Making Friends/The Happiness Project (Reminder #5)

Megan was writing to me tonight as she and her sister were driving around Regina.  She said that as they were sitting at red light with the music blaring, Katie started dancing in her seat.

Just then, a guy in a big pickup pulled up along side on them.... looked at Katie..... and started dancing along with her..... and then drove off.

When big (ish) city meets small town, good things happen!
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Have Realistic Expectations

People who are happy don't get everything they want, but they want most of what they get.  In other words, they rig the game in their favour by choosing to value things that are within their grasp.

People who find themselves dissatisfied in life often set unreachable goals for themselves, setting themselves up to fail.  Yet people who set high goals for themselves and reach them are no happier than people who set more modest goals.

Whether you are assessing your position at work or your relationship with family, don't begin with fantasy pictures of the world's riches person or the world's ideal family.  Be realistic and strive to make things better, not perfect.
           -  From "The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People"

Sunday Stuff/The Happiness Project (Reminder #4)

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If you are not sure, guess positively 

"Unhappy people take a situation in which they are not sure and they come to a negative conclusion.  For example, if they aren't certain why another person is being nice, they assume that the person must have a hidden, selfish agenda.  Happy people take that same situation and guess the positive possibility, that is, that the person really is nice" - from "The 100 simple secrets of Happy People"

This is one of my favourite tips and one of the best lessons of the book for me. It is easy for me to think negatively and worry about stuff.  The good news is that you can re-train yourself to think differently.

Give it a try.  It really helped me!

The Happiness Project (Reminder #3)

Choose your comparisons wisely

"Many of our feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction have their roots in how we compare ourselves to others.  When we compare ourselves to those who have more, we feel bad. When we compare ourselves to those who have less, we feel grateful.  Even though the truth is we have exactly the same life either way"

-  From "The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It"

Imagine a little kid happily playing with her new toys on Christmas morning.  You would not go up to her, take out your phone and show her pictures of kids who received a lot more than she did.

However, people do that to themselves all the time.  Rather than enjoying what they have, they feel bad because others have more.

What are you thankful for right now?

Generally speaking, happiness has less to do with our circumstances and more to do with how we see those circumstances.

I am glad they warned me!/The Happiness Project (Reminder #2)

I don't know how well you can read this, but it is the label from a barbecued chicken that I bought yesterday.

Notice the 3rd line says...... "Heat to 165 F or 74 C".  Then it says, "Be careful as the chicken will be hot!"

Am I ever glad they cleared that up for me!!!   I am always getting the oven and the freezer confused, so I wasn't sure what was going to happen when it was done!

Maybe the steam coming off of it or the fact that it is a ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FIVE DEGREE PILE OF MEAT should have clued me in...... but I am glad that they reminded me anyway.

Look further down.... they do it again under the microwave instructions.

I am thinking that if you do not know that it will be hot, maybe you should not be playing with the oven unsupervised!  :)
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Disconnect from the Drama  (Reminder #2)

Good baseball players do not swing at every pitch.  They know that they do not always have to react.

Happy people know that too.

Thanks to cellphones, Facebook and the internet, we know more about each other than ever before.  I know what you think.... where you go..... what music you like.... and even how you spend your money.

The lines between what is public and what is private have blurred to the point that they have almost disappeared..... and that is not good!

Happy people have boundaries and they know that........

1.  They don't have to share or know everything.  Long ago a friend told me that their family shares things on a "need to know" basis.  They weren't trying to be rude.  They just realized that too much information is not good.

2. They don't have to have an opinion about everything.  Because we know more about one another than ever, we have come to believe that it is our job to comment on the choices other's make. However, the truth is that it is none of my business where you vacation, or who your favorite musician is or what you had for lunch.

So..... get off of Facebook.  Put your phone down.  Stop commenting on what everyone else is doing or not doing and go live your own life!

As in baseball....... Sometimes the best reaction is no reaction!

Sari in the Paper/The Happiness Project (Reminder #1)

As you can see, Sari was in the paper again last week.  This was really cool, though, because it involved one of the Separate (Catholic) Schools in town.  They chose her program to receive the proceeds from a cookie sale done by the Kindergarten class to teach them about alms giving at Lent. 

