Enchanted

Being enchanted is my job.  It's my daily practice.  In one form or another, it's what I've taught people as a licensed, PhD psychologist in my prairie private practice for nearly 30 years. And in exactly that form - being enchanted, or grateful, or happy- it has been my deliberate, focused intention for at least the last 15 years. You can teach yourself how to be resilient, happy, enchanted as well by following this blog.  Want to learn how to be like a goose and wake up in a new world every day?  In this blog, I'll write about grand baby magic, looking at grass upside down, breathing like you don't really know how - living well in your body, mind, spirit and relationships.  It's all pretty simple, but it's not easy.  Shall we?

Rules:

I love rules.  I've always been one of those good girls who followed the rules.  Show me the rules, I'll follow them so well and you'll just love me.  I know.  You probably hate me already.  I was about 9 (Thank you very much, mom and dad.  You are wizards.) before I realized that some rules suck. As a 56 year old PhD licensed clinical psychologist with a private practice, a husband, 3 daughters, three magical grand children and two dogs, I've read lots of other people's rules, made up and tossed a lot of my own and can honestly say that there are some things that work if you practice them.  I love extravagantly, use my aging body reasonably well and am mostly happy so the rules work for me.  

In this daily blog, I'll give you rules I've learned to follow in the care of  mind, body, spirit and relationships that do create happiness.  And this one that won't.  Since middle school, I made up a rule that I had to wear wool at the beginning of the school year.  Bobby Brooks pleated skirt, sweater and knee socks.  So, whether it was 100+ degrees or not (which it usually is in Central Illinois in late August, early September), all those long first days of school, I tortured myself in lovely fall colors and hot, itchy wool.  Don't do stuff like that.  If any of my rules strike you as silly, don't do that either.  You can pick and choose.  But practice for a while - 21 days in a row (harder than you think) before you toss them.  And start with the first rule - gratitude.  Not kidding. I have 15 years of daily practice and it's a good thing.   Every day for 3 weeks (it takes 3 weeks to make a habit), I'd like you to write down 3 things that made you grateful that day.  Feel free to share them at the end of each of these blogs.  I'll start each of my notes with one of my 3 things.  XOXO