Tag: joy

On Being Joyful

Last week JACLAND took on the task of being “joyful always.” And just as I suspected, “always” is the hard part.

I wrote about it more here. Being joyful isn’t easy, especially in this world we’ve created both internally and externally.

My quick suggestions are as follows:
#1. Journal. Write your thoughts down. Sometimes it helps you work things out, but for me it’s nice being able to look back and see how far I’ve come. See that though times get hard, I bounce back.

#2. I suggest reading The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz. His concept of using impeccable speech is valuable in our own self talk. Our thoughts about ourselves are negative, so we don’t value the thoughts we have that are positive.

#3. A good book for unlearning negative thoughts is The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris (I suggest the illustrated version). He observes negative self talk in a different light. Perhaps we can hear the negative thoughts, but we don’t need to accept them.

I enjoyed researching this, and the practice of some of these behaviors has been really positive. I could talk forever about it.

But I won’t, cause I’m sick.

One moment I was eating pancakes, the next my throat swelled up and my sinuses clogged.

Fortunately for me, Tiny Jac was sick all the time (she had mono in this volume) so she was Down with the Sickness, if I may. She had routines, tricks and tips to avoid relapse when her immune system had regressed to that of a baby.

“All the stickers I’ve gotten from my recent visits to the doctor”

In the span of eight weeks I had been through mono, pharyngitis, laryngitis, multiple sinus infections and then this:

6-6-06 (didn’t see the correlation at the time) 8:35am
“I have pneumonia. Well, the doctor said so but she said she’d send the results to radiologist & see if they think different. But now I’m taking pills (only 3) again. New this time is they’re having me sniff and inhale drugs. Yeah it’s sweet. I’m pretty shore I’m a druggy. I’ve taken 5 different kinds of pills, syrup, and I’m sniffing & inhaling. My body is going to be so dependent. I need a new journal soon.”

Lol. Well just a few days before, she thought she had a pretty good plan:

May 31st, 2006
“Help the process of getting better:
-Vitamins
-Orange juice
-Go to bed @ 9:30 (NO EXCEPTIONS)
-Eat 3 meals a day
-Don’t go anywhere big (doesn’t include getting (not staying at) coffee/bubble tea. Go to the store and get what you went for. If hanging out w/ppl, hang out at home)
-gargle w/salt water
-organics
-veggies
-naps, sleep
-If too tired, don’t do it!
-Stay clean”

To all the people I’ve dated who can’t handle my bedtime, sorry if it saved my life once. Sorry if I took “NO EXCEPTIONS” super literally.

I’m gonna take really good care of myself this week, and also chug NyQuil and sleep forever until one day the sun shines again.

Wish me luck and send me stories of how you stay positive when your entire face is leaking.

by Tags: , , , , 5 Comments

Oh Joy

I DID IT.
I finally finished the Damsel story (currently called The Plum Wizard). I wrapped it up and sent a query to an agent. So there. There’s that. You can read it here.

Guess what’s not easy?
Knitting. Knitting is not easy, and everyones knows it.

I didn’t consider that I wouldn’t be a natural at this. Which is vain as hell, but has also gotten me jobs I didn’t qualify for in the past.

Anyway, what I made is a thing. It’s definitely not a scarf, but it is 100% a thing. You know what people don’t tell you about knitting? It kinda hurts your body. It’s repetitive motion in weird kinked positions. I’m sore. I’ve been doing yoga to uncripple my hands and shoulders.

If anyone can figure out how to wear this monstrosity, it’s my mom.

I know somewhere down the line I wrote about wanting to properly learn to knit. But that is not now, so bye bye crippled neck. See ya frozen fingers.

Ok, I feel bad about saying this but I’m hella over Good Girl Volume Two. Yes there’s value in a lot of the projects I’ve done and many that I will do, but (I vaguely remember this happening in Volume One?) they’re boring. So I’m going to knock a few out at a time when possible.

Which leads me to GRITS The Art of Translation. I threw this album on yesterday and was surprised that I knew some of the songs. The group was pretty popular when I was growing up, and they’re pretty good. Thank God, ya know?

Also this week I’ll be working on a Revolve Beauty Secret. Just for a frame of reference, the following are words I would use to describe myself:
-Indifferent
-Bored
-Moody
-Quirky
-Curious
-Cute

The Revolve Beauty secret #1 is “Be joyful always.”

Honestly, I don’t know that I’ve ever been considered “joyful”. It just doesn’t sounds like me. I don’t even like things that are considered joyful (except babies but I like them cause they’re dumb and tiny). I do see value in this, though I think “always” is a little unrealistic. But I will make a week long attempt at being joyful always or whatever.

Unemployment has found me sitting in my bed a lot this time around. If you were with me during my last unemployment gap I was thriving.

I pretty much just ate during my last gap of unemployment. Also banana puddingomgomg

Now that it’s crunch time for Europe, and I can’t afford to spend money/go without work I feel the pressure (also it’s so hot and humid in NYC right now. It’s impossible to be outside, I miss you Spring).

I could use a little joy, or at least use my efforts to discover what it takes to be joyful. If you have any suggestions, notes, articles on joyfulness please send them my way! I’ve just figured out how to make a “Contact” button, so use it.

Speaking of things to figure out, the blog needs an update and I’m not super savvy.

Oh, you are??? Omg that’s crazy. Lemme by you a drink to help me work on making this look cuter. Thanks for offering.

Anyway, wish me luck this week and lemme know your top tips on living joyfully.

by Tags: , , , , Leave a comment