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).

If I ever get the chance to meet Peggy Brill, I plan to shower her with gifts. See, I have a “hereditary” tendency toward slouching…my family just loves to keep their shoulders and neck in tense, uncomfortable positions. Hard to be happy like that, I’m afraid - not only does it lead to that neckless sort of look, it restricts your breathing, affects circulation, and limits your range and fluidity of movement (read: you walk around like an angry robot).

I picked up Brill’s The Core Program: Fifteen Minutes a Day That Can Change Your Lifefrom the library last fall when I was shopping around for some new Pilates inspiration (my budget and I refuse to pay $100 an hour to use the studios around here), certain that I’d see some rehashed poses and abbreviated movements. Not so. Every word of this book is fresh, new, and effective.

For the beginning user, Brill’s tone is welcoming and her instructions are simple, clear, and appropriately detailed. For the experienced exerciser, you’ll be glad to see that her programs really do fit into the time limits that she promises, and the movements are familiar and well-sequenced without a single wasted moment. Both categories will benefit from the most important fact: this book works.

» Read the rest of this entry …

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….

We all know that, just as recess was often the best part of school, lunch can be the best part of the workday. Eating out can be smart sometimes - it’s a great networking opportunity, for instance - but it’s deadly to your bottom line…and to your bottom line, if you get my drift.

Packing a lunch…or perhaps convincing your darling pre-fiance to pack you a lunch…isn’t much work at all, and it’s amazingly cheap. It’s also a great chance to pack yourself a little reward to make it through the day, a trick my mother taught me long ago. (All of my elementary school lunches contained something like stickers, pencils, surprise cookies, or tiny toys, each carefully chosen to ensure that I would keep my spoiled little self at school for the full day). The pre-chosen rewards will at least be cheaper - and healthier - than something from the vending machine….

For instance, today I brought a peanut butter and fridge-cleanout sandwich (not an exemplary day, but at least it’s all organic and on sprouted, multigrain, high-protein bread), some delicious flaxseed tortilla chips, some blueberries that pre-fiance and I picked a couple of weeks ago, and a square of Santander dark chocolate. I also managed to skip Starbucks by packing some coffee in my superduper no-leak travel mug. For 10 minutes of work and about $3, I have something I can really look forward t0. I know what the nutritional information is like, I know where the food came from, and I have strong personal connections to every step - a great way to bring some extra fulfillment to the lunch hour.

I’m hardly the first person to extoll the virtues of bringing your own lunch along, though. Here’s some more inspiration from blogs that I frequent:
The Simple Dollar’s How I Made Brown Bag Lunches Work For Me
Zen Habits‘ Simple Way to save $3,000 a Year - Brown Bag It
The Vegan Lunchbox - you don’t have to be vegan (or have kids) to appreciate her adorable, innovative creations (in fact, I’ve linked to her book below - it’s a great resource when you feel stuck about what to pack!)
Bento TV is adorable, and be sure to check our her Ebay store for adorable lunchbox accessories (tiny containers are cute and much better than zip-locs for your wallet and the environment)

I’ve got a lot more to say about lunch, but in the meantime, here are some of my current favorites:

I read a lot.  That’s not lip-service; before I met pre-fiance, I finished at least four “serious” (literary fiction) novels a week, along with a smattering of non-fiction and some drivel. Reading is a great way to find some quiet, to calm your mind, and maybe even to learn something.

I always keep something readable in my car, just in case I end up waiting somewhere unexpectedly or (shh) traffic is at an absolute, total stand-still, as frequently happens here when car accidents shut down entire freeways without warning. While the life-changing tomes of Tolstoy and T.C. Boyle are great, it’s nice to have something a little lighter from time to time (especially in traffic), even something inspirational.

Natural Health Magazinerarely breaks new ground. If you’re familiar with the idea of treating yourself well, the articles will be equally familiar: eat fresh, organic, local things; sleep enough and at the right times; exercise for pete’s sake; control and/or eliminate stress in all areas of your life. But even I need reminders from time to time, though, and that is where this publication really shines. The recipes are usually great, too, and there are frequently good spa and beauty tips. Sure, it contradicts itself from time to time, and many of its articles are written on soft knowledge, but it’s still nice to read something so friendly, so upbeat, and so devoted to improving its readers’ quality of life. And trust me - it’s heads and tails above the SkyMall catalog or, heaven forbid, Cosmo.

So make some quiet time for yourself, catch up on your reading, and consider flipping through this magazine while you’re at it.  Even pre-fiance and I still manage to get in some reading time on the weekends…I promise that there are few things cozier than good books, good company, and hot tea in bed on a rainy Sunday morning.

One of the things that I learned while becoming happy was to take care of myself. Similar to the “pay yourself first” idea that can keep you out of debt (more to come on that!), taking care of yourself first is one of the best things you can do to keep your life running smoothly. How can you manage your daily tasks and responsibilities, let alone carve out some soul-searching time or leisure time, if you’re tired, out of shape, and avoiding the mirror at all costs?

My family has a history of dry, sensitive skin, and I’ve tried to improve mine with many products (and non-products) over the years…expensive lotions, cheap lotions, olive oil, honey, salt scrubs, sugar scrubs, and yogurt baths, just to name a few. I ate more almonds, walnuts, and flax, I devoured avocados like they were going out of style, and eventually, I just gave up. I didn’t have time or money to try any more skin experiments, so I resigned myself to wearing long sleeves and gloves for the foreseeable future.

Enter: Alba Botanica - Very Emollient Body Lotion. I purchased a tiny bottle on my way out of town to meet the pre-fiance’s parents last weekend (travel is always a chance for a spa day, or at least a spa hour!), and I used more than a quarter of it in the car on the way to Illinois. It was amazing - a great scent, a great texture, and most important of all: no irritation to my skin, and both immediate and *lasting* improvement to my skin’s texture and elasticity. It’s like a dream - an inexpensive, silky, organic dream. I’m stopping on my way home to buy a real bottle - pre-fiance definitely approves.