To live a well balanced, rewarding life of our dreams by day and sleep restfully at night.
Collecting things we love makes us happy!
Published March 15, 2012 | 
Do you like to collect things?
I’m not talking about the “packrat”, clutter, don’t throw anything away type of collecting…
But rather creating a group of special things. Treasures…
I can remember being a young child growing up on the island of Oahu and having the most wonderful seashell collection that I found myself snorkeling at various favorite beaches. There was such a great variety in these shells. I would on a regular basis dump my collection out on our coffee table in the living room and go about sorting and classifying all of the beautiful varieties of shells I had.
I also had a sticker collection, stamp collection, marble collection, doll collection, barbie doll collection, stuffed animal collection, t-shirt collection, 45 record collection, cassette tape collection, book collection, a grand jewelery collection made up of puka shells, jade, turquois, and pearls…
Although they weren’t my own I so enjoyed my little brother’s Lego, tinker toy, erector set, Sizzler cars, model airplanes, and toy parachute collections.
As an adult I continued with my collection passion: recipes, photos, journals, books, candles, plants, etc.
What is it about the cultivating and caring for collections of things that brings about so much pure joy?
I believe I know the answer.
When we are collecting something we love, our little “treasures”, we are focused on something positive that gives us delight and pleasure. We are in the NOW when we are with our collections. Our minds are calm and in the flow. We are creators. We are curators of beautiful, wondrous things…
I think that is why sites such as Pinterest are becoming popular. We love to focus on things we love. I remember about ten years ago when my kids were small how popular scrap booking was.
There is a lesson here:
Focus on what we love, what gives us pleasure. That’s it. Simple.
The more we can follow this simple advice the happier and more joy-filled our lives will be.
What can you do now in you busy adult life to focus on and “collect” the treasures that have meaning for you?
Just a few ideas to get you started (for I have no doubt you will come up with your own)…
1. Writing favorite “lists” is a terrific journal writing activity that will make us feel pretty happy very fast. Think: Favorite places, favorite movies, favorite places to kiss, favorite places to have a wedding, you name it. We love lists and there is a reason for that: lists of things we love makes us happy! Simple, right?
2. Open an account at Pinterest and start creating boards of your favorite things. It is simply irresistble. You will love it once you get started.
3. Organize your photos online or in traditional photo albums.
4. Scrapbooks can be great fun.
5. Art. Whatever you can afford, begin an art collection of pieces that move you.
6. Gardening. Grow and care for a collection of plants! Herb gardens, window box gardens, container gardens, vegetable gardens, wildflower gardens, “night time” gardens full of blooms that open and are fragrant at night, rose gardens, spring bulb gardens, etc… growing different kinds of gardens are a great way of growing beautiful collections that are alive and part of nature. This type of “collecting” will feed the soul and spirit for sure. No wonder gardening is so popular.
I will stop here for I am sure you have plenty ideas of your own. Feel free to comment here and add to the post your ideas.
In peace,
Debra
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Posted in Blogging, Happiness, Pinterest, Positive living, Social Media Fun | 
being happy, collecting things, gardening, Pinterest, treasures | 
1 CommentLife is all about relationships!
Published July 1, 2010 | This morning I read our local newspaper and once again there was an article about the quality of our school system and what can be done about it. High stakes testing, teacher accountability, constant changing of curriculum, throwing money at the system, etc. is not going to fix much.
This afternoon I took a break from my computer and sat outside in the back where we have a wonderful community pond with a fountain and oak trees. As a school teacher I think about our school system and what can be done. It dawned on me this afternoon, that like anything in life, education is about relationships. Relationships between Government, Superintendents, school boards, community members, administrators, teachers, parents, and most importantly- the students! I think when I am finished with this post I will write to the editor of our newspaper with my thoughts on what we can do to improve all of these relationships so that learning can actually take place in our classrooms (great idea, huh?!)
For our purposes here at The Warm Milk Journal, however, I want you to think about this: relationships and the role they play in your life: personal and business.
For instance in my personal life, I am not going to enjoy my life very much if I don’t nurture the relationship I have with my boyfriend, children, brother, parents, and friends. Without these special people life would be a pretty empty and colorless canvass to tread on. My work life: I am not going to be a very effective teacher if I don’t develop a thriving relationship with all of my little second graders, their parents, and my administrators and colleagues.
For The warm Milk Journal: I know some of you who follow me on twitter and read The warm Milk Journal are business owners and bloggers yourselves. My goodness, we can’t do this alone, now can we? It truly takes developing a community with your readers and others from your online niche comunity to get a quality site up and running- not to mention all of the technical, business, and marketing mentoring you will need if you are a relative newbie like me. Phew…..
Anyway, think about your relationships. They can be viewed like gardens. Are your gardens well tended or are there patches out there that are getting weedy and neglected and overgrown? A weed patch is not much of a garden.
I also like the bank account metaphor. Treating our relationships is like a bank account. So long as our deposits out number our withdrawals we stay solvent. It is ideal to put in lot’s of deposits and have a very healthy bank account balance. Obviously, if we stop putting deposits in all together or worse, get overdrawn- we are bankrupt.
Some ideas to think about as our day turns to evening. It could be something to write about in your journal tonight.
I need to go write that letter to the editor now about our educational system…
Debra : )
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