The darkness of night had fallen On the Bog, lit only by a faint crescent moon tucked behind thick clouds, some gently twinkling stars, and lots of blinking fireflies.
The pleasant summer day had been sunny and warm with a happy, cooling breeze to make their playtime an absolute delight! Kat, Bear, and Wogs were all tuckered out from their big outside adventuring and silliness.
Nestled inside Starry Cottage On the Bog, they all snuggled together on their big, fluffy couch and listened to the froggy boggy sounds outside.
Kat(smiling and wondering): It sounds like they’re laughing!
Wogs(nodding and smiling back): Yeah, must be stand-up night, and their comedian is hilarious!
Bear(thinking the frogs were probably laughing at them for spending such a good night inside and missing out on all the moonlit fun, wagged the end of his tail with eagerness, but then yawned): Mrow.
Laughter can actually reduce pain and encourage healing!
And let’s be real … we could all use some healing right now … if not physically, then mentally and emotionally.
As we dip into yet another wave of pandemic challenge and hear more about the climate crisis, and …, and …, and …, … … … whatever the world is throwing our way, it can be hard to stay positive. Upbeat. Lighthearted. … Or even, just to be okay and hanging in there.
Our morale can drop, and with it, it can take our overall well-being (including physical). So it’s important for us to find ways to laugh and lighten up … to be bright and smile!
It’s important for us to connect with our loving, happy peeps! It’s important for us to be seen and heard. And it’s important for us to feel loved, smile big, and laugh hard!
So hug yourself or the creature sitting next to you (human or furry), and tell yourself this goodness: I am LOVED! I am NEEDED! I am a BRIGHT, BEAUTIFUL LIGHT IN THIS WORLD!
Smile and laugh! Share your smiles and laughter with others! (Did you know that even if you have to force a smile or laugh, it still helps??? … It’s true!)
So in these times when it can be easy to see darkness, I offer to you the gentle, loving, hugging reminder to Focus On What You Can Do To Help Your Body Cope And Heal!
And right now, you can smile and laugh! And know I love you!!!
Focus on what you can do, and you will feel a happier and healthier difference in your life!
Here’s you walking along in all your sunshiny potential …
…when suddenly, DRAMA!
It could be you caught a news clip. Or you got some bad news. Or someone is mean to you. … This list can unfortunately go on and on, as I’m sure you know. Life can be like that. But drama happens with you willingly engaging in it, or with it [drama] trying to force itself on you.
Either way … drama is not good. It’s a downward spiral that can lead to stress, which leads to inflammation, which leads illness, disease, and even for some, death. Wuuuuut????
The bottom line: Unhappiness hurts you!
But there is a solution here. It’s easily said, but if you are a drama junkie, it’s not so easily done. Drama is eye catching. It incites the senses. It irks you. Compels you to engage and respond. You’ve got experiences. Opinions. Facts. Feelings. And the energy drama can stir up inside you can’t stay in there. It needs to get out of you. You need to express yourself. Be heard. Be important.
The problems is that a lot of the time, how we express ourselves in the midst of drama isn’t always helpful. It doesn’t fix the problem. It doesn’t resolve the issue. And we end up going around and around with our drama and the stress it creates, and the downward spiral goes even deeper.
Thank goodness we have the power of choice in our own lives! And the “simple” solution that we can choose:
Focus On What YOU CAN DO!
If it’s a situation, relationship, a moment in time, or an experience happening around you, near you, or with you stuck in the middle, ask yourself: Is this something I can personally fix? Is there something I can do to help resolve this situation or make it better?Do I really need to be around this person? Do I really need to do this thing?
If the answer is NO,get out of there! If you can’t help, but you are engaging anyway, you are putting yourself into a moment that will make you feel helpless or inert or some other negative something … but if there’s nothing you can do, except be in the middle of whatever it is, you are taking on an unnecessary stress burden. And the negativity you gain from it is something that you will then have to deal with for yourself. Why do that to yourself?
If the answer is yes – FANTASTIC! You can make a difference, and that can make you feel really good! You can have a positive impact and feel useful! So then:
figure out what you can do
make an action plan
do your action plan
then get out of there!!!
Be effective! Make a difference! Then move on!!! And heal yourself from any lingering stress that came from the efforts of helping resolve or fix the drama!
If it’s informational, ask yourself this: Is this something I need to learn or know? What do I need to learn from it or know about it?
If the answer is NO,get out of there! If you don’t need to know it; if it won’t grow you, help you become a better person, etc; if it isn’t something that will help you become more informed so you can make better choices, then … honestly … you don’t need to know it. It’s information that will only burden you unnecessarily.
But if the answer is yes – FANTASTIC! It’s an opportunity to grow you, become a more informed person … all you have to do is handle the difficulty of whatever the dramatic informational moment is. So:
learn it
know it
then get out of there!!!
