The Art of Living

Have you noticed that people are not allowed to be unhappy, not even in the least.

In fact, if you are a female, you are not even allowed to have a “resting” face.  Don’t beleive me?  Think back on how many times you’ve been told to smile.  For no reason other than because you were not smiling.

Some people say that smiling, whether you feel like it or not, can actually make you BE happer.

This is not always the case.

Studies have shown that people who smile not because they are happy, but JUST to mask their more negative emotions, begin to associte smiling with UNHAPINESS.

Through research this study found that people who did not usually smile when they were happy actually felt WORSE when they smile more frequently.   The people who often smiled when happy felt better when they smiled.

So, if you are natural smiler then smiling can possibly make you feel better.  But if you’re natural inclination isn’t to break a huge grin every chance you get, then forcing yourself to smile will make your mood worse, not better.

Not to mention, when someone tells you to smile it is USUALLY a guy telling a woman to smile.

Why?

Because a smile is more pleasant for them to look at.

Yep, the guy wants you to smile, because HE thinks you look better when you smile and HE wants something easy on the eyes.  It’s not really about caring for the well being of the non-smiling person.  It’s all about desire and attraction.

If you really do care for someone and want them to be happier, then just commanding them to smile isnt the solution.

What do you do?

Don’t say, “You’d be happier if you smiled” or “You’d be pretty if you’d smile.” you should do something FOR them to make them smile.

Give them a compliment.  Give them a gift.  Tell them a joke.  Do something to brighten their day and EARN that smile.

As a writer, I want to evoke emotion in my reader.

What I’m often going for is humor.  I like to make people smile.  I love to make people laugh.  I never was the class clown, but in my circle of friends there are people who think I’m pretty funny.

I try to bring out my humor in my writing.  But humor writing is hard.  You don’t have the same inflection as you do when you are actually speaking.  People might not pick up my sarcasm in writing where they would hear it in person.

Sometimes I want to evoke a different emotion in my readers.  I want them to feel the same outrage and anger that I do on certain subjects.

You would think that would be easier than humor.  The world seems on edge today, ready willing and able to be outraged.  Except the things that outrage me don’t seem to outrage other people as much.

Instead of feeling my outrage they sometimes tell me I’m being “too sensitive.”

I try to make my readers feel sympathy sometimes.  Usually for myself.

Yeah, I fish for feel good comments when I’m feeling particularly depressed.  Why?

Because just as I try to evoke emotions in my readers, my readers can also bring emotions to me with their words.

A supportive word can uplift me.

Having someone tell me something I’ve written was funny will make me happy.

Having someone agree with my anger and outrage on a subject makes me feel validation.

Yes, blogging is a 2 way street.  You GIVE to your readers, and in return you RECEIVE from your commentors.  (Not all readers are commentors.  Not all commentors are regualr readers.)

Blogging is the height of faceless communication in the modern world.

I wonder what the next generation will bring

What platform will they use to evoke their own emotions.

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This post was inspired by a prompt from journalwild.com

Today was a good (mental) day.

I sat at my desk and I cleaned out 2 of the drawers.  I threw out a lot of stuff.

Of course I threw a lot of stuff into a bucket too, leaving it to be sorted further later.  But at least I didnt’ just jam that stuff into the two drawers that were not cleaned.

Then I somehow found myself watching videos about growing potatoes in Potato Towers.  Which seems like something that would be totally doable.

So I found myself looking into what I would need to get the supplies to build a potato tower, and get some seed potatoes.

See, I’ve had homesteading on my mind since my last post here( see Lacking Chickens).

Sadly I have not been able to make any headway on my husband to maybe, just MAYBE, think about trying to sell our house in this crappy city and move to the country.  He has nightmares about being more than 15 minutes away from a movie theater, and I want to live a simpler, safer and SANER life than I currently do.

I mean, it would be nice to live somewhere I could go in my yard and NOT hear steady streams of traffic.  Or somewhere I could go to sleep and night and NOT hear sirens as a background noise.  Somewhere I could look out the window and NOT see drug deals going down on the corner.

*sigh*

Well, its not like we could just move onto a 2 acre plot tomorrow anyway.  We’re broke after all.  So I started thinking of ways to make the best of my own back yard.

Apparently back yard homesteading is a thing.  Then again, these people all seem to have bigger and brighter back yards than mine.  (mine is mostly in the shade and too small for much of a garden)

So I’m trying to find ways to use the space I have.

Now, if we could just afford to put up a privacy fence I’d be much, much happier.

What are you inspired to do in this new year?

The  name of my little blog here is called the ART of living.

I love art.  I love creativity  I love color and crafts.

I create too little though.  It has been that way for a while  At work and at home I am surrounded by art and craft supplies, but I hardly do anything dealing with it.

At this point I’m not sure if its depression, exhaustion or procrastination.  Pretty much any word with an -ion at the end of it could be blamed for my lack of creativity.

Two days ago I was off work and I pulled out some things to make some stamped paper tags.  They are still laying on the table in the baby’s room that is my craft surface.

I was off today and I thought, “I really need to go in there and make those tags.”

It didn’t happen though.  The tags and stamp are still laying on the table.

See, late last year and in the early days of this one, I was inspired to put some items in my etsy shop.

