful for my steady hand and good eye for sketching. I’ve made great strides in my drawing since I started this project a year ago.
   
   

Get Physical

I will walk for an hour today

Count your blessings

Today I’m grateful for…

1. Love
   I spent the whole day in Dallas with Kim. We went to a few museums, visited friends at their job, and ate dinner with them after they finished work. Our life together is wonderful
   
   
2. Learning
   I tried out exhibits and scribbled furiously in my notebook at the Science Place. I love learning about anything, so Museums are among my favorite places in the world.
   
   
3. Life
   We laughed and joked with Kyle and Moona until the restuarant closed last night.
   
   
4. Love
   I talked to Latifah on the phone for an hour a few days ago. I’m lucky to be close to some of my siblings.
   
   
5. Learning
   I’m very excited about my new goal to read the entire Forest Mims book on electronics. My part-time job at Radioshack is very fun.

Phone a friend

I will call my little sister, Jenny, and Latifah today.

Plant something

I will water all the plants and throw out the dead ones before I leave for work today.

Smile at a stranger

I’ll get a chance to do this tonight when I’m working at the Northside Boys and Girls club.

Have a good laugh

I will read some of my Calving and Hobbes book today

Treat yourself

I plan to savor a hot cup of coffee while a sketch another picture this morning. I might also masturbate luxuriously after I exercise.

Try kindness

A few nice e-mails to my team? Cleaning the house for Kim?

My life is filled with music. I’m very lucky.

Today, I was grateful for…

1. Rediscovering Pandora.
   It’s a wonderful site that finds new music related to other music that you like.
   
   
2. An exquisitely beautiful song by Eric Dolphy that made my heart swell
   The man died at a young age, but not before recording some of the most wonderful music I have ever heard. I’m lucky to have a few of his recordings on CD and several more on my hard drive.
   
   
3. Making friends with the fifteen-year-olds who hang out in the Studio on Saturdays
   They think of the Museum as a second home. I hope I can give them good experiences here. We went to Starbucks for frappacino’s after we worked on cleaning the studio for a while.
   
   
4. Getting lost in the moment while I took photos of the sky.
   I have a fantastic camera and I’m learning how to use it to take images.
   
   
5. Yelling in delight at an exhibit in the new Explorazone set.
   These exhibits come from the Exploratorium’s exhibit shop in San Francisco and they are wonderful.

The sky is full of beauty, if you take the time to look up. This reminds me of my own life…filled with bounty that I pass by everyday, often without noticing. I must remind myself to look up from my busy day, and take a few moments to revel in the beauty above my head.

Today, I was grateful for…

1. My dad calling me, pointing out some particularly nice clouds.
   I’d mentioned my project to him. He calls me every now and then, just to say “hi”. This is very nice.
   
   
2. Grape-nuts cereal with soymilk and strawberries
   A run to the grocery makes for good eating this week.
   
   
3. Finding flow through simple tasks like cleaning the studio
   Csiksentmihalyi’s work has lit a firestorm in my life.
   
   
4. Talking to Jenny T. for a little while today.
   She has the makings of a good friend. I hope we can help each other with our goals.
   
   
5. Gorgeous clouds and a beautiful day.
   You can find grace, if you stare hard enough at the sky.

This is a close-up of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was cold and foggy that day. I felt like I was walking through a cloud on an ethereal deck. I could feel the weight of tons of steel, pulling against the cables that suspend the bridge in the sky. Magical.

Today, I’m grateful for…

1. A clear sky, with a few puffs of cloud. The air is cool and the sun is bright.
   Fall must be here, finally.
   
   
2. Being alive to suck in air and look up at the sky
   I may not get to tomorrow, but today is full of life and love and joy.
   
   
3. A fabulous camera from work that I can use to take photos of clouds
   I love my job. The pay is poor, but I get to use my talents every day and help people learn.
   
   
4. Falling into a drunken haze, after I finished off an entire bottle of wine last night.
   %{color:orange}I seldom drink, and I’ve only been drunk once before. I was returning the favor to Kim…I got to see her tipsy and silly the other night.
   
   
5. The dark clouds moving on, leaving our marriage bright again.
   We made up and things are much better now.