Do you have the Summer Doldrums?
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. ~Mark Twain
Summer Doldrums
Here is a list of 25 fun and thoughtful things you can do to cheer someone else up (and yourself in the process):
1. Reverse gossip; share something nice about someone you know.
2. Send an older person a beautiful card, (did you know old folks tend to not get a lot of mail these days and they love it!).
3. Forfeit the war for the good parking space with a smile and a wave.
4. Pay a nice compliment to a stranger.
5. Spray your neighbor’s weeds while you’re out spraying your own!
6. Spend an afternoon chatting with people at a Senior Center! These folks are lovely and very friendly.
7. Grab a shopping cart from the grocery parking lot on your way into the store.
8. Ask to speak to a manager and comment on what a good job you think they are doing.
9. Offer to take care of someone’s children for an afternoon so mom can have a few hours to herself.
10. Offer to water someone’s plants while they are on vacation.
11. Include someone you know in one of your regular activities.
12. Send or take a care package to someone who is sick.(books, magazines and their favorite goodies)
13. Offer to go to the grocery store for an older person in your neighborhood.
14. Let someone cut in during rush hour traffic.
15. Let someone with just a few items go ahead of you in the checkout line.
16. Share your special skill with someone who is interested in learning it.
17. Adopt a pet from a shelter that is going to be euthanized.
18. Wave to a child in a car.
19. Volunteer your time for a worthy cause.
20. Take dog bones, food and toys to a dog shelter.
21. While you’re at it, volunteer to walk a few dogs.
22. Smile and say hello to everyone you see today.
23. Take the time to pay someone a sincere compliment on their appearance or something they are doing.
24. Leave a surprise anonymous gift, flower or plant on someone’s doorstep or desk at the office.
25. Don’t just hemorrhage from laughter…alert your friend about the toilet paper strand that is stuck to her shoe as she prances out of the restroom at the restaurant.
Do you have any ideas on how to cheer someone up? We’d love to hear them… please share them in the comments section below! Stay cool, stay positive and enjoy your summer!
P.S. For more ideas on how to stay positive sign up for the F.R.E.E. 21 Day Attitude Adjustment Course and receive my complimentary bi-monthly ezine by filling out the big green box at the top of the page!
MILE MARKERS – are you counting?
It’s truly amazing and a little hard to believe I am a grandmother and my little girl and best friend is a very efficient loving creative Mother. I really do marvel at the job she is doing!
Saturday was my adorable granddaughter’s first ballet recital. Yup, a star is born. As I watched her confidently dancing in her beautiful blue costume my heart swelled with pride and joy. It seems like only yesterday it was my Lexi up there performing. Where did the time go?
Flowers? For me?
After the show as we filed out of the auditorium to wait with flowers for our little celebrity I ran into a couple of Alexis’s friends from high school, now with little stars of their own. It seems like only yesterday these very women were only girls whispering and giggling on the phone together. Where did the time go?
If I close my eyes, become very still and think back I can almost remember the feeling of being on the stage myself; the smell of backstage, the camaraderie of my fellow performers and the bonding ceremony of putting on our stage makeup. Where did the time go?
As my mother and I crowed about how fabulous our Kenzi did the conversation drifted to a time in my mother’s past when she danced for her father with her dance class at the veteran’s hospital, just before her father died. She still remembers her mother sewing special velvet dots on her costume wings when the other girls only had ink spots on their wings. Where did the time go?
As I write this post I wonder if Alexis knows how special these times are and is she really taking the time to really savor the moment. Not just the photo image but all the details of the glorious and juicy emotions of these mile markers. There will come a time when she will say where did the time go?
Mile markers, are you counting them? Are you really taking them in? Are you making moments?
But more importantly…is there something more you want to do? Is there something you’ve been waiting to do “when the time is right?” Don’t wait, time flies, do it now. Five or ten years from now you will be looking at photographs and saying, where did the time go?
Time is our most precious commodity. Find your passion. Unearth those buried desires and dreams and start now. If you wait for the perfect time it will never come.
“Don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything. Do something. Anything.”
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
Guess who wasn’t at Tuesdays Positive Attitude Workshop?
Role Models
I just had to share! I just downloaded this shot of Poppy, (the little one) and Shealy Ann, (the bigger one) after being “sprung” from the laundry room.
Even though they were not present for the session they both are glowing examples of how to pivot out of a negative spiral after an unplanned or unpleasant occurrence. Now I’m not sure if they were able to find anything positive about the temporary confinement but they both appeared to be catching up on some sleep when I opened the door. However I am positive they were able to completely leave the incident in the past. After a quick treat both were happy and ready to play!
Also wanted to thank all of you who are attending the workshop and for all the wonderful emails! If you missed this workshop not to worry new workshops are coming soon!
Until then, enjoy these insightful thoughts that were emailed to me some time ago that were so profound I kept them for sharing at an appropriate moment. If you’ve read them before they are worth a second read:
What dogs can teach us
If dogs were teachers, you would learn stuff like….
· When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
· Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
· Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
· When it’s in your best interest, practice obedience.
· Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.
· Take naps.
· Stretch before rising.
· Run, romp, and play daily.
· Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
· Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
· On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
· On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
· When you’re happy, dance around & wag your entire body.
· No matter how often you’re scolded, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout…run right back and make friends.
· Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
· Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.
· Stop when you have had enough.
· Be loyal.
· Never pretend to be something you’re not.
· If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
· When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.
Author unknown, but whoever you are…. thank you!
Deborah Hayes, CTA Life Coach
Empowering women to live a life of consequence, a life without regrets that is your own unique version of the life you love. About Deborah
480-656-2026
deborah@womenintransitiononline.com
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