Winter is Coming

To read my previous article, click "Be the Pond"

Last week at a park, in the warm summer sun, I heard a friend of a friend say "Winter is coming," and they weren't talking about Game of Thrones. It was a day that, according to them, weather-wise, should be joyful - and they were not enjoying it. They were thinking of pain they might feel on a future day, and feeling that pain today. Why feel pain twice? Better question - How can we feel joy twice?

If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.

The same could be said for Mondays. Meetings. Driving.

We can bring more joy to today by planning to make a future distasteful event exciting, interesting, or at least bearable. Whether it's a season, day, or task, we can plan a moment of joy in or around it. Everyone is a planner... some people plan for joy and others plan to be miserable. Planning to be miserable might make us succumb to wine/weed, Netflix/Nintendo, or whatever our vice of choice is to avoid pain, and once the internal pain builds up we take out our personal problems on the people that Love us most. Let's not destroy our most valuable possessions - physical/mental health and our relationships. We have more control over our part of the world than we give ourselves credit for.

Let's not live just the length of our life, but the width of it as well.

What future joy can you plan for now, while your mind is in a positive and clear state? Below are a few things I've done. I'd Love to hear what you do to improve on the inevitable.

• Word Sneak!: In a previous job, our status meetings could have been emails. To make it through the boredom, a fellow fun coworker and I would challenge each other to sneak in specific words during the meetings. It made both of us look forward to the moments during the meetings where we tried to hold back laughing
• Audiobooks: Company requiring you to go to the office again, and you dread the drive? When I listened to the Harry Potter series (119 hours and 11 minutes!) I truly enjoyed the previously mundane drive. At times, I was even thrilled for traffic so I could hear what happened next
• New Hobbies: Bored after work and hate that you plop down in the couch and zone out? Start a hobby that's creative or challenging... or both, like pencil drawing or song writing. Being a beginner will ignite a curiosity in you that will banish boredom
• Family/Friend Dates: If winter is your least favorite season, set up dates now. You'll feel good today and, when the date gets closer, everything will have been set up in advance. Easy :) For this winter I've already planned a Broadway play in NYC (Feel the joy. Feel the thrill. Feel alive… at THE LION KING!), a concert, taco lunch, snow/ice hike (#Yaktrax rock), and feeding birds at Kensington (see pic at top of page). Winter is coming, and it's welcome :)

What joy do you plan into or around the things that you dread?

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.” - #MarcusAurelius

Let's make life joyful, y'all!