So let’s take a quick moment to talk about how to activate your choice. How can you focus on what you can do? Well, start by asking yourself the questions above, and then, if you find yourself having to engage in the drama – set limits and establish boundaries. And if you don’t have to engage in the drama, then eliminate it from your life entirely.
Setting limits and boundaries comes in handy for negative or toxic people or situations in your life you are not prepared to stop engaging in yet, or that you don’t know yet how to stop engaging in.
When you have to engage in the drama:
set your limits and boundaries
stick to them (Value yourself. Love yourself. And be strong for you!)
get in, get done, get out
then self-care and TLC yourself back into wellness!
Eliminating the drama entirely from your life comes in handy for easier, less complicated dramas … like when the media jerks us around like string puppets, playing on our emotions, over sensationalizing the mundane or insignificant, etc. We really don’t need that in our lives, so tuning out, turning it off, and ignoring it is a great step to protecting ourselves: emotionally, mentally, physically … the whole of us.
doing whatever positive, self-loving thing you can to help you heal!
As a general intention to help you be happy and healthy, separate yourself from all of the drama you can. And whatever you have to deal with, find positive ways to manage, cope, heal, and recover. Here’s the important thing about drama. It’s drama. It’s a conflict of intentions that creates an emotional response. If it is not drama that you need to or want to experience, then get it out of your life.Because drama creates stress, which causes inflammation, which leads to illness and disease. And you are an important person. You are valuable and irreplaceable. When you are happy and healthy you function better for yourself and for those around you. You are worth your love and self-care. And you are far more important than so much of the drama we experience every single day. So focus on what you can do, and you will feel the happy, healthy difference it makes in your life!
YAY!!!
Until next week …
Loving you so big and brightly!!! I’m sending you light and love to hug you the biggest!!! May your days be drama-free, and when they can’t, surround yourself with people who will love you, support you, help you, and be the best with you!
Love and Big Hugs,
More Happiness from Mary Kate
Find more happiness, love, big hugs, support, gratitude, POSitude, and Self-Care in these POSitude cards!
Needing some self-care, love and support? Wanting hugs? Treat yourself or someone you love to these Big Loving, Big Hugging daily inspirational, motivational, and empowering POSitude cards! They really can make a big difference in your day!!!
Get Your POSitude On!
Feel happier! Supported! Loved! Hugged!
Bring brightness and goodness into your day, and into your life!
What beautiful souls like you think about their POSitude cards!
These cards are colorful and cheerful! They stay on my desk at work and have made for great conversation with colleagues. I look forward to choosing my daily pick me up. I reflect on my current mood or what inspiration I need for the day. I do have a few favorites that I’ve used more than once or have displayed longer than just a day.
These cards remind me to stay positive and believe in myself!
Stephanie Shay, 4th grade teacher
I love my POSitude cards! I pick one to display on my refrigerator for the week. Reading the card makes me happy and gives me a variety of ways to stay positive in my daily life. It has also become a conversation piece for all who enter my kitchen.
Karen Henry, Retired 4th Grade Teacher, Personal Assistant
The Positude
cards have
made a difference for setting the
tone during meetings. I have set them in the middle of
the meeting table and while we are settling in, people pick them up and read
them. This small gesture makes a huge difference in the
quality of the conversations we have during our 1:1 meetings.
Mary Freer, University Research Department Administrator
I love my POSitude cards! They are so cute, and the messages are very uplifting and inspiring!
Mary McMurtry, Retired Bookkeeper, Mom, Grandmom
Get inspired every day with a deck of my new POSitude cards! Each deck has 35 different full-color, fun, happy POSitudes (36 cards total, with one card sharing suggestions on how to get the most out your POSitudes.) Available in my Etsy shop. Check them out and learn more, now!
You can find these POSitude cards in my new ETSY shop!!!
Looking for self-care to share love and big hugs for all ages?
Lub’s Very Happy Day! is filled with delightful brightness and big huggy smiles!
Lub is the happiest, PINKest, most love-filled monster, Ever! Her big, PINK heart is always with her, and it beams brightly in everything she does!
Lub loves you!
Join Lub as she shares with you her love and very happy, monster-ifically delightful day! Feel playful and bright, smile big, and be happy! Have fun and be cheerful!
You can find copies of Lub’s Very Happy Day! to adopt at Amazon!
I have a Thanksgiving story of Gratitude-Giving to share with you. It’s all about how a treasured friendship lost gave me something life changing to be grateful for, and how it’s made my life a happier and better place to be!
Treasured friendship lost
Has it ever happened to you? You’ve had a friendship with someone who simply brightened your heart with so much happiness and big smiles, who made a positive difference in your life, but then time, distance, circumstance … life … happens and your friendship is lost, but the love is still in your heart?
It has happened to me with great sadness. I will miss my friend forever, but I am grateful for every wonderful, life changing gift I got from our friendship.
I know I’m not alone in this as I’ve talked to other gorgeous souls who have experienced friendship loss as well. We talk about how great it was when we had our friend in our lives, and invariably the conversation always drifts to wondering … What went wrong? What happened? Why did our friend let go? Sometimes we get answers. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we can reconnect. Sometimes we can’t.
