Natasha’s 12 Commandments for Happiness

Posted on April 17, 2012 by

As part of my personal Happiness Project, I decided to come up with my version of Gretchen Rubin’s Personal Commandments.

Natasha’s Personal Commandments

  1. Be myself
  2. See things as they are not as I want them to be
  3. Let go of expectations
  4. Act the way I want to feel — fake it till I make it.
  5. Enjoy the process
  6. Identify the real problem
  7. Do what needs doing
  8. Play fair and show compassion
  9. Laugh often; have fun!
  10. Create something every day, however small
  11. Appreciate all I have right now
  12. Don’t debt materially or spiritually

They may seem obvious, but they are all things that have gotten me into unhappy situations at one time or another.

When I’m doing henna I’m definitely following all 12, but other aspects of my life require more diligence.  It’s not always easy to enjoy the process in my day job, or to do what needs doing now when what needs doing is a sinkful of dirty dishes… but I can start now, and if I fake that I enjoy doing dishes, then by the end of the chore, I’m actually having fun!  It’s pretty amazing…. now if I could only make myself feel that way about cleaning the litter boxes, I’d achieve Nirvana right now!

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The Solution for Good Sleep

Posted on April 16, 2012 by

Early in this quest for happiness, I identified a lack of sleep as a source of decreased energy and increased annoyance.  When I’m tired, little things get to me and I’m less happy and more snappy, making everyone around me less happy, too.

Despite consistently getting to be earlier and having a very dark room to sleep in, I found myself not sleeping well and waking up tired in the morning.

The solution came when my husband and I were in the drugstore picking up some allergy medicine since along with spring pollen comes spring itchy eyes.  On a whim, I picked up a box of Breathe Right snoring strip, and my husband mentioned that I’d been snoring rather loudly lately.  Usually, I’d have been defensive and brought up his snoring problem, but I decided that perhaps I do snore, and maybe these little strips could help.  They were on sale and they certainly couldn’t hurt.

breathe right strips

These simple little strips work miracles

That night I slept right through without waking once, and in the morning had enough energy to get up and make a special breakfast! The next night also went tranquilly…. and I was convinced.  These little strips really work!  The advanced were a little too strong for my skin, but the regular clear ones for sensitive skin work great and are gentle to remove.

So now, after a month of good sleep, I am feeling much more energetic, more creative and much happier. I never knew I had a problem before, but I’m glad I was open to the idea and the solution!

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Spring in the Palms

Posted on March 31, 2012 by

It’s Spring Break.

At least for the hubby.  I got to take a couple days off the day job and we decided to dovetail a mini-vacation with a gig I had Monday evening near Palms Springs.

Palm Springs has a reputation as a party town, a modern art town, a golf town, and a place where the rich and famous play golf. It also is nestled in one of the most stunningly beautiful natural settings.  If you enjoy hiking, then there is plenty to enjoy around Palm Springs.

On our first day we decided to check out Indian Canyons which turned out to be less than 15 minutes away from our hotel. One minute we were driving through suburbia, and the next we were meandering through a gorgeous nature and cultural preserve.

rocks and chollas at Andreas Canyon

A beautiful desert view from Andreas Canyon hike

And then we saw the palms…. and the spring-fed stream that gave the region its name:

palms near the spring

Palms at the spring

palm spring in Palm Springs

Springs and palms!

We spent all day hiking Andreas Canyon and Murray Canyon.

Palm Springs in the desert

Spring-fed palms on Murray Canyon Trail

The next day we decided to check out the other extreme and took the tram to the top of the mountain.

palm springs tramway

The amazing rotating car of the Palm Springs Tramway

San Jacinto Mountain snow

The top of the mountain

Toto, we’re not in the desert anymore… it was freezing cold with a couple feet of snow on the ground!  But the hiking and the views were amazing!

View of Palm Springs from mountain

First glimpse of the valley below

Palm SPrings valley

That's about 8200 ft below...

Palm Springs Valley

The desert from the mountain

We reluctantly returned home….

But the beauty of desert, oasis and mountains remain…

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Happy Pi Day!

Posted on March 14, 2012 by

Whimsy makes me happy, and what could be more whimsical than celebrating π (sometimes written pi, the numerical value rounded to 3.14), a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any Euclidean circle’s circumference to its diameter. Today is π day!

My beloved had a hankering for a cherry meringue pie which combines his favorite fruit (next to blueberries, but he got a blueberry pie for his birthday) and the magic of meringue.  Is there a better pie to celebrate π? We started out the day with a slice.

cherry meringue pie

Delicious cherry meringue pie

Cherry Meringue Pie

Filling:
2 cups thawed frozen cherries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
Ready-made graham cracker crust
Pour into a ready-made graham cracker crust. Bake at 325F for about a half hour or until filling looks done.

