This is a heartfelt quickie on my way out the door.  I don’t care what religion/faith/belief system you subscribe to - I guarantee you will get something out of Gil Fronsdal’s audio dharma talks.  Some of the great things about Buddhism (for the uninitiated) are that you don’t have to believe in it to get something out of its ideas, you don’t have to go anywhere to practice it, and you don’t have to know anything about it to understand its main ideas - it really operates on a human scale, and is the same for laypeople as it is for those who are “more advanced”.

Anyhow, I’ve been listening to these talks in the car all week and I’ve been sharing them with absolutely everyone.  I highly recommend two of his recent ones, “Effortless Effort” and “What can you let go of?” - I strongly doubt anyone will find these offensive (but feel free to prove me wrong).

I think a big part of happiness is having your life at the right scale and using your energy in a way that is efficient and well-prioritized.  Many people I know who are unhappy spend a lot of time on things they couldn’t care less about, or on things that they know make them unhappy.  Why not edit these things out of your life?  Why hang on to ideas and objects that make you unhappy or keep you from being in your ideal situation?

Just try to answer that - I dare you.  In the meantime, enjoy his free talks.  I’ll be back soon to rehash my birthday and give the lowdown on my new favorite shower products (courtesy of Continental, who routed our luggage through three extra cities).

Welcome to the August 1 (2, sorry!), 2007 Happiness Carnival. I received a lot of great submissions - glad to see there’s so much happiness out there! I wasn’t really sure what some of these had to do with happiness per se, but I figured I’d give the benefit of the doubt this time around. I’ll have information on the next carnival within the next couple of days, so be on the lookout - there may even be a prize for the best article submission!

Without further ado, here are the submissions…. » Read the rest of this entry …

I’ve got a great post on happiness and procrastination coming, but I can’t seem to get it done :)  (That’s not even a joke!)

In the meantime, I wanted to announce that I’ll be hosting a happiness carnival here on Beautiful Things Abound. For  now, I’m planning to have a new edition every month…if I get enough submissions, I’d love to have it as a weekly carnival.

Round 1 will be open to anything having to do with happiness - people and things that make you happy, happy memories, tips and tricks that have helped you in your pursuit of happiness, even reviews of popular books on happiness and how to attain it.  I just ask that you only submit your own work (and that you’re respectful of others’ copyrights along the way).

Submit your article by commenting this post with your link and a brief description, or email those two pieces of info to me at beautifulthingsabound “at” gmail.com.  Submission deadline for the first Happiness Carnival is midnight(ish - I won’t be too picky) on July 30th. The full edition will be posted on August 1st.  Bring on the happiness!

I love organizational systems…schemes…hopes…plans. I think that being organized is a big part of being happy - knowing where to find things and having clean surroundings are BIG stress relievers. However, even the best organizational plans can go astray if they’re not the right solution for the situation, creating even more stress (and, from experience, guilt) along the way.

How many planners, organizers, and calendars have you purchased that ended up blank at the end of the year? Most of mine have gaps of at least two weeks from time to time; my 2006 datebook is full (and intricately color-coded!) until the end of May, at which point entries are reduced to hastily scrawled bits at 40ish-day intervals. It was a beautiful, expensive book, but it just wasn’t for me: the blocks weren’t big enough, the binding didn’t allow the pages to lay flat, and it was just a touch too big to fit in my usual bag without sticking out or stabbing me in the hip.

Enter the PocketMod disposable organizer. Design your own organizer (don’t worry, there are templates for everything and a super easy-to-use interface) and print it right from your computer. You choose what’s on your pages, how many pages to print, and what order everything goes in. Templates include games, lined pages, a variety of planner/calendar pages, reference guides, and even Ben Franklin’s virtues.

I’m a huge fan of printing a few PocketMods before I go out of town - Sudoku for the plane, and a custom organizer for each day I’ll be traveling so that I can take notes without having to carry (or lose) a whole book. If I get tired of my PocketMod layout, I can change it and print another within seconds. If I get tired of the whole idea, there’s no guilt - I just don’t print any more for a while, so no pages are going unused.

PocketMod has definitely kept me organized and on track through some chaotic times. If only it could update my Remember the Milk lists automatically from my pocket….

I have debt.  I went to a good college, I attended an expensive graduate school (briefly), and I’ve been 95% financially independent since I was 16.  Sometimes, I think (know) that I should be putting every extra cent I earn toward these debts - it’s a strong vote for my future, and every penny I can pay now is worth a penny plus 5-12%….

But sometimes things come along that you can’t resist.  I’m not talking about material urges that strike at any shopping mall, or a need to keep up with the Joneses. These are rare, beautiful, quality things that fill a need in your life, even if it’s not quite an essential, air-water-food type of need.

These Dolce & Gabbana Sunglasses filled that need in a way that words can barely describe, but I will do my best.

I used to eschew names and labels, especially “designer” ones.  I avoided anything with a logo and convinced myself that there was no more style, elegance, or quality in a name brand product than there was in a generic one.

 Obviously, I was wrong.

» Read the rest of this entry …

Over the past two years I’ve watched the number of online “happiness” plans and blogs increase exponentially. Do we really need so much advice? Are we really so unhappy?

Whenever I find happiness, it’s rarely through any tip or trick or Secret. Sometimes it’s a coincidence, but more often than not it’s through an alignment of myself with something that’s “so me” - a job, a product, a person, an experience. This blog will, hopefully, help to put you in touch with some things that can resonate with you and improve your daily life, maybe even bring you a few steps closer to that elusive happiness we’re all seeking at work, at home, and throughout our lives.

I’m not one for get-rich-quick thinking about money, goals, or anything else…in fact, I know that’s a sure way to bring yourself a nice helping of failure and take yourself off course. I’ve learned all about that sort of desperation during my years of music and film production, and more recently through some startup ventures. I do firmly believe that everyone has the ability to be happy and successful, and I look forward to bringing those opportunities along! Look forward to exciting product reviews, travel opportunities, hilarious (painful? ) stories of lessons learned, and, hopefully, a lot of happiness.