pnmoyer

+ Find someone else who wants to learn it, and speak and write it to each other as often as possible.

+ Find Web sites, online pen pals, local community college courses, books, training CDs

+ Listen to TV and radio stations in that language—just keep it in the background so you absorb it while doing other things

+ check out Web sites in that language every day, until you understand more and more of it

+ Move to a town, state, or country where that language is used

+ Don’t worry about making mistakes; do your best, and others will appreciate that you are making the effort to learn their language and culture

“I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.”
- Abraham Maslow

All of my 43 Things lead to one place: choosing to be happy. To do this, I had to actually study and notice what makes me unhappy and let it go, while giving myself permission (!) to do things that make me happy, more and more.

I’m still practicing this to get better, but giving up my baggage and letting go of my old definition of who I am (that is, who I once was)frees me up to make new choices that make me happy.

Happy is being in the moment, in this day, where I am and who I am with. I try to greet everything that comes into my life - people, events, problems - as something I have chosen for a spiritual reason, then see what I can learn from it.

It sure beats blaming myself, looking for problems, and feeling I failed, because one thing I have learned most clearly in the last few years is that STUFF HAPPENS to people. It seems great, at a certain level, to believe that we can control it all, but we can’t. When I let go of trying to do everything “right”, my focus shifted to what I can control: my choices in dealing with whatever comes up. That puts me in the now, and I am much happier.

Blessings to you all in finding peace and happiness.