Reasons To Be Cheerful - Here's 7

I was in a bad mood, a really bad mood and that is unusual for me these days. I was transitioning from PC to Mac after Bill Gates abomination had crashed and burned me for the last time. I knew there was going to be a steep learning curve, but jeez, I had no idea I’d need crampons, a rope and breathing equipment to get there.

My main gripe was actually not even the new Mac but the PC that was aiming one last kick into my groin. I still needed it to do my accounts on and as Internet access for my wife, but I couldn’t get the PC wireless card to talk to the router. Apparently they’d had a big bust up the night before because the router had gone out for a beer and promised to be in by midnight and had eventually rolled in after 3.00am and didn’t even attempt to apologize. I was managing skillfully to stress myself senseless and was getting more and more agitated because I really didn’t have a clue what I was doing

I was just thinking that if the PC saw me with a hammer in my hand it may sharpen up it’s act a bit when I heard laughter coming from the room where my wife was. For a second or two it didn’t really help, in fact it just caused me to grit my teeth slightly harder. After several seconds of now raucous laughter I had to go and see what was happening.

She was watching this part of the Will Smith movie ‘Hitch’. Within moments I was smiling and then laughing too. Not so much at scene in the movie although that was funny, but at my wife laughing so hard and obviously enjoying herself so much. It occurred to me that it’s my favorite sound in the world closely followed by my bank manager saying “Mr. Brownson we’ve had to buy another vault to put your money because the old one wasn’t big enough”

I went back into my office in a much better frame of mind determined to fix my problem. I’d like to say I did, but alas it still isn’t working and I’ve resorted to calling a professional but at least I didn’t resort to the hammer and retained my better state of mind.

This got me to thinking what are the other things that will always improve my state and I came up with another 6. I’ve no doubt there are many more but these are the 6 that sprung to mind.

Being met at the door by my dog – It doesn’t matter how long we have left her for or what mood we’re in when we get back, we always get greeted by a waggly stump (she’s a docked Doberman), a playful look on her face closely followed by her tearing round the house looking for anything to bring us as a gift. It usually ends up being a pair of boxer shorts, a sock or something dead. She never judges, never sulks for more than about 30 seconds and has never asked me “What time do you call this?” “ “Do you think my ass looks big in this?” or “Have you been sat out by the pool with a cold beer again?”

Cold beer on a hot day – About once a week I will finish the work day by grabbing a cold beer and going and sitting outside in the beautiful Florida sunshine. It never fails to make me think all is good in the world no matter what kind of day I’ve had.

Music – If I am in a bad mood I often turn to music. There are specific chill out tracks that take me back to my clubbing days when I had, energy, vitality and hair. They still make me think of warm Sunday afternoons, drinking cold beer and watching cricket. Which just goes to show I’m losing the plot, because I never spent warm Sunday afternoons drinking cold beer and watching cricket. If I’m sat working and feeling like a need a little pick me up this track and also this one will always do the trick.

Meditating – 2 years ago if I’d have been transported to this day and seen this post I would have freaked out. Not least of which is because I don’t believe in time travel. According to Steven Hawking to achieve it you have to be have be infinitely dense and infinitely small and I have no wish to be either just yet. More importantly, I always thought meditation was for dolphin-huggers or bald guys in saffron robes. Now however, I realize it’s also for bald guys in dressing gowns that simply want to get out of their own way from time to time.

Working out – The weird thing is that working out to me is often about as appealing as mixing up broken glass, a bag of tacks and some fire ants and dropping the lot down my shorts immediately prior to taking trampolining lessons. I NEVER look forward to going to the gym, but about 4 times per week I do it nevertheless and I’m always glad I went and feel better about myself afterwards.

Playing golf – Ok I admit 4 or 5 years ago this could actually be the thing that put me into the funk in the first place. I confess to having buried the occasional putter in a green and storming of courses like a 5 year old that’s just been told the Easter Bunny has butchered Santa Clause, The Tooth Fairy and stolen his birthday money before jetting off to the Cayman Islands with the proceeds. These days though I treat it as a chance to chill out, enjoy the weather and be frequently awed by a Universe that can conjure up lakes where previously there had been nothing but fairway when I drove off the tee.

