Happier Made Simple™ Blog
Choose Your Words. Change Your Life.
Welcome to Happier Made Simple™: Choose Your Words. Change Your Life.
This community is for you if you want to Live Happier- Every Day , taking small, immediate steps.
Don’t miss Randye’s New Book,
Happer Made Simple™: Choose Your Words. Change Your Life. Now Available!
The Preschoolers Were Acting Up, So I Gave Myself a "Time Out." Here’s Why.
The transition from preschool classroom to Grandma’s car was going great- until it wasn’t.
You know. Change is hard. Especially if you’re 3 ½ (boy, let’s call him B) or 4 ½ (girl, or G) years old.
As every parent, grandparent, or caregiver knows, things with kids can change at the drop of a hat – or, in this case, an accidental head bump with a younger brother.
Happier: The Authentic and Resilient Foundation for Success
John Jaramillo and I had so much fun sharing ideas, that this Book Leads podcast/show went way over the hour! Hope you enjoy listening as much as we loved chatting about leadership, books, setting and reaching goals but with a solid foundation of what really matters in the big picture of your life:
Happier Made Simple™ is an Audiobook Too!
If you've been hoping to hear Happier Made Simple "read by the author", you've got your wish! Soon it will be on Audible, but in the meantime you can get it through Kobo/Walmart or Chirp!
here is a sample:
Nine parenting Lessons Re-Learned: A Weekend of Grandbaby-sitting
Losing the tv remote can be a good thing. (Really, we didn’t fake it.) The morning was more creative, less argumentative, and they “forgot” to have the morning snack they usually think they need.
Invincible: On Audacity, Big Magic and Being a Happily Flawed Badass
I think Elizabeth Gilbert and Jen Sincero are changing my (literal) dreams.
Take last night. I had the best dream.
(Ugh, yeah, I know Not a fan of dream stories either. #sorrynotsorry.)
Why so great, you ask? (of course you do. I’m making up both sides of this conversation)
Funny You Should Ask: “How do you stay so positive?”
I think I recognize the eyes and the hair. Is that my friend Beth behind the N95 mask? (One of the all-too-familiar new brain tasks in our Covid-19 world.)
Yes, it is Beth, and we carefully hug each other hello (faces pointed away to avoid germs, sheesh) in the supermarket aisle. It has been way too long.
I really miss seeing people’s faces and hugging without fear. Sigh.
Happier, Not Happiness. Why? Setting the Record Straight
“Randye, I really hesitated bringing up the topic of happiness tonight, because of your book. I don’t want to negate your message.”
Those words, from the leader of our Mussar study group (I’ll explain later) last night.
I so appreciate her concern, but immediately move to set the record straight.
Parenting: The Love Whose Goal is Separation
I waited at the school bus stop for E, my oldest (Kindergarten) grandchild, and looked forward to the huge smile and hug she always gives when she sees it’s me meeting the bus today.
This time, though, I got a consolation hug and a small smile. No running into my arms. No “Hi, Grandma!!!!!” . Instead, E handed me her backpack and walked four steps ahead of me to be with the two older girls who live across the street.
"I Appreciate You": Does Enduring Love Require Gratitude?
“Without gratitude, love cannot endure.”
This quote stood out to me in the required reading for an adult learning class on Mussar ” a traditional Jewish path of spiritual development that leads to awareness, wisdom, and transformation.” That week’s topic? Gratitude, which happens to be a vital element in Core Phrase #4 in Happier Made Simple‘s chapter about Appreciation.
Aging Proudly: 5 Ways to Fight Back Against "Age-Defying"
68. And a half. That's my age number, and I'm proud of it.
Or at least I'm working on it. Constantly.
My little grandkids will announce my age number loud and proud to anyone in line at Stop and Shop - so why does part of me cringe when they do?
Hello Again, Stranger!: Tiptoeing Back Into Small Encounters
How I've missed you, person I meet by accident. We've been in our caves, zooming away, and hiding behind our masks for too long.
Legacy: The too-short life of Amy Oestreicher
Ten years ago, I auditioned to play a role I’d performed twice before: Nancy in Oliver. I didn’t get cast (it had been a long shot, age-wise, but hey). The role went to my friend Amy - who was, to be fair, much more suited to it. Not only was Amy 30 years younger than I am, but she actually looked the part of the underfed, abused waif that Dickens’ Nancy probably was.
Why did Amy look so thin?
Five Good Things When You Take a Facebook Break
For the past couple of years, I have begun the fall season by quitting Facebook - cold turkey – for ten days. This year, I liked the results so much that I haven’t gone back yet, except to check notifications for only a minute or so. I swear. So far, I have hardly clicked “like”, and (gasp!) haven’t even read my birthday messages that came in during the dry spell.