All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. ~ Pablo Picasso
Tonight friends a tour around the web to look for resources on how to make and keep children happy ~ Rev Kane
Seven secrets to raising a happy child
Seven habits of highly happy children
How to raise a happy child (ages 2 to 4)
Twenty-two ways to keep kids happy when it’s cold and icky outside
Hello my friends, so a new year has started and many of us have resolved to make some changes in the coming new year. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve taken a look at the most popular resolutions and hopefully we’ve provided some help with yours, tonight our last one, helping you avoid procrastination.
Procrastination is something I’m sure we’re all too familiar with, it seems when you have something to do, particularly if you don’t want or know how to do it, any other task is preferable. Without a doubt while I was in graduate school and I needed to work on my thesis you could eat off of my floors, that’s how clean my place was. Now ordinarily I’m not a clean fanatic but somehow I could easily convince myself that my place needed to be clean and orderly before I could get my work done. Rationalization is by far the greatest human skill.
Tonight a really great piece from Gretchen Rubin on how best to not procrastinate. Her advice is fantastic and will certainly help you have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane
I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel. ~ Katherine Hepburn
Hello my friends, so a new year has started and many of us have resolved to make some changes in the coming new year. We are addressing each of top ten resolutions and hopefully helping you be more successful. Tonight, we talk about taking time for yourself in the new year.
This particular New Year Resolution is a very interesting one for me to write about. You see I’m an introvert, although most people who know me often think that I’m an extrovert. What most people miss is that the true measure of whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert has to do with how you charge your batteries. Recently a friend posted an amazing graphic on what it means to be an introvert.
It would be rare in my estimation for an introvert to resolve to spend more time alone in the new year as we require time alone. It is how we recharge, you see interactions with others drain us of our energy, where as an extrovert actually gains energy from social interaction. Surprisingly to most people introversion or extroversion has little to do with how social you are or even how much you enjoy social interaction. So us introverts already know a lot about spending time alone and what that can do for you. So tonight’s post is pointed at the extroverts out there.
For those of you who feel that time alone can be a bit unnerving, here are some reasons that you should allow yourself more time alone. First is that it allows you to rest and recharge, take a break from all of the needs and responsibilities around you. Second, it allows for quiet reflection and this can help your mood, alleviate depression, and develop your creativity. Of course no need to take my word on it, from Psychology Today, Six reasons to spend more time alone.
The article gives you some good tips on how to carve out some alone time even in the midst of our busy schedules. So take some time my friends and it will help you have a happy day ~ Rev Kane
The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop. ~ Mark Twain
If you have been reading this blog lately you know that I have been waiting on the birth of my latest nephew, Yogi. Well I’m proud to say all 6 pounds 9 ounces has finally arrived, he’s absolutely adorable and we’re all excited to have him with us. So tonight I thought I’d write a little bit about all six of the little joys that are my nieces and nephews, you’ve met the youngest little Yogi and now the rest.
My littlest niece Rooney is a complete and total wildcat, she’s a bundle of energy and already at 20 months she’s an absolute chatter box. I haven’t seen her in person since she was three months old so something interesting has developed between us, I do believe my niece thinks I’m electronic. She’s seen me on the computer, spoken and seen me on the phone and even seen me on television. I look forward to seeing her soon and am not quite sure how she will react when she sees that I’m a lot less flat, a lot larger and a lot hairier in person.
My next niece is the budding star in our family, little Tessie the terrible is always on stage. She dresses and acts and dances like a star and is utterly adorable. She’s also incredibly loving and holds a special place in my heart, I live across the country from my family and Tessie is the only one of my nieces or nephews I met on the day of their birth.
Tessie’s older brother is the one I have the greatest hope might follow in his uncle’s footsteps and become a scientist. He’s got a sharp mind and is quite fond of explaining scientific topics to his mother, my sister, a tall task as most of her teachers truly struggled with the that task.
Pumpkinhead is my oldest nephew, the one probably closest to me in personality. He’s amazingly smart and quick and has the smart mouth to prove it. Recently he announced himself to me as, “the man better than you.” He’s the mystery to me out of all of them, he’s incredibly intelligent, not thrilled with books and very good with his hands. Perhaps a budding engineer or a mechanic or the next Genghis Khan, only time will tell.
My oldest niece is the physically strongest kid I’ve ever met, since she was little she could punch like and adult man and heave a ball farther than kids twice her age. But the most amazing thing about her is that she is a giant ball of love, the absolute most loving human being I’ve ever known. These traits however are a dangerous combination, when you visit from far away you are subjected to the most wonderful and bone-crushing hugs you can imagine. I fear soon she will pick me up off my feet when she hugs.
I’ve only had the pleasure of getting the whole crew together once, they only numbered four at that point and it was one of the craziest and best days I’ve ever had. Having these munchkins in my life is a great way to have happy days my friends. ~ Rev Kane
The lack of money is the root of all evil. ~ Mark Twain
Hello my friends, so a new year has started and many of us have resolved to make some changes in the coming new year. We are addressing each of top ten resolutions and hopefully helping you be more successful. Tonight, we talk about two common resolutions together managing money better and getting a new job.
