Is it Day 200? Unless my arithmetic is wrong, which has definitely happened before, it's probably Day 200. I cheated on Day 100 and made a facetious list. But the list is happy, if bored, and this is mostly my state, I think. I met two friends on Monday for Mexican food - normally I'm a snob about it because California but this place wasn't bad and they had Pacifico, the Best Beer. I had had a hard(er) few days before seeing them and had been angry and exacerbated and there was quick crying at small things and I wasn't premenstrual so perhaps that's a fragility of sorts, and a loneliness? I'm very bored of being alone so much. I miss affection a great deal. I think most of us like affection, but I think for me, it can be an actual power up, mostly because of how Mum raised me (with it). Anyway, with my friends, with dinner, I was reflecting that I think my mood oscillations are tending to the dark a bit... they're still quite regular oscillations (which I guess is good?), but, the whole line of the graph sinks below the axis a bit, so the highs are a bit nondescript (Ooh! Caramel Wafer) and the lows are quite low (NOBODY LOVES ME) etc.
I've been reading a lot of the New York Times recently because the Mumbling Cheeto Fascist Impeached Infected Monster Is So Bizarre and I Want Him To Die Slowly is losing his mind and I want to watch, and stumbled on this article called How To Be Happy.
The basic tips are:
- Mind
- Don't try to stop negative thoughts
- Treat yourself like a friend
- Challenge your negative thoughts
- What is the evidence for this thought?”
- “Am I basing this on facts? Or feelings?”
- “Could I be misinterpreting the situation?”
- “How might other people view the situation differently?
- “How might I view this situation if it happened to someone else?”
- Controlled breathing
- Rewrite your story
- Get moving
- Practice optimism
- Home
- Finding your happy place
- Choosing a happy community
- Spend time in nature
- Declutter
- The 1-minute rule
- Good things happen in the bedroom
In the morning, at home, I do this stretch that looks like a happy buddha, but not in the bedroom. You stretch your arms above your head, point your fingers inwards towards each other as square as you can, and bend your thumbs back towards your palms. And smile. It fucking hurts, but I also like doing it. |
| Here's a random scene of a bunch of male scientists figuring out how to measure coughing using sound recording and analysis that I learned about briefly at an online event last week called Machine Listening, run out of Liquid Architecture. I was tempted to put 200 photos of my lunch up for this post, but I'll save that for either 300, or the book. |