Heaven?

[caption id="attachment_2150" align="alignleft" width="275"] Maybe someday this will be heaven.[/caption]

Now brace yourselves: I've been doing a little exercise.  I go out early in the morning, when it's a bit cool still.  There is a faint breeze.  I feel the warm sunshine on my face, and I listen to the beautiful songs of the birds.  And it is, honestly, sheer h...HELL.  No, it's not heaven!  It hurts! I gasp for air like some kind of dehydrated fish, and I feel like I am staggering along, raising up clouds of dust, barely able to put one foot in front of the other.  But today, instead of my exercise mantra being "thissucksthissucksthissucksthissucks" I started thinking about other things. I started pondering all the things that make me happy.

No one else can make you happy.  It's a job for you and you alone.  When I thought about pleasant things this morning, the exercise period went by much faster, and I didn't notice the pain so much.  And so it is with life--make choices to notice the pleasant things, rather than all the things that suck, and your time here on earth will be so much more enjoyable.

Look, I have almost no disposable income. Any entertainment I have is on a rather frayed shoestring.  Are my relationships blissful and trouble-free?  Not exactly.  But I can make the choice to find enjoyment in certain things.

[caption id="attachment_2129" align="alignright" width="300"] Heaven is a baseball field in a converted cornfield in Iowa? I don't think so. This, my friends, is heaven.
A little gin, a little tonic...ahhh.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2136" align="alignleft" width="300"] Or maybe this is heaven, just back from the library.[/caption]

My friends, my books,

[caption id="attachment_2170" align="alignleft" width="225"] Ohhh, the smell, the taste of fresh pizelle cookies...heaven, of course.[/caption]

my cooking, my adult beverages, my cozy

[caption id="attachment_2141" align="alignright" width="225"] No, wait. THIS is heaven. For sure.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2167" align="alignright" width="300"] Heavenly sunset? A cliche, but true nonetheless.[/caption]

home--they all make me happy.

[caption id="attachment_2182" align="alignleft" width="225"] Heavenly--a stack of magazines, all waiting for me to read (I may have a bit of an addiction, but it's just that it's so cheap to subscribe through Amazon...).[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2140" align="alignleft" width="250"] And this is heaven if you are a dog who isn't allowed up on the couch.[/caption]

So here's a little gallery of some things that make it a heaven on earth for me. Now you find some things that make YOU happy.  You'll feel so much better.