Feel Good, Feel Great!

What makes you feel good? For me, it's different things on different days. Some days, I have lots of tai chi class or doing a half hour of yoga at home.


Abby Tabby, the foster kitten is looking for a home in Arlington TX

energy and it actually makes me feel good to clean a closet or work in the garden. Other days, what makes me feel good is a

I am a firm believer in listening to your body and your heart to keep my body, mind and spirit in balance so energy is flowing and healing can happen. If we listen to our body and hear what it needs, I think we tend to eat a salad instead of a candy bar or go for a walk instead of sitting hunched over Facebook for hours on end.

One thing that can always be counted on to make me feel good is to take a few deep breathes and think about what I'm grateful for. We can't always be happy, happy, happy but I do think if we try and focus on the positive things in life and be grateful for what we have, the small annoyances don't tend to bother us to much. My motto is "Everything will work out great in the end. If it isn't great, it isn't the end."

Another thing that always makes me feel good are taking my dog for a walk so I can listen to my new audio book, rubbing my kitten's belly, being outdoors in the garden, sitting on the big swing in the back yard with one of my grandchildren and looking at the birds flying past.

I don't think life is about the big things at all but the small things. Every day, if you make it a habit of seeing all the small good things, the big things will take care of themselves. The better you feel  in any given moment, the better your energy will be and the more good things will come to you.

I think we have a choice to be happy or not. As Abraham Lincoln said, "I think most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." No matter what's going on in your life, you always have the choice to think better thoughts and to be happy. Nobody can take that away from you.

Is it easy all the time? No! It isn't easy to be happy no matter what. I've found though, as I go through life that it gets easier all the time though because I've seen things work out for the better or for the worse and I know I can get through whatever happens.

It's easier when you remember that ALL happiness comes from within. Anything without is temporary and likely to disappear or disappoint so it's not the best thing to pin your happiness on anything other than what's inside. If you don't like what's inside and it doesn't make you happy, resolve to change it and seek ways to do that.

Being happy can get to be a habit. I've been practicing intentional happiness now for about 6 years. A while back, I suddenly felt like I was in a funk, just kind of down. This state seemed so alien to me after so many years of actually focusing on positive, happy thoughts and emotions. I found I absolutely didn't want to go back to my old negative self. The old negativity was just not my normal anymore. It takes practice but anybody can do it!

If you're feeling down and depressed, do you have a favorite thing to do to make yourself feel better? I think it's always good to make a list of happiness things because sometimes when you're down and out, you just can't think of what might make you happy.