Can you believe that it is ALREADY August 21st? This year has just flown by and HORROR of HORRORS, Christmas has arrived – in the stores. I went to Costco the other evening and there they were, the first displays of Christmas stuff. I AM NOT READY FOR CHRISTMAS!!! Repeat after me, “I will not do my Christmas shopping until at least Halloween!”
Yeah, right! I know that the reason these things are appearing now is because the retailers are all nervous about the Back-to-School and Christmas seasons. What really makes it worse is that product inventories are down so much that there is a sense of urgency to buy things before they disappear.
I went looking to see if I was the only one feeling like it was way too early for Christmas and I found a whole bunch of articles about how Christmas comes too early. These were all dated November of 2001, 2004, 2007. Well, this year they’ve really done it – August. Here’s another person who feels as I do:
pomegranateshop.blogspot.com/2009/08/things-that-are-too-early-christmas-at.html
What do you think?
More Cute Pictures and Pets Helping Humans
Not only has the year flown by, but this last week is over before I realized it had begun. And since this is our weekly summary with helpful references, I now have another opportunity to present you with cute pictures of pets.
You know that for me, pets are and hopefully will always be an integral part of my life. I’ve seen the healing power that they can have on people who are alone and/or struggle with getting through each day. When my mother went into the Alzheimers facility, my father was alone, coming home to an empty house each night. My brother, wisely I might say, suggested that getting Dad a dog would be good for him. We went to the pound and chose a dog for him. It was very successful. Jody follows my Dad around the house everywhere he goes and Dad dotes on her – maybe a little too much. (She pretty much runs the house now.)
As much as I love my pets, I didn’t realize just how talented the right animal can be in helping people to reconnect to life. You may have already seen these videos as it was on Oprah, but it’s worth a second look. This is a story of how puppies could touch hardened criminals and returning injured Veterans AND connect the two:
Part 1:
Part 2:
For me, this just proves that we ALL can be of service if we truly want to.
Make It a Habit to Distance Yourself From Your Worries
Ok, as much as I hate it, I have to admit pets don’t fix EVERYTHING. For everything else there is chocolate – but seriously, folks… Ellie wrote in Distance Yourself from Your Worries about a technique for moving painful experiences further away in your mind so that you can become an observer and reduce the emotion tied to the event. This is a great technique for helping us to bounce back. It’s really hard to bounce back from an embarrassing situation when it keeps replaying in your head. This same technique works for handling those situations that habitually make you angry or frustrated or just plain crazy. Distancing yourself from the situation lets you drain the emotion from it and view it more dispassionately. Then, you can take back control of your day and your life.
The next step would be to develop a habit of distancing yourself from your worries, embarrassments, and/or the crazy-making situations you experience every day. Tips for Breaking Bad Habits and Establishing Good Habits has lots of suggestions about how to create new habits. One that I particulary like is:
Replace Lost Needs – If you opened up your computer and started removing hardware, what would happen. Chances are your computer wouldn’t work. Similarly, you can’t just pull out habits without replacing the needs they fulfill. Giving up television might mean you need to find a new way to relax, socialize or get information.
Most conversations about changing our habits don’t really address the idea that we do what we do because it serves us in some way. Once we become conscious of this basic idea, it becomes easier to change because we aren’t just ending a behavior, we are substituting a behavior that we prefer for the one we don’t.
I will now practice the habit of distancing Christmas – maybe if I do it well enough, it’ll move into next year???
Look – There’s a Teacher
Part of the reason that this Friday arrived so quickly is that last Friday I started thinking about everything I needed to do this week. I often use the weekend to try and catch up on stuff that I can’t get done during the week. Instead of winding down into the weekend, I am learning how to trade stocks so I usually relax Friday after the stock market closes and then get to work Saturday morning. My weekend list includes things like getting ahead on writing my posts and watching more DVDs on investing. So there I was on Friday afternoon, blissfully planning out my weekend when I realized that my Sunday was not my own. I had a social commitment that I really couldn’t skip – though I did consider it. All of the sudden, I went from plenty of time to NO TIME. Now, in reality, I didn’t go to NO TIME – but it sure felt like it.
It’s amazing how quickly we can move from a good mood to a sour one. Between the Sunday social commitment and Book Club on Tuesday and meeting a friend for lunch on Wednesday, I was feeling like my week had turned into swiss cheese… and it was still only LAST FRIDAY!
Then, Ellie sent me this article on dogs – always a winner in my mind:
sallyhuss.typepad.com/sally_huss_addicted_to_ha/2009/07/the-muffin-diet-by-sally-huss.html
This is a cute article and totally supports my viewpoint on pets, AND this website became my teacher this week. The title on the website is “Sally Huss – Addicted to Happiness!” While Sally is promoting happiness, she isn’t doing it in a “la la la everything is wonderful la la la” kind of way. She says, “Life is not an easy voyage, but it is certainly better traversed with a smile on your face and love in your heart.” Ready or not, the teacher had appeared. Take a look and see if you don’t agree.
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