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.
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.
Hindsight Resolutions: What Got Done in 2021?
Happy New Year! If you feel like you’ve already let yourself down by not yet making any Resolutions for 2022, you can opt to give yourself a break.
"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.
It Is What It Is: How Accepting Reality Leads to Happier
Core Phrase #2: It Is What It Is.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because (a) I did not make up the phrase – it’s widely used, and (b) the Reality concept here is also about something we also hear a lot about: Acceptance.
Whenever I find myself spinning my wheels about "why me?" and "this shouldn't be this way"...I realize I'm doing just that...spinning my wheels, and with absolutely no traction. In mud. Or snow.
Happier Made Simple: The Book, Some Listening, and You
What is Happier Made Simple really all about?
It's about little changes that can make a big difference.
Like: the words we use when we talk to ourselves, and to others.
Like: trying some actions even before they feel like second nature- and noticing what happens.
Like: taking small, consistent steps until you reach your goals.
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.
April's Word: Complete. How Did it Go?
Well…is anything ever really complete? (*sighs* started with a disclaimer…no-judgment zone)
As you may be aware, this year I opted out of New Year’s Resolutions (okay, opted out again) and chose instead a try-and-see approach simply by choosing a word for each month, no pressure, and seeing what might happen.
Unmoored: What To Do if Life Goes Adrift
I'm not a huge interpreter of dreams, but last night's was a doozy. My home was about to fall into a sinkhole. ( What ?!?! )
So I had to climb onto the roof, leaving behind all I had worked so hard to create. Carefully chosen wallpaper, brownies baking in the oven - all abandoned; I climbed up, nearer to the sky (with a friend, identity unknown) as the house drifted into the water (I guess I had scored a waterfront property in this dream, wahoo) - destination entirely unknown. No map. Just safety from disaster, and no choice but to trust that we would land somewhere. Somehow. And eventually we did land - on an island where my family was among others waiting to share this new experience.
What’s in a Word? Turns Out, a Whole Lot.
Screw New Year’s Resolutions. Especially this year, unless the resolution is to just, well, stay alive. (Stupid Covid.) I can’t remember the last time I made a resolution, anyway, since my higher self knows they only make it until mid-January at best. Then it’s another whole 11½ months of Oreos buttered popcorn, and guilt until we “resolve” again.
Dear Evi: Wishing You Simple Childhood Joys
Dearest grandbaby Eviana -
New Year's Eve Day has forever gained a new meaning, leaving things like resolutions in the dust of a much more important focus: your birthday.
This year, you will be one whole year old on December 31, and you've already changed the world. Well - ours, at least. Your joy, your love, your needs, your snarky sense of fun and play...what an amazing person you already are!
In a Word: New Year Changes Made Simple
Bah! Humbug! to New Year's Resolutions.
I mean, seriously, have they ever really worked for you? If so, then you are a stellar human being and - seriously - I applaud you.
So this is for the rest of us.
The Five Phrases to Ignore, for a Happier Life
Advertising is everywhere. Every day we're bombarded by images and words that suggest - gently or insistently - that our lives suck. Or we suck. Or at least, that things could be a lot better, and why the heck are we sitting around just enjoying the day?
When Did Happiness Get So Complicated?
Let me guess what you're thinking (because I would be too):
What?!?! Another website about happiness? Seriously? What for?