“The resolution to laugh out loud goes beyond mere laughter. Responding with laughter sometimes means that you have to give up your pride, your defensiveness, your self-centeredness.”
Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, One-Sentence Journal, A Five-Year Record
These days, we text “lol” all the time. How often do we actually do it?
A few weeks ago, in On A Roll, I talked about how when I turn onto Funshawe with my granddaughters, Simone and Naomi Lou, we laugh out loud, uproariously, because it’s so fun on Funshawe. But are we always in the mood for it? Sometimes we’re dog-tired. Sometimes Simone goofed up, put on her wrong pants, is wearing what I call her “grumpy pants”. But the cool thing about young kids is that, most of the time, they can snap out of a funk pretty fast. Perhaps their pride, defensiveness and self-centeredness is not so well-established?
To keep me lol-ing on a regular basis (besides by giving me precious, precocious and happy grandkids), my daughter Jetanne gave me a little blue book for Christmas, with the blue bird of happiness on it. It’s a five-year one-sentence journal put together by Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project. Says Rubin, “A one-sentence journal is very satisfying: it’s manageable, so it doesn’t feel like a burden; it gives me the feeling of accomplishment and growth that’s so important to happiness; it helps me recall happy moments; and it gives me a reason to reflect on my experiences in a loving and grateful way.”
Gratitude is such a huge ingredient to happiness, yes? I’m on my fifth year of my journal, so as I fill in my sentences each day for 2016 I get a quick infusion of gratitude, while also reliving my experiences of that day for the previous five years. I seem to have a lot to say, so it’s hard for me to stick to the one-sentence guideline.
2012 May 25: Great weather and bright cheery tops for the 21st annual fundraiser for Children’s Health Foundation put on by Gaby (instructor and owner of Jazzercise Fitness Centre) at Wonderland Gardens. Perform my routines with abandon! Proud of Viv (who I had trained to be an instructor).
2013 May 25: Such a busy Saturday, with Jazzercise class first thing, hot tub bash right after, then travel to Vaughn Mills Mall to shop with sister Jana and niece Alana, dinner with bro Ray at Milestones in Newmarket (so great to catch up), then disappointment at the Georgina Inn (“We can’t stay here!” Alana says, recoiling from bedspreads I recall from 26 years ago). We drive another 40 minutes, back to Newmarket, stay in a brand new Holiday Inn Express.
2014 May 25: Bobby Orr gives me a shoulder massage. Wow! (Should I elaborate on this? He was scouting, from the Global Spectrum suite at Budweiser Gardens, where my husband B is general manager. And it was just a quick couple of shoulder squeezes, I don’t even think B was jealous. Bobby Orr is a nice man. Gracious and kind and interesting and interested.) (Son) Jay comes to final Memorial Cup game too. (When I asked Jay if he’d like to come to the game, that Bobby Orr would be there, then said, “Do you know who Bobby Orr is?”, he said, “Mom. Everyone knows who Bobby Orr is.) Fun.
2015 May 25: I pick up my girls (Simone and Naomi Lou) to play: we look at flowers (the purple irises are blooming), we “shobel” dirt, we Bom Bom (play in Jazzercise studio), we snack (raisins and rice crackers), we laugh.
2016 May 25: Flying WestJet to Vancouver to hang with daughter Randy (her 31st birthday is May 31st!), Jay and his gf Liz for one week. I miss them so much and look forward to chilling, dining, hiking and catching up with them. I work out, so I should be able to keep up!
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