In fact, they had her come to one of their morning chapel times and then praised the good work she and her volunteers do in looking after the kids of Hillcrest.  It was quite something!  Very affirming and very nice!
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THE HAPPINESS PROJECT: The Preamble

It would be really easy to simply complain about the complainers, but (a) that does nothing but add to the complaining and (b) it does nothing to change me or make me better...... so today is the start of something new and better.

Every day I am going to share a simple reminder that you can use to make your life happier and give you a better outlook.  As mentioned last night, this all stems from a book Sara found about 10 years ago.  It is backed up not only by common sense and scientific study, but in most cases, scripture as well.

My intentions are simple....
1.  To provide a positive action that anyone can start doing right away to change themselves for the better

2,  To make sure they are short and quick to read.  I want you to be able remember these things, so they will be less than four short lines most of the time.

Last disclaimer:  I offer these things not because I have learned them, but because I need to learn them.  (In fact, at lunch today Sara said, "Dude, you sound really negative!  Tell me something good!").

When I focus on the negative, it makes me miserable and it makes those around me miserable.  Fortunately, I have a choice.  So, this is the start of making better choices.

Below is the first reminder and the format of things to come.  Enjoy!  Give these things a try.  Use the comment section and share how it is going.

Ready - go!
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Reminder #1:  You are here to make things better

Anyone can criticize.  Tearing things apart is easy.  Pointing out mistakes doesn't fix them; it simply makes them more noticeable.

Nothing is gained by being negative.

Happy people are convinced that are here to make things better.  They believe that they can change things and that even small changes in the right direction make a positive impact.

So why not try?   Compliment someone.  Smile at a stranger.  Get to know your neighbours.

Intentionally focus on the good, because what you focus on, grows.

Musical schizophrenia and Introducing the Happiness Project

I has been a good weekend for music in our lives.

Saturday we were in Moose Jaw having lunch when this group of musicians came in and started playing Celtic music.  It was great!  Here is a small sample.......

And then on Sunday afternoon we went and heard the Regina Symphony orchestra at the high school in town.  It was interesting to think that people have been listening to this music for hundreds of years.

For example, they played Mozart's symphony number 29 which he finished on April 6, 1774.... so basically 243 years ago,  Oh.... and he was 18 years old at the time!  Here is that piece if you want to give it a bit of a listen.

Both were very interesting and cool in their own way.  Very nice!
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Many years ago.... like maybe 15.... Sara found a book called "100 Simple Secrets of Happy People". Written by Dr David Niven, it contained very short articles outlining various activities that promote happiness.  Click here if you would like to learn more about it.

Anyway, I think she bought about 10 of these books to give away at Christmas time and I ended up with one.  Since that time, I have probably read this book more than 50 times.  In fact, I read one tip per day at the start of every day in the office, just to remind myself how I want to be and how I want to think.  As I have done that, I have often thought, "I need to adapt this and share it somehow".

Here is the thing:  I and so sick of the negative, whiny, complainy attitudes around me (and sometimes even in me)!!!     Generally, life is not that bad!  And even if it is, complaining and being negative is not going to help anything.

So I am starting what I am calling "The Happiness Project".  Every day I am going to blog something from our lives (sort of like "30 blogs in 30 days") but I am also going to share a reminder or a tip that will help us see life in a more positive way.  If I have nothing else to write, I will share the tip anyway.

I will try to post one every weekday, but my real goal is going to be about 5/week until I run out of stuff (and I have collected a lot of tips).

I promise these thoughts will be short, quick to read and easy to start doing right away.

Would you like some happiness and to see the world in a better way?  Me too!  Maybe we can remind and help each other.

The Happiness Project - starting tomorrow!

And we limp across the finish line (Blog 30 of 30)

So it took me almost 2 months to do a month worth of blogs (I started this round on Jan 22) and even at that some of them were like this one in that they do not have much to say.

But I ask you..... how much can you say about shoveling snow??    I mean..... really?   It is hard to have a super interesting/creative blog when you are buried under 20 feet of snow.

