ALL pictures today are still from last week’s Ybor City trip The main one and this first one here are from Dysfunctional Grace Art Company, which is interesting and a bit strange to say the least: http://www.dysfunctionalgrace.com/
If wandering about YBOR isn’t enough of an adventure try the Ghost Tour: Find out where the bodies ar buried. Jose Luis Avellena, Jr. who along with his disembodied nurse haunts the basement of the Don Vicente Inn http://donvicenteinn.com/# or the long deceased shopkeeper who still visits his office in King Corona http://kingcoronacigars.com/ regularly and of course an 8-year old boy who drowned in the Cuban Club pool to name a few. http://thecubanclub.org/
HONORABLE MENTION
ENCORE HOME DECOR
W. Montrose St. Clermont, Fl.
encorehomedecor@ymail.com
THIS IS REALLY–REALLY– REALLY AN IN DEPTH–DETAILED LOOK AT NEXT YEAR’S OUTLANDER (IS IT TIME YET?) AND THE PERSON CASTED FOR THE PARTS:
I never get tired of Jamie lounging in the mill stream.
Yesterday we looked at being thankful and how you can make someone happy and the world a better place by expressing it. Today let’s look at what makes you happy. What do you do and where is your happy place.
Think about it, what really makes you happy–a new car…so superficial but some happiness is fleeting. I was thinking more along the line of family, those kids that drive you mad all day and then curl up on the couch with you to watch some stupid cartoon or that shutters against you in fear as the super hero faces his (or hers) nemesis. While the car gives you short rushes which become less as time goes by and wear and tear raise their ugly head; the child grows and becomes a part of your heart and a symbol (even when they become teens and drive you mad) of all that is good, and loving and worthy of happiness.
WHAT MAKES YOU SMILE? A silly joke, a Monty Python rerun, Robin Williams’ monologues—I look at movies, jokes and funny flamingos, etc as a reminder of what makes us happy—another fleeting joy—but laughter can raise our spirit when we are down and get us through a down time, so the silly and what might appear pointless little things like a Garfield book or a Peanuts cartoon may help us move on or up or whatever. What’s the old saying: “Whatever gets you through the night?” That’s kind of what all these things are and if you’re down (the holidays that are looked on by many as a happy place tends to be more of down and out than an up and coming for many).
So how can you keep positive over the holidays and even after?
Try socializing with positive people—we all have our friends and co-workers that are active and positive and others that aren’t so. If you’re down don’t spend the day with Eeyore—but Tigger may be a bit too much if you really have the blues—those kind of days calls for Winnie’s not over the top but yet positive none the less. It sounds funny but associating with positive people can aid us in being more positive ourselves. Think about a day you spent with your positive friends and then one with the those others that always seem in the middle of soap opera and how you felt while you were with both of them. I’m not saying avoid those people, you could even be their positive friend–but not when you’re down too. Pity Parties are not how you want to spend Turkey Day.
Single, live alone, don’t have any children then the holidays can stretch out in front of you like a waste land of emptiness. Try planning things. My friend and I (she has children–who accompany us— but no other family near by) do Thanksgiving on a riverboat cruise that has a full turkey spread, music, fun and lots of people to share the day with.
For Christmas I host the day at my house, everybody brings a dish or more to share and I invite all my single friends (and anybody else that would like to stop by). I start at noon with appetizers and snacks then about 3 we do the main meal and about 6 dessert. Some friends will stop by on the way to family or other friend’s events for one of the featured food groups and some socializing, so the day is active and varied and I am not alone.
and don’t forget those adventures we have been talking about…getting out and doing something usually brightens your mood and gives your mind something new and positive to deal with.
and avoiding these negative ways of thinking also helps:
| All-or-nothing thinking – Looking at things in black-or-white categories, with no middle ground (“If I fall short of perfection, I’m a total failure.”) |
| Overgeneralization – Generalizing from a single negative experience, expecting it to hold true forever (“I can’t do anything right.”) |
| The mental filter – Ignoring positive events and focusing on the negative. Noticing the one thing that went wrong, rather than all the things that went right. |
| Diminishing the positive – Coming up with reasons why positive events don’t count (“She said she had a good time on our date, but I think she was just being nice.”) |
| Jumping to conclusions – Making negative interpretations without actual evidence. You act like a mind reader (“He must think I’m pathetic”) or a fortune teller (“I’ll be stuck in this dead end job forever.”) |
| Emotional reasoning – Believing that the way you feel reflects reality (“I feel like such a loser. I really am no good!”) |
| ‘Shoulds’ and ‘should-nots’ – Holding yourself to a strict list of what you should and shouldn’t do, and beating yourself up if you don’t live up to your rules. |
| Labeling – Labeling yourself based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings (“I’m a failure; an idiot; a loser.”) |
