I Write Letters to People, Though I Rarely Intend to Send Them

September 29, 2012

Dear Jamie,

We're having Santa Cruz weather and it conjures so quickly those feelings I used to have when I'd start my mornings on foot and soak up the beach air along the riverbed.  The exact same feelings!  Distinct and specific, marking a time so distinct to my memory it almost makes me well up with that combination of sad-happy (sappy?); marking the transition into something big and important, that I would not know until much later how big and important it truly was: art school, making art constantly, forging friendships with some of the most influential people in my life, including you, and making art together.  Doesn't it feel weird?  That times are so distant?

The clouds are low and warm grey.  It feels like the beach could be right around the corner.

In my dreams, right?

Love,
P

Sufficient Appreciation

"Insufficient appreciation and savoring of the good events in your past and overemphasis of the bad ones are the two culprits that undermine serenity, contentment, and satisfaction.  There are two ways of bringing these feelings about the past well into the region of contentment and satisfaction.  Gratitude amplifies the savoring and appreciation of the good events gone by, and rewriting history by forgiveness loosens the power of the bad events to embitter (and actually can transform bad memories into good ones)."

Martin E. P.  Seligman, Ph.D.

Authentic Happiness

(good book, you should read it.)

As part of the "Composition Book Adventure," I started keeping a gratitude log.  Oprah always endorsed such a log years ago, but I was too young to understand what it meant.  (I have since stopped watching Oprah.)

But writing down things that you are really, truly grateful for is proving very powerful.

Example:

I am grateful for...

a spontaneous evening with friends and food -- two of my favorite things 

that I do not make priorities nearly often enough

working up the strength to go to the gym after having not gone for weeks

my awesome, amazing, wonderful, high-inducing FLOW session - 

*four hours drawing*

the best grilled sandwich I have ever made, by far -- 

turkey, swiss, cheddar on wheat

(the turkey-swiss-cheddar has since been trumped by The Reuben, 

debuting last night at 10:00pm - pastrami, swiss, 'kraut, 

thousand island on Dave's Killer Rye... oh god...)

Anyway, you get the idea.  It makes me feel good about stuff.  Helps me acknowledge what I have, as I have a tendency to pick at the little things that are "wrong" with the day-to-day.  Nothing is ever really wrong, it's just how we arrange it in our minds.

The book referenced above really is a fantastic book.  I haven't finished it yet, as I'm probably the worst reader, ever, in the world, but I find myself wanting to sit quietly and absorb it all.  Very unusual for me and books.