Meringue:
4 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Whip egg whites and slowly add in sugar and cream of tartar. Keep whipping until soft peaks form. Spoon gently on top of pie filling. Bake at 325F for about 15 min or until golden brown and gorgeous!

Enjoy!

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Daylight savings?

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

I am not happy with this time change thing.  I’ve never liked it.  Never seen the point in it.  And after 4 years of college in Indiana, where they don’t switch the time, it seems ever more pointless.

Sigh.  But since it happens, I have must deal with it.

I’ve been having difficulty getting myself to go to bed before 11:00pm.  My goal is 10:30pm, but it’s been ending up closer to midnight….and I haven’t even been allowing myself the luxury of napping, although the cats are begging.

This has created exhaustion, though I must admit, it’s not as bad as it was before I darkified the bedroom.  I think that although I’m still not getting enough sleep, having a really dark room is increasing the quality of my sleep.  And that, in turn, is probably what is affecting my mood.  I’m generally happier and more motivated.

Until yesterday when the time changed and I tried to make myself go to bed at 10:30pm, but my body refused b/c it was 9:30 to it…and I finally got asleep by midnight…only to wake up at 6:30am.  Definitely not enough sleep to be at my sharpest today.  The time change jet lag is a minor set-back in my efforts, but hopefully will resolve soon — and perhaps even push me to be more diligent about getting on track to going to be earlier.

In the meantime, today will see an increased use of coffee, green tea and Emergen-C drink.  Chocolate may be required for afternoon resuscitation… and tomorrow is another start to a new day.

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What a difference a bedspread makes!

Posted on March 9, 2012 by

I had a fabulous night’s sleep last night, thanks in large part to putting bedspreads over the top of my curtain rods so that no early morning light leaks in.  Usually I wake up around 3am, just as the sky begins to lighten, and then I’m awake and checking the clock several more times in the wee hours until the alarm goes off.

Even with black-out curtains, light was streaming in through the top gap between the curtain rod and the window.  But well-placed bedspreads did the trick!  When I woke up at 7am this morning, the room was very dark and I I had slept straight through the night.  I will have to play around with the arrangement so it’s a bit more artistic, but it’s definitely functional!

 

 

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The quest for a good night’s sleep

Posted on March 8, 2012 by

When planning for a good night’s sleep, I decided to make sure our bedroom was as dark as possible since experts say that even small amounts of light can interrupt sleep.  I added an orange bedside lamp that would give us enough light to read by, but not interrupt sleeping patterns.  And I bought eclipse curtains.

eclipse curtain

Energy efficient eclipse braxton curtain from Target

It was amazing how those small changes made the room much darker and conducive to sleeping, although when I woke up at 4:00am this morning, I realized that although the curtains block light from the front and sides, I will have to add some fabric to the top.  I was stunned by how bright the room was from just light pouring in through the gap at the top between the curtain rod and the window!

Getting to sleep earlier as part of my plan to get more sleep did not happen last night.  I found myself sucked into the evening news on the couch, and then my second wind kicked in and I felt wide awake at 11:00pm, and wasn’t able to get myself into bed before 11:30pm.

Still, the progressive relaxation technique where you tell each muscle of the body that it feels warm, comfortable and relaxed, working your way up from your toes to your scalp, did the trick.  I was asleep before I even made it my arms.

I woke up at 6:45am after solid sleep until 4:00am, and then a few hours of fitful sleep — and dragged myself into the living where I made myself do a Leslie Sansone dvd workout.  I love that I don’t need to think in order to get a good cardio boost.  I just follow Leslie’s cheerful directions and after a half hour, I’m sweating and feeling better.  And getting my workout done before breakfast makes me feel virtuous, too!  Gold star for me!

I’m feeling fairly alert right now and plan to avoid napping so I can be really exhausted this evening.  My mood is certainly better than it was 2 days ago, and I’m chalking that up to exercise.

There’s more work to be done to make better sleep and consistent exercise a reality, but I feel I’m on the right track.

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Happiness Project, Goal 1

Posted on March 7, 2012 by

First things first:
Goal 1: Generate more energy

The idea is that if I have more energy, then I will be better focus, and be better able to do everything else that builds happiness.  It’s hard to feel happy when you can barely stay awake through lunchtime.

There are at 3 facets to generating more energy:

  1. Get more sleep.
  2. Eat better.
  3. Exercise better.

Get more sleep.

sleeping cat

I’ve fallen into the habit of watching the late night news, then doing the evening chores, then the brushing of teeth and washing of the face, then I read for a bit, and the next thing I know it’s past midnight, sometimes quite a bit past midnight, and by that time the brain is clicking with ideas, images and distracting thoughts. Then it can take hours for the brain the quiet down and rest.