Thankfully the snow is melting and brighter days are ahead.  Days filled with motorcycles, stock car races, walks in the park, bike rides, trips to the beach, cruising in my old Dodge (hopefully), car shows and who knows what else...... so give me about 5 or 6 days and then come back and we will have a go at this again.

I promise it will be much more interesting......  unless it snows again.   Then I will blog about moving to Hawaii   :)

A Couple of hockey tips and the video for Sunday

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs started last night and that meant that the Yorkton Terriers were in town to play the Bruins.

I went to the game and sat where I always sit, behind the visitor's bench.  One of the reasons I like sitting there is that it is where the visiting team's fans sit and often I get talking to them, ask them about the other team, etc.  It is fun.

Until last night.  Without getting into a whole thing here, let's just say that the couple of ladies behind me did not stop complaining from the start of the game till the end.  Complaining about the refs.... complaining about the Bruins..... complaining about their own team..... the even complained about getting a penalty when it was actually a timeout (there was not penalty being called).

After two and a half periods of this, I had heard about all I could take.  When one of them said something even more silly than the stuff they had said before, I turned around and looked at her like "What are you talking about?"   This caused her to start beaking me off and so we had a little exchange where I encouraged them to be a little more positive and a little less whiny.

Now - please note - this has nothing to do with their gender.  I am not picking on ladies in general, just these two.

I have been thinking about this incident on and off all day and I have come up with two rules that I believe everyone ought to know/follow.....

1.  If you are going to constantly comment on everything that goes on out on the ice, it would be good to know the rules first.

2.  Don't take it so seriously!  It is a game!  I go to cheer for the Bruins but if the other team scores a nice goal or the other goalie makes a nice save, "I cheer for them too".  Go and enjoy watching high level athletes playing well - that is fun.  Win or lose - it is not that important.  As someone once said,.....

"If what a 18 year old kid does with a puck is ruining your day, you have bigger issues going on"

Cheer for your team..... be a good fan..... but leaving the whining and the "everyone is against us" stuff at home.  No one wants to hear it (especially for three straight periods)

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Here is the Sunday stuff.....

An Apology and we have a winner (Blog 28 of 30)

So I was thinking, "My poor blog readers!  It has taken me forever to do these 30 blogs and then when I have done them they have not been that interesting at times".

Well..... here is the thing.....there are so many things you can say about snow, blizzards or shoveling (which seems to be all I have been doing lately).

I have been working on my car a great deal, but I am afraid that I may be more interested in that old Dodge than most people are - and I do not want to bore you so.....

I would offer you your money back, but it sort of seems like you are getting full value on your investment here.

Please do hang in there though.  With spring coming, shoveling is about to be a thing of the past.  As well, spring means more activity and more interesting things to write about and thus better blogs (or maybe it will mean that I will decide that I am done for the summer and just leave - we will see)  :)

Anyway - the point being - I am aware that this has not been my best work lately - but what can you do?  (That is not a rhetorical question - I actually mean, "What can YOU do?"  Answer - "Nothing" so get over it!)  :)

BONUS BIT:  I am sure that you remember (how could you forget) that I offered my "Calvin and Hobbs" book to one lucky reader and we have a winner!!!!!

LENNY!!!!!!   COME ON DOWN!!!!!!!! (Well - don't come down since I will see you in 10 days - that would be silly!).  

Lenny is going to discover amazing things.... his mind is going to be opened in new and fascinating ways..... ways he has never known before!   Congratulations, Lenny!!!  :)

Part time fan - but glad to be this time (Blog 27 of 30)

Every year I say I am not going to watch curling on TV.  I think to myself, "It is sort of slow.  Why bother?"

And then every year I get sucked in.

I did not watch much of the Brier this year, but last night's game between Manitoba and Team Canada was good (big comeback for the win by Team Canada) and then tonight's was even better.

Congrats to Newfoundland/Lab for winning on home ice with a last shot draw.

Who has the movie rights?  Get me Brad Gushue's phone number!

I was glad I got suck into watching curling again.

