I guess I have a Big Audacious Goal to post for 365 days straight. So posting daily is a thing, even when I’m tired and have nothing to post about. Even if I’m on the road and it’s raining out and I’d rather sleep a while longer. It’s good for me while I drag my feet on writing a new novel. It is purpose.
I’m on the road today, hanging out while my husband attends a librarian conference. This hotel, which bills itself as an ‘executive center’, does not have a good work table anywhere in the lobby. I may have to go to Bux and write.
In the midwestern United States, winter brings cold and snow and dirty slush, summers are too hot, and spring nearly nonexistent. This leaves Autumn, a glorious time which starts in late September and goes on until November.
Autumn is a glorious season, with days in which trees in flaming red and orange stand against cloudless blue skies and soppy evenings with tumbled leaves tugging at people’s feet. Autumn sun brings with it the sense that the moment will last forever, while the thunderstorms bring memories of past loves.
Autumn is deep. It doesn’t flirt like Spring, or stupefy like Summer. Nor does it oppress like Winter. It delivers crisp afternoons for delight and cool evenings for shelter. It stays with us.
This is a hard question to answer, because the one thing I “can’t live without” is my iPhone, and I don’t know whether that is a luxury or necessity these days. I use it for work, I use it for entertainment, I use it to record my carbs every day. I read and compose email, I keep up with people I know — it’s a tool that’s no longer a luxury to me.
At the same time, it’s a luxury. I pay a decent amount of money for my iPhone, although I only replace it after several years. I have lived without a smartphone, but I used to have a Palm Pilot back in the days before the iPhone. (I remember the Palm Pilot for its tendency to regurgitate all its data and become useless until synched on the computer.)
I suppose I could live without my iPhone, but it would have to be a different world, one in which I didn’t get daily emails from my students or have to fill out paperwork for them. One where I don’t need a handy reference for counting carbs. One where my life was a lot slower than it is now.
My tagline would be ‘a simple woman’, which is meant with a bit of irony. For example, I think I’m very simple. I’m a Quaker, which is almost the definition of simple. I live an ordinary life. Simple, right?
My friend Les (rest in peace) thought I was anything but simple. I suppose, what with my active spiritual life, my bipolar disorder, and my musings about the world, I am anything but simple. One might even say I’m complicated. I don’t think so.
I wish I had a better tag than that. But “mostly harmless” has already been taken.
I don’t think my answer to ‘what are the most important things needed to live a good life?’ would be as good as Martin Seligman’s, so I will talk about his definition of ‘a good life’. Seligman is a professor of psychology, and the father of positive psychology, which I teach a class in every spring.
Seligman’s definition of ‘a good life’ incorporates not just pleasure, but a practice of identifying one’s signature strengths and seeking out activities that realize them. For example, if your top signature strength is a sense of humor (as mine is), one gets happiness from doing things that allow for your sense of humor, like using humor to defuse tension or telling humorous stories.
These signature states include a long list of virtues (or signature strengths). To find yours, access https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter and click on the survey called VIA Survey of Character Strengths. You will need to register on the site, but the security is good.
Seligman has another, higher level of happiness which he calls ‘the meaningful life’. It incorporates the above plus finding meaning in one’s life. It may be through religion, through ethics, or through appreciation of nature. Just a seeking of transcendental experience.
I try to seek as meaningful a life as possible, although some days aren’t as meaningful as others. According to Seligman, these are the things we need to be truly happy.
On the road — two internship visits later I’m on the way home. Peace.
I just about forgot to post today. It’s a matter of my schedule getting disrupted. I’m going to Des Moines for a couple of internship visits, and we’re supposed to be out the door by 8 AM. I was going to sit on the couch and veg until Richard said he was going to make coffee, and I realized that I sit on the loveseat and drink coffee at this point of the morning.
I didn’t consider myself such a lover of routine, but I get discombobulated when my routine changes. My brain locks into a new groove and I forget what I’m supposed to be doing. I understand that people with ADHD have a love of routines, but I don’t know if I actually have ADHD. (At my age, getting tested wouldn’t change anything). I just need my routine.
I don’t like transitions. My routine gets obliterated when the school year ends, and again when the new school year begins. I want to lay in bed and hibernate when a routine changes. I don’t, because I feel guilty when I don’t get up and do something.
My brain is really strange to me. Why do I need routines? Why do I stall out when my routine is broken?
Dream chocolate bar? That has to be a Dubai chocolate bar. I can think of little so decadent as a milk chocolate bar stuffed full of pistachio butter filling. If I was allowed only one chocolate bar for the rest of my life, I would have a Dubai chocolate bar.
A Dubai chocolate bar from the outside looks like any other chocolate bar, although a bit thicker. When you break off a piece, a green paste oozes from the chocolate, and anyone who has seen pistachio butter will know what to expect. But still, that first bite is unexpected because the paste is textured, pleasantly crunchy to the teeth. This is the unexpected ingredient, which is a very fine shredded wheat.
The chocolate, very sweet, contrasts with the richness of the pistachio butter. It’s almost too much to eat, but almost too good to share. I suggest sharing it, though, because it’s a big candy bar and so maybe too much for one person.
Now I’m hungry for a Dubai chocolate bar.
It’s May 26th, Memorial Day in the US, the official opening day at local swimming pools. And the high temperature is going to be 64 degrees F (18 degrees C). It’s 54 right now. I’m freezing.
Right now I’m in the living room sitting at the computer with a blanket on. I’m going to warm my hands on the coffee — thank goodness for the coffee; it might be the only thing keeping me from hyperthermia. The cats are huddled with me for warmth. Their fur is not enough to keep them warm. It’s not enough to keep me warm.
I feel like hibernating. At least until the temps get above 70.
Words Like Me 