Money is one topic that always sends my stress levels through the roof, perhaps it’s because I didn’t have a lot growing up, I’m not sure. I do know that money issues are one of my major triggers. So many people talk about managing money better and the better you do with this, the happier you will likely be. So tonight our first piece is a piece about how to manage your finances better, it’s a simple piece but I really like it, Four tips on how to better manage your money.
Finding a new job in the new year. First, do you really want/need a new job. I think it’s important to carefully figure out why you are unhappy at your current job? Is there a change you can make in your current position to make you happier? If there isn’t, then you have to decide is what you need to be at a new company or to be in a new career. So first a piece on finding a new career, Seven Steps to Breaking in a new Career.
Next a piece on finding happiness in your current job, because very often we can’t make a drastic change given the responsibilities in our lives, here is Five Ways to Finding Happiness at Work.
Enjoy, hopefully this will give you a starting point on your resolutions and help you have a happier day at work ~ Rev Kane
Exercise to stimulate, not to annihilate. The world wasn’t formed in a day, and neither were we. Set small goals and build upon them. ~ Lee Haney
Hello my friends, so a new year has started and many of us have resolved to make some changes in the coming new year. We are addressing each of top ten resolutions and hopefully helping you be more successful. Tonight, the second most common resolution, this year I’m going to exercise more.
I think the thing that holds back most people from starting an exercise program or exercising more, is the word exercise itself. It sounds so daunting and part of the problem are gyms themselves, they can be intimidating places. You go in and there is all of this machinery you don’t know how to use, you feel like everyone is watching you and of course the really fit people just make you ill.
So there are two bits of wisdom I can share, the first is to change the wording, don’t call it exercising, don’t go to the gym, just resolve to move more than you already do. You can do this a lot of ways, park further away from the work and store. Take a short work on lunch every day, the real goal is just to move more. Get a pedometer and count your steps everyday and just resolve to increase it by one step a day. Yes, you read that correctly, one step a day, really want to crank, resolve to double the number of steps you increase everyday. So do 1 more step tomorrow, 2 more the day after, 4 the day after that, etc… You can use the same approach with any exercise sit ups, push ups, pull ups, just endeavor to do one more tomorrow than you did today and start with just 1. What is really important here is that you do something and keep increasing what you do. The big thing is to turn what you are doing into a habit.
A habit takes time and effort to become ingrained into your pattern, so tonight not a piece on exercising, but a piece on creating positive habits. So create some positive exercise habits and have a good day my friends ~ Rev Kane
Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels ~ Elizabeth Berg
Hello my friends, so a new year has started and many of us have resolved to make some changes in the coming new year. We are addressing each of top ten resolutions and hopefully helping you be more successful. Tonight, the most common resolution, wanting to lose weight in the new year.
There is a word I seldom here when people talk about weight loss and that is patience. It’s a process, it actually is best when it occurs slowly, at least from the perspective that if you lose weight at a rate of 2 pounds or less per week, you are more likely to keep the weight off. I’m in this boat with you friends, I’ve promised myself I’ll lose 20 pounds by my birthday in August. So tonight a piece on some good sensible advice on how best to lose weight for all of us.
So take your time, be patient, lose some weight and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane
Making the decision to have a child—it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body ~ Elizabeth Stone
So for the next couple of days my family is on baby watch, my brother’s wife has reached her due date and we are all awaiting the birth of my newest nephew, their first child, who we affectionately refer to as Yogi. We call the little guy Yogi because on one of the early ultrasounds he looked like he was doing in utero Yoga poses. Anybody already doing Yoga poses pre-birth must be a Yogi.
This is going to be a special birth to me, my brother is significantly younger than I am and I helped raise him. As such he is to me more than a brother, nearly a son, so little Yogi is almost like a nephew and a grandson all wrapped up in one. So I’m really excited, waiting for Yogi and having a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other ~ Abraham Lincoln
Hello my friends, so a new year has started and many of us have resolved to make some changes in the coming new year. Below is a list of the 10 most common resolutions people make each year and over the next couple of weeks we’ll address each of them in their own separate piece and hopefully help you be more successful. For tonight, here’s a piece on the overall strategy for being successful with resolutions. So give it a read, stay focused and successful and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane
1. Weight-loss
2. Exercise
3. Budget money better
4. Get a new/better job
5. Eat more healthfully
6. Manage stress better
7. Quite smoking or another bad habit
8. Improve a relationship
9. Stop Procrastinating
10. Take some time for myself
New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ~ Mark Twain
Happy New Year 2014 my friends, may it be a wonderful year full of wonder and magic, to start your year off some words from Deng Ming-Dao on beginnings. Have a happy day every day all year my friends ~ Rev Kane
Beginning
This is the moment of embarking
All auspicious signs are in place
In the beginning, all things are hopeful. We prepare ourselves to start anew. Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in this first moment: our optimism, our faith, our resolutions, our innocence.
In order to start, we must make a decision. This decision is a commitment to daily self-cultivation. We must make a strong connection to our inner selves. Outside matters are superfluous. Alone and naked, we negotiate all of life’s travails. Therefore, we alone must make something of ourselves, transforming ourselves into the instruments for experiencing the deepest spiritual essence of life.
Once we make our decision, all things will come to us. Auspicious signs are not a superstition, but a confirmation. They are a response. It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive. In the same way, once we choose to commit ourselves to spiritual practice, even the mountains and valleys will reverberate to the sound of our purpose.
