We had a late start here today. Everyone is off school/work so there was some sleeping in to be done! Today is the big day for my 17 year old son - he is getting his first Covid vaccine!!! YAY! I am so proud of him, he has been pretty adamant from day one that he wanted the vaccine so when they announced that 16+ year olds were available to get the vaccine, he signed up immediately! To our surprise, he received a notice earlier this week that there was an appointment for him - the only downfall was that they had to go down to Ford Field (he originally signed up for the Meijer here in our city). So the boys head down there earlier this morning...we will be signing him up for something more local for the second dose so that we don't have to pull him out of school. Exciting times here!
I have been chugging along with "The Happiness Project" and I started making notes in my book of things that have really touched home with me.
Here are a few passages from Chapter 7 July (Buy Some Happiness) that I wanted to share...
Money, spent wisely, can support happiness goals of strengthening relationships, promoting health, having fun and all the rest. At the same time, the emotions generated by sheer buying, by acquisition, are also powerful.
AND
Research and everyday experience show that receiving an unexpected present or being surprised by a windfall gives people a real boost; in one study, in fact, when researchers wanted to induce a good mood in their subjects to study the effects, the way they accomplished this good mood was to arrange for those subjects to find coins in a telephone booth or to be given bags of chocolate.
Both of these statements just remind me that even the littlest of things (gifts, cards, candy, love notes, etc) can do so much to make a loved one or friend feel just that much special....especially when they are having a rough day (week, month, etc). It makes me really want to focus on this for the month of July. I'm not going to lie...this will probably be started before then but I REALLY want to focus on the current month's goals before moving onto the next ones.
Meredith mentions a quote from Therese of Lisieux, " When one loves, one does not calculate."
This to me is also important...even when I do special things (or heck even the everyday things)...I shouldn't keep track of who has done what or keep a tally. It all balances out in the end anyhow but that can hide deep inside you and build up as anger over time if it isn't always equal. It kind of reminds me of one of the February Goals of Don't expect praise or appreciation.
Have a blessed day!
~Shannon