A bold claim you might be saying to yourself and at one time I was as skeptical as you. I’d come home with a distaste for humanity, peeved off that the reckless idiotic drivers on the way home are so impatient they have to violently swerve around you to prover their point even if it means nearly missing their turn.

Regardless of how many idiotic drivers or other toxic humans you encounter throughout your day it is just as easy to let all of those interactions go. Forget about the way it made you feel and stop dwelling on all of the negative. Being disgruntled and choosing to live in mental ruin is exactly that, A CHOICE. From this moment forward simply CHOOSE to be grateful. I mean beam with it, go all in and force yourself to let go of the little things that used to bother you.

Did you get cut off on the road, oh well, at least you made it home accident free. Had to deal with workplace toxicity, oh well, you’re not at work 24/7 (and if you are and aren’t currently working for the greater good of humanity tirelessly to keep people alive or researching a vaccine for COVID-19 then you may want to re-evaluate your job choice again it’s a CHOICE) you’re now home, time to let all of that shit fall right off of your shoulders, take a deep breath and enjoy the rest of your day.

I’ve come to appreciate my family more for the time we spend together around a dinner table talking about our day to day. I don’t think that bringing home any of my disgruntled happenings help anyone’s outlook. It is alright to vent a bit, but if you find it negatively affecting the other members of your household then I’d suggest cognitive offloading in a journal for the good of your lil’ colony.

Just remember gratitude, gratefulness, kindness and empathy. Practice them daily and you’ll be well on your way to true happiness. You never know how good it’ll feel to do something nice for someone especially when that someone is yourself. Let yourself know it is okay to stumble, old habits die hard. If you do trip up, just correct yourself, again deep breath and try it again tomorrow.

I also manage to stay happy by practicing art and calligraphy which you’re probably already well aware of. This past week it hit me that I’d been neglecting my alphabet of flowers project. This week was ”h” and if you follow me on Instagram (you should be 😉 you’d know that “h” is for hellebore. I had a lot of fun with this one, its double petals are absolutely beautiful and a sight to behold. I encourage you to look up double hellebore for a much prettier albeit not as handmade as the one pictured above.

This week’s Spencerian practice and reason I decided to go on a rant about mental ruin and your own happiness was the word ruin. I am truly confused by the difference in the minuscule r between my chain of r’s weeks prior and the r on this word ruin. It almost appears that they differ ever so slightly but I’ll let it slide as I hope these exemplars are written by hand to encourage us to do the same. I still am enamored by the overunder turn connecting the “i” & “n”. The most fun a calligrapher can have, little rollercoasters of practice. No complaints or troubles this week, this was a rather smooth practice session.

I encourage you to be as happy as you choose to be. No one individual in your life is going to have total control over your emotions but you. So until next week, be grateful, stay safe, treat others as you’d like to be treated and happy practicing.