I’m still on the cusp of losing my job (I’ve got one week left in a 2 week period I had to make it all better) and I need the income.  And in the event that I save my job, I could still use the extra cash, because we are making ends meet but have very little fun money.

Anyway, I have an etsy store, and I need to get some product in it.  I was also thinking of opening a second store at shophandmade.

But….I keep not making things to put in either store.

And I think I know why.

I think I am afraid.

I have a huge fear of failure.  I’m afraid that no matter what I try to sell, it wont sell.  Or it will sell, and the person on the other end will HATE it.

So instead of making and listing those hand stamped paper tags, I started playing a new game on facebook.

That’s not going to make anything better.

And now, 10 days into the new year, I’ve kind of lost my inspiration.

How does one find that again without waiting for 2017 to roll around and get that “New Year” vibe going again.

Hi, my name is Nona, and I’m tired of Christmas music.

Yeah, I said it.  I’m tired of it.

I’ve been listening to Christmas music since November 1st.

One song I’m particularly tired of is “Baby its Cold Outside.”

I call it the “Date Rape Song” as the whole thing seems to be about her trying really hard to get out of his house, and him coming up with all kinds of reasons she can’t leave.  At one point she even says, “Hey, whats in this drink?”  So, he either unknowingly spiked her drink, or drugged it, and either way that’s not such a good thing.

My husband laughed at the reason I hated the song.  I guess he doesn’t buy into my Date Rape theory.

Another song I’m tired of is that blasted Christmas Shoes song. I’m just happy they are not playing it every third song like they have in years past.  Talk about one depressing bit of “Holiday Cheer.”

I guess I’m just not in the holiday spirit.  Of course it has been “Christmas” in my store since August.  I told a customer today I was ready for Easter.  They acted shocked.

“Easter!?!”

Yeah, I’m so tired of Christmas I want to skip ahead a couple of holidays.

Oh, and did I mention that its NOT cold outside.  Not at all  Temperature in the high 70s.  I know that some cold and snow covered peoples would love that right about now, but I’m sitting here like, “Hey, Winter, where did ya go?”

You can have your own sequined pink flamingo shirt if you buy me from amazon.

I’m not dreaming of a “White Christmas” but one where I can wear a cozy sweater is preferable to one where I’m opening presents wearing my sequined flamingo tank top.

(Yes, I have a sequined flamingo tank top.  Don’t judge me.)

An online friend, @rusty2rusty , made a post recently stating that she felt Invisible in a Sea of Bloggers, and I had to concur with her.

This morning I checked the stats on a blog that I posted to yesterday.  It was a crafty type blog on how to make a Hand-print Snowman Ornament.

After I made the post I checked my stats and it showed I had a certain number of unique views.  A unique view for this site is someone who visits the link and stays for a certain amount of time.  Lets say, a minute.

I shared this link to my personal facebook page, and a couple of blog sharing groups.  I shared it to G+ and stumbleupon and twitter.  I pinned it on pinterest and later shared it on my facebook fan page as well.  One other person liked it enough that THEY shared it as well.

This morning when I checked out my stats I found that I had only gained 2 unique views.

ONLY 2?!?!?!

Well, I was a little miffed.  I mean, I can’t say only two people clicked my link, but only two stayed long enough to be counted.  Did they even read it?  I don’t know.

So this morning I did what any mature blogger would do.

I ranted on Facebook of course:

//

After which a few of my friends said that they never see my blog posts.

Ooookay.  So maybe with my few thousand connections (a small number really) not a single one of them are seeing my blogs?  Are they getting lost under the other stuff I post?

And its totally against the rules of some places I blog at to ask straight out for visits.

So I guess I’ll have to find some way to bring my blog posts to attention.  Something like ***NEW BLOG POST*** before any new posts I share.

Or something.

Because if I don’t get the views I don’t get the pennies.  And I need the pennies.

Happy First Day of December.

Almost over, but still the first where I sit.

It has been a long and emotionally draining week for me.  I worked a long stretch over the holiday weekend.  It is exhausting to work Thanksgiving weekend in retail.  I worked Thanksgiving day, Black Friday, the whole weekend, Monday and Tuesday, not to mention the whole end of the week before.

I’m sitting here now with a cup of Sleepytime Tea, hoping it will help me relax.

It smelled really nice right after it brewed, but it doesn’t taste anything like it smells.

I know that sleepytime doesn’t really make you sleepy, but chamomile is supposed to be relaxing.  Maybe it will mellow me enough to get some good rest tonight.

I’m sort of a hater of the holidays.  Maybe I shouldn’t say that out loud, or Krampus might get me.

I woke up full of hope on this first day of December.  I had a bounce in my step and a song in my heart.  Well, maybe not a whole song, but a tune at least.

All it took was a long, busy, dehumanizing day at work to knock me down a peg.

I am, however, off the next two days.  I have a few things planned to do on my days off.  Maybe I’ll actually get them done and not just sit and turn into a human flesh puddle because I don’t have to be at work for the next two days.

Mmmm….

Turning into a human flesh puddle actually sounds sort of appealing in way however.

Maybe I will sit down with one of my adult coloring books.

Adult coloring books are supposed to be all the rage right now.  I have a few I’ve gotten from work, and from Blogging for Books, and even some sheets that a friend mailed me.

Coloring these coloring pages is supposed to be relaxing.  Maybe that really is what I should do tomorrow.  Just sit down and color for an hour or two.

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