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Happy 2013 to one and all!  Yes, this can certainly be read as an inviting and polite salutation for a fantastic 2013, and I do wish amazing things in this Life for all the world.

HAPPY 2013 is also a declaration – an announcement and affirmation that this coming year will be happy.

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My dear old dad used to quote the well-known adage, “Attitude is everything” on an entirely too frequent basis for my adolescent desire to abhor the world.  I despised it when he told me this.  We can all see it now, a 13-year old rolling her eyes at Dad’s words of wisdom.  I am also adamantly declaring, by the way, that I am in no way alone in the fact that I acted in this detestable way as a teen.  It’s humiliating for us all to admit that we were once ugly in attitude and demeanor, but I truly believe this to be a fact of life.  It actually makes me laugh now.  Teenagers are so ridiculous (oh, and we all once knew everything too, remember?)

Anyway, now that I am “old and wise”(you can all laugh here), I know that my dearest dad was speaking a proverb of truth.  In fact, just yesterday I was reminded of the ever so important Word “Be thankful in all circumstances, ” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and, of course, “Rejoice in the Lord, always!” Philippians 4:4.  This will change our heart.  The more we focus on one thing (thought, feeling, emotion), the more it will occur….”thoughts become things,” OR “act how you want to feel.”  I like that one.  “Act how you want to feel.”  I think I’ll post that one above the mirror.  I want to feel happy – I will act happy.  Smiling feels good.  I will smile.

2013 is going to be amazing.  It’s going to be magical.

To kickstart my HAPPY 2013, I have begun reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  This is a fantastic little read about one woman’s quest to truly obtain happiness over the course of the year, in addition to discovering what happiness really means to her.

She set out by establishing her “Twelve Commandments.”  I thought these were wonderful:

  1. Be Gretchen (insert your own name here)
  2. Let it go
  3. Act the way I want to feel** (my favorite)
  4. Do it now
  5. Be polite and be fair
  6. Enjoy the process
  7. Spend out
  8. Identify the problem
  9. Lighten up
  10. Do what ought to be done
  11. No calculation
  12. There is only love** (another great one)

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She also came up with another, rather comical, list of her “Secrets to Adulthood.”  Just for the sake of more smiles, I feel compelled to share this:

  • People don’t notice your mistakes as much as you think
  • It’s okay to ask for help
  • Most decisions don’t require extensive research
  • Do good, feel good
  • It’s important to be nice to everyone
  • Bring a sweater
  • By doing a little bit each day, you can get a lot accomplished
  • Soap and water remove most stains
  • Turning the computer on and off a few times often fixes the glitch
  • If you can’t find something, clean up
  • You can choose what you do; you can’t choose what you like to do.
  • Happiness doesn’t always make you feel happy
  • What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while
  • You don’t have to be good at everything
  • If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough
  • Over-the-counter medicines are very effective
  • Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good
  • What’s fun for other people may not be fun for you – and vice versa
  • People actually prefer that you buy wedding gifts off their registry
  • You can’t profoundly change your children’s natures by nagging them or signing them up for classes
  • No deposit, no return

It’s important to have a goal – one, two, three, maybe four.  The goals, though, should be categorized by importance and by magnitude.  Short-term, long-term, daily, practical/habitual, emotional, etc.  It’s also important not to become overwhelmed by too many or too lofty of ambitions.  There are things in my life that I aim to change one day at a time.  That’s a HUGE, monumental goal for me.  I also aim to be happy.  This is immense in a different way.

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Happiness is good.  “When I am happy I am more patient, more forgiving, more energetic, more lighthearted, and more generous.”  Happiness changes a bit of who I am – or maybe it’s the real me that sometimes gets lost.  After all, we were all formed and created in the Image of happiness.

5 thoughts on “HAPPY 2013!”

  1. Instead of “do good, feel good”, I have been using “Feel good, be good, and DO GOOD.” Not my original thought, I got it from a tea bag. Although the point of “do good” first may be that it makes you feel good. It’s all Good!

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