I am definitely a night owl, getting a second wind around 11:30, so I need to strategize how to avoid that energy surge and get to sleep before it hits as advised by Dr. Michael J. Breus on WebMD

Most sleep specialists recommend the following:

  • Make sure your room is very dark with no blue or white lights.
  • Follow a regular bedtime/wake time schedule, even on week-ends
  • No naps after noon.
  • Vigorous exercise is good, but not 3 hours before going to bed.
  • Limit caffeine during the day, and stop drinking caffeine after 3pm.
  • Check to see if there’s an underylying physical problem such as sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome if the above isn’t working after a week or two.

I’ve got my work cut out for me, but I am convinced that more sleep will definitely help my focus and mood.

Ready, set, zzzz.

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The Quest for Happiness

Posted on March 7, 2012 by

I’ve been feeling out of sorts lately.

Blah.

Uninspired.

Out of focus.

The usual winter doldroms.

So what’s the problem?  Scoutie Girl helped identify my malaise in her post today,  She asked: “Do you ever feel like things are out of focus? Like you just can’t see the bigger picture or know where to go from here?”

YES!  Yes, I do!  That’s exactly how I feel!

Scoutie Girl goes on to list a few suggestions to help nudge folks back on track, but none of them seemed to speak to me.

This malaise is pervasive, not just artists’ block or avoidance.  Things are getting done, but I’m not feeling the spark, the inspiration.

So, I checked out The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  It’s a practical and down-to-earth exposition on what happiness is, or isn’t, and Gretchen’s quest to systematically bring more of it into her life.

I like how she starts with generating more energy and at the top of her list is getting more sleep, followed by exercise better, and tackling clutter.  All those seem like that would benefit me.  I’ve found that bedtime has been drifting later and later and then morning seems to be earlier and more difficult.  I used to exercise each morning, but since I’m now dragging myself out of bed an hour later, it’s all I can do to feed the cats and get the coffee brewing.  Definitely programming myself to get to bed earlier will help me get more sleep.  And reviving my exercise program will also improve my overall energy levels and probably my mood as well.

The clutter is a constant battle.  I make headway, and then a month later, the tabletop is gone again. Gretchen has definitely identified an issue in my house and I look forward to seeing how she faces it.

I’m going to create my own Happiness Project, loosely based on the book and Gretchen’s journey.  It will evolve as I go along, but for now Gretchen’s book is a useful guide to get me started on the path out of the doldroms and back into the creative hum of life.

 

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Happy Lunar New Year!

Posted on January 28, 2012 by
Dragon by Natasha

Welcome the Year of the Water Dragon!

Xin Nian Kuaile!  Happy New Year in Mandarin Chinese!

I have a special love for this holiday, not just because I love noodles and jiaozi, staples of the feast — but because I’m usually too busy with busyness to really enjoy Christmas and we’re usually travelling on New Year’s Eve and exhausted on New Year’s Day.  By the time the lunar New Year rolls around, I am finally *ready* to celebrate!  My friends and family get Chinese New Year’s cards instead of X-Mas cards…

The lunar New Year celebration lasts for 15 days — so if I’m not organized by day 1, I still have 14 left.  It’s the perfect holiday!

A proper holiday has its own feast menu; this is my lunar New Year’s menu:

Jiaozi, aka potstickers, aka Chinese dumplings — these look kind of like gold ingots and are supposed to attract wealth.  They certainly attract my appetite! I got our from Trader Joe’s, boiled them and then panfried them to golden, crispy perfection…

Trader Joe's potstickers

photo from Shutterbean -- check out this yummy recipe!

Next we had noodles for long life: also from Trader Joe’s and then doctored with extra garlic, fresh ginger and bok choy

And then we had my version of Chinese steamed fish. Fish is a very traditional food for a Chinese New Year’s dinner because the word for fish in Mandarin has the same sound as the word for jade, which is very powerful and lucky stuff!

I had hoped for a whole fish, but our local grocery store doesn’t sell them and I was too tired after a day at the office to venture out to 99 Ranch and fight traffic in order to get one of their amazing fish plucked straight from the tank and cleaned right there in front of you…. so we had rainbow trout fillets, not amazing, but pretty darned delicious.

NataXia’s Steamed Fish

3 rainbow trout fillets
9 cloves garlic
3 inches fresh ginger
1 bunch scallions
1 tbl light soy sauce

Rinse fish and arrange on parchment paper lining a bamboo steamer (or a regular Western Steamer). Crush garlic and spread about 3 cloves each per fish.  Grate about 1 inch of fresh ginger per fish and spread generously.  Top with strips of scallions.  Drizzle with a little soy sauce and place over pan with boiling water.  Let steam for about 20 minutes or until fish’s flesh is white and flaky.

Here’s hoping that your new year is full of good health, wealth and deliciousness!

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