Sunday preview

Here is what we are talking about at church.  Come and hear it and invite someone if you like!

How to be offended by Everything (Blog 26 of 30)

In a nutshell, this is why I quit Facebook.  Everyone's outrage meter is at like "10" all the time.  If yours is not, this video is for you.

PS.  I am offended by the terrible acting in this video.  I am also offended that they took an idea that could have been really funny and did such a lousy job of it.  I want my money back!!!  Oh wait....

Who Knew? [And a special one time offer] (Blog 25 of 30)

I am not a big comic book guy.  Not into Superman, Spider-Man, etc.  However, I have always liked "The Far Side" and "Calvin and Hobbs".

Sara recently gave me this book..........

I thought it was just going to be a history book sort of thing, but it was way more interesting than that.

Did you know that Bill Watterson quit doing Calvin and Hobbs on Dec. 31, 1995 and that the strip only ran for 10 years?

Did you know that he HATED the celebrity status that the cartoon gave him?  He thought (a) that it was stupid that people got attention just because they did something that was public in nature.  He figured that was no more special or interesting than anyone else.  He was just a guy doing a job...... and (b) that he could not do that job well if he caved into the fame.  He figured that if he lost his anonymity that he would lose the ability to observe and experience "real life" and the strip would suffer from the unreal perspective that came with fame.

Did you know that he believed this so much that he lived in a self-imposed seclusion where he did very few interviews and hardly ever let his picture be taken (Google it - there are hardly any pictures of him on the internet and none are less than 25 years old).

I had no idea!  And there is much much more.

Turns out, he is a super weird dude, but in some ways I really admire him.

So, here is your "special one time offer"...... if you are interested in reading the Calvin and Hobbs backstory and finding out more about the guy that people know almost nothing about..... I will give you this book.

Be the first to write to me (either in the comments section or by email) and you can have this book.  I liked it and I think you might too.

Ready....... GO!!!

Ok - That is lots now (Blog 24 of 30)

Normally, I am all for winter.  I like hockey and sledding and even walking in the snow.  I find the cold invigorating.

But I am over it for this winter.

We had a record amount of snow in December and it just has not stopped since then.  Sunday afternoon we were dreaming of spring and then today this happened.....

That is looking out of Sara's office window this afternoon...... and then it got worse.  In fact, it was so bad that I barely made it home from the office.  The streets were clogged and the visibility was bad.

I am all for saying goodbye to the snow for this year now.

It happened again! And Sunday stuff (Blog 23 of 30)

For many years Sara and I have participated in a curling funspiel in support of our Bible camp (Clearview Christian at Kenosee Lake) and every year I have great dreams of winning the whole thing.

And then other things happen.  Like one year my rink was beating by a very good curler and three little girls.  The kids could not throw the rocks through the house so they had tons of rocks in play all the time and cleaned our clocks.

This year, we were accused of "stacking" our rink,  Several people thought we could be the team to beat...... and we were..... for the first game.  Then it all went down hill.  We ended up winning one and losing two and that was the end of our day.

I would like to say that it was fun anyway..... but it wasn't!   You know what is fun???  Winning... that's what!!!   That is why they always visit the locker room of the guys who won the Stanley Cup instead of the locker room of the guys that lost it.  Winning is a more fun story to tell.

But it was nice to see some of my old friends.... it was fun to hang out with Sara.... and (I guess) it was fun to curl..... even if we lost - again!

PS.  Here is what is happening for Sunday morning (This one includes a special guest)

I have been rejected (Blog 22 of 30)

Often when I am speaking at a new place, I will introduce myself by telling people that I have been going to church all my life and that my mom's side of the family is the churchy side and my Dad's is anything but.

That is true.  Some of my Dad's good buddies, many of whom used to hang out at our place from time to time, were well known to local law enforcement.  One of the guys died in the PA penitentiary.....  another ended up on the 6 o'clock news after he was killed in a drug deal gone bad.  I am serious when I say that I sort of get both sides of that street.

Today, I suspect that "Pippus side" of things may have caught up to me.

