Get Happy!

I got the most ridiculous letter in the mail on Monday. The author was a doctor whose care I came under last summer (2008, to be clear). She said she hoped the letter found me well. She informed me that due to 60 days of inactivity, she was closing my file. At first I was dismissive, ridiculing the correspondence because I'd actually been inactive for over 6 months and the bitch was LATE. But, the more I made fun of it, the more I thought about what it meant. My file was closed. It was CLOSED. And that stupid piece of paper morphed into a certificate of accomplishment.

It will take every remaining bit of 2009 to recap the year. There's 1/6th of it left, I know. If I wait until 2010 then I'll get behind on recapping THAT year. And lookit: I'm not exactly on top of this stuff. Slow, even. I offer my last blog post, written two months ago, as Exhibit A. Bailiff, please add it to the list of evidence. Who's that shouting at me from the back of the courtroom? You! You there! Kiss m--

A guy just sat down next to me at Barista. He spoke to me, then looked at my wedding ring. He's not talking to me anymore.

One of the ways I've worked on Get Happy! is to volunteer my time with Hands On Greater Portland. In my opinion, finding rewards that are non-monetary is a big component of finding the Happy! in life. Here is a great example:

I keep trying to send everyone I know to a therapist. Guess it's the giving mentality I have at this time of year: "Merry Christmas! Here's a gift debit card and the name of a great counselor. No, no, I'm not saying you need to go--I'm just saying that you might like it..."