I’m guessing that everybody has a list of things that can shift their state in an instant and I’d love to know what yours are. I’ve listed 7 reasons to be cheerful so I’m also going to tag 7 fellow bloggers to pick up the challenge and post about theirs.

Jonathan at JonathanMead.com
Bruce at Brucisms.com
Cath at CathLawson.com
Shann at True Balance Life Coaching
Alex at The Next 45 Years
Evelyn at Attraction Mind Map
JEMi at In My Heels.com

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9 Comments So Far.

1. 

   Comment by RJ on 4 May 2008:

   Nice article Tim, interesting to see what the other bloggers out there do to get them cheerful.
   Whenever I feel life is being unfair, I listen to Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” and that does the trick :)
   Article dugg!
2. 

   Comment by Mel T on 4 May 2008:

   Hi Tim,

   I can totally relate to your number one point, having a dog. It’s unbelievably therapeutic, truly “man’s best friend!”

   Great post!
3. 

   Comment by Evelyn Lim | Attraction Mind Map on 4 May 2008:

   Hello Tim,

   I know how it feels like to be frustrated over computers and getting things to work. I’ve got both PCs and Macs (belonging to my husband) at home and have to learn both. In reality, I’m quite an IT- idiot and somehow, these things often fail on me (maybe, I’m “attracting” them in my thoughts). It’s easy to want to hurl the laptop down from my apartment!!

   I hope you get your Mac sorted out soon. Thanks for tagging me. Let’s see what I can say in my article….

   Evelyn
4. 

   Comment by Mags | Woo-Woo Wisdom on 5 May 2008:

   Hi Tim - What a delightful article, thank you!

   We used to have dogs, and I remember well the pure joy that they would display at every opportunity! Now we have a cat, who can be aloof most of the time as only cats can be, but she betrays herself every now and then, like when we walk through the door and she’s waiting there purring so loudly that her entire little body vibrates :)

   And you’re so spot on about working out! I did make it to gym this morning after literally dragging my feet - but, I feel great now :)
5. 

   Comment by Tim Justynski on 5 May 2008:

   I actually just thought about this about week ago. Its amazing how certain things can help. Here is my list…

   1. My Kids…they do the funniest things
   2. The Florida Sun…whether I am sitting by the pool or working in the yard.
   3. Fishing…(the old saying is true in my book)A bad day on the lake is better than a good day in the office.
   4. Reading. I love to read
   5. Woodworking. I am not very good at it, but it helps me relax.

   Tim
6. 

   Comment by Tim Brownson on 5 May 2008:

   @RJ. Absoultely a brilliant and timeless piece of music from a true master. If that doesn’t pick somebody up nothing will!

   @Mel T - Yep, we just ordered another due in July, so that should be fun!

   @Evelyn It’s sorted now thanks and I look forward to hearing your list.

   @Maqs I see you have had gym problems on Twitter. Have you ever tried anchoring?
   http://www.adaringadventure.com/blog/wordpress
   /nlp/how-to-get-instant-confidence/
   I really should learn how to insert hyperlinks in here!

   @Tim - Great list Tim and after spending yesterday out on my bike and by the pool I can whole-heartedly endorse #2
7. 

   Comment by Lexi of Creative Energies on 5 May 2008:

   Your descriptive abilities had me howling with laughter, thanks!

   Last fall I switched to a mac desktop for similar reasons, still have a pc laptop, and no, mine don’t talk to each other either. I currently have a new wireless router I have not figured out how to use as anything but a paperweight.

   A rock from the garden is a cheaper paperweight, so I will have to resume the battle in the interests of economy…

   Thanks for the cheery uplift to the day!

   Lexi
8. 

   Comment by Avani on 6 May 2008:

   It’s a wonderful article Tim. Here’s my list-
   * Singing some foot tapping numbers
   * Talking with someone who is always in a great mood
9. 

   Comment by Tim Brownson on 6 May 2008:

   @ Lexi - Howl away and of mine ever get it on I’l be usre to let you know.

   @ Avani - Must agree with #2. I used to hate people like that, thinking they must know something I didn’t! Wow that seems a like lifetime ago now.

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