I went to renew my passport.  Simple right?  Fill out the short form (30 minutes tops).  Get new pictures.  Take the whole thing to the government office.  Get new passport in a couple of weeks. Relatively painless.

Me.... I did all the stuff above, however when I got to the desk the lady she looked everything over and said, "Ah ha..... ah ha..... good..... oh wait".  Then she proceeded to tell me that because my passport has water damage on it (it was in my coat pocket during a rain storm while I was riding my motorcycle through North Dakota) that the government would likely reject it as having "been tampered with".  She said I could try anyway, but once you send in a bad passport, they flag you.  Too many of them (she did not know how many) may make it hard to get any passport at all.

Her suggestion:  Let my current passport run out and then start all over again as if I never had one.  In other words, fill out the long form (including doing all the guarantor stuff) and then sit around for 4-6 weeks without a passport until my new one comes.

I was at the hockey game tonight and I asked everyone I saw (virtually) and no one has ever heard of this before.

I'm telling you..... the MAN is out to get me!!!!   Maybe I should consider changing my name. Throw them off the trail for a while.

If I wasn't secretly a Russian spy sent here to gather information about Canada, I would be really offended.

Movie Review (Blog 21 of 30)

Sara and I never go to the movies..... except for tonight. 

We went and saw the NASA based show "Hidden Figures".  I won't bore you with all the details (you can read real movie reviews other places), but I will say....

1.  We really enjoyed it

2.  If you have not seen it yet, you ought to.

Don't you hate that? (Blog 20 of 30)

I have a buddy (Scott) who HATES it when people post things about their lives, but don't give enough detail for you to know what is going on.  For example, when people, out of the blue, post something like.....

"Don't know how this is gonna go!"

No context.  No real information.  No help.

In fact, Scott refers to "Facebook" as "Vaguebook" due to people's tendency to be all "cloak and dagger" about things.

All of that to say this.... I have not been very good at keeping up with my "One blog per day" commitment lately, but I have a good reason.

It is not that I am lazy or slacking off.

In fact, there is some stuff going on right now.  Good stuff!  Like, possibly something big.  I don't know how this is gonna go, but it is kinda top secret so......

You are welcome!  Have a great day!  :)

You MUST do this (Blog 19 of 30)

When people talk about TV shows, generally I stop listening.  Who cares????

However, a couple of weeks ago, my buddy Paul (who has pointed me in the right direction with this stuff several times in the past) said to me, "You need to watch a show called 'The Kindness Diaries'".... and now I am tell you.

I am so sick of all the negative, stupid stuff that fills the news, the internet and the daily gossip, that I have quit Facebook (I never had an account but I lurked on Sara's for a time), stopped watching the news (I read it online instead - quicker and less emotionally charged) and I gave up the "Grouchy old man coffee time" that I had been going to (The title of it will tell you why I quit).

"The Kindness Diaries" runs in the opposite direction of all of that.  In a nutshell, an Englishman set out to travel the world on his motorcycle with no plans and no money.  He wanted to prove that kindness still existed and that people would help when asked.  Along the way, he replays - in life changing ways - those who were kind to him,  It is great!

You can find the show on Netflix or, if you google it, you can watch it on Vimeo.

So here is what I would like you to do.  Watch the first episode or two and then tell me what you think of it.  Comment on this post or (because I know that commenting on here does not work sometimes) write to me at tspippus@sasktel.net and I will post your comment for you.  I think it would be fun to create a little area of positive on this blog - and you can help.

Each episode is only 20 minutes long..... and he rides a motorcycle..... what more could you want?

Ok...... go!  :)

Maybe they will film my Life (Blog 18 of 30)

Have you heard of "Napflix"?   It is a channel dedicated to boring content designed to bore you to sleep. Rather than explaining it, just click here to read an article about it.  Pretty funny stuff!  :)

Maybe I will make the channel someday.  My girls are gone for the weekend, so what wild and wacky things am I doing????  

I am working on cars and watching curling!  

But it could get crazy tomorrow..... I am thinking about going out for breakfast!!! Ya, boy!!! (Or whatever the wild and crazy kids are saying these days)