My thoughts for my friend-lost and my shared wisdom to the gorgeous souls I talk to … I take from the book/movie Eat, Pray, Love … send them your light and love and wish them well wherever they are in the world and in whatever they are doing. I feel this truly and deeply in the depths of my soul. Yes! For as much as I miss my friend, there is a reason I miss her so much – she was a delight in my life – and I wish her goodness, healthiness, and love in all that she does, even if it means without me.
For as much sadness as I’ve felt from the loss of this friendship, I have so much to be grateful for, and especially as it is Thanksgiving and a time for Gratitude-Giving, I want to share with you the amazing life changing gifts I received that made this friendship so worth the pain of losing it.
Life changing gifts
To start, I am grateful for every single day I got to spend with my friend … for all our laughter, shared love, shared wisdom, shared goals, shared philosophies, supporting one another … the absolute delight of feeling fully connected to another person in this giant lonely world and getting to spend time with her. What a gift!
And she gave me another gift; one I never saw coming. It changed my life, forever. She gave me the gift of encouragement. It helped me grow a new confidence in myself I’d never had. She saw a creative talent in me that I didn’t feel was worthy of sharing. She disagreed. She told me my art looked like me. It had all my happiness in it. That my art was a visual embodiment of my voice.
Then, she gave me the gift of knowing … she
taught me how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
I started
out slowly. Figuring out the digi-tech
part of art. Playing around. Birthing a new craft. And as my confidence grew, I tried new and
bigger things.
Living my gifts
And this is
how Lub’s Very Happy Day story came
about!
A few years
ago, while we were still friends, I decided to create a children’s story and
share it with her as a prezzie. She –
like me – loves children’s picture books to fall asleep to. … You know
how life can be stressful? Well, at
nighttime, you want to fall asleep, not being stressed. You need to let go and relax. You want to go to bed with good juju running
around in your head so you can have happy dreams, not stressy ones. A novel, although a very happy escape … if
you get sucked in (we’re talking hours of awesome reading), you lose sleep and
rest. So to help us calm down, me
and my friend love to read happy kid’s books.
They’re quick. Cute. Fun. Often
silly and squee. And help you calm down
and sleep sweet.
So I thought, hey, why don’t I write a cute, happy kid’s book for us to enjoy before sleepy-time? I wanted it to be filled with happy images of favorite things. So that’s exactly what I did.
I love cute monsters – so of course Lub would have to be adorable.
I love PINK – so, lol, of course – Lub’s the PINKest monster, EVER!
I love LOVE. Love in all it’s kindness. Giving and sharing. Compassion. Big Heartedness. Playfulness. Silliness. All of it!
I love nature and being outdoors. The sunshine. The woodland creatures. Adorable buggy boos. The flowers and the trees. And oh how I love bright, sunny, warm blue skies with fluffy cotton ball clouds floating by … and all the imaginary shapes I can see!
I love reading, creating, playing, eating healthy snacks.
I love spending happy time with friends and loved ones.
So of course, Lub’s Very Happy Day! is inspired and guided by all this love and happy goodness. It’s filled with delightful brightness and big huggy smiles! (It’s self-care in picture form!)
I can’t look at Lub & her picture pages without smiling so big! For me, she has that silly something that just makes me feel better instantly. :0)
Lub was born from all my squeelightful monstery pink-hearted happiness and giddy clapping to brighten our days and sweeten our nights! Her very presence on paper is a silly monsterification of all the giddy love in my heart! And she’s been keeping me company at bedtime ever since.
Not too long ago, a friend – who is also a retired elementary school teacher – was visiting me, and we were in my studio. She saw Lub’s book, and she smiled huge (Lub will do that to you!). My teacher friend asked me about Lub; what her story was; and how it came about. She started flipping through the pages, and page after page, her smile grew bigger. She told me I should publish the story. That she thought it was really good!
I was all like, “Really? … Like share with other people kind of good?” I had written it for fun and bedtime positive imagery, never thinking to put Lub into the world.
But my
friend insisted.
I was moderately convinced. My artwork in my personal copy was from my first days in the digi-painting world. My doodlebug fingers hadn’t grown their confidence bones quite yet, back then. So I asked around to other school teachers I know. Every single time I got the same thing. Share Lub! She’s adorable and so happy and so fun!!!
Fueled by all
the excitement of how easily other peeps were falling in love with Lub, I
decided to update the artwork. For as
much as I loved her and everybody else seemed to be loving her, too, I knew my
art could be cuter with my improved and more experienced doodlebug digi-skills.
And
voila! Here we are today. Lub’s
Very Happy Day is a story come to life to share happiness and love with
like-minded and pink-hearted monsters who are giddy clapping for more POSitude
and happiness to brighten their days and sweeten their dreams.
My life: a happier and better place to be!
This is how a treasured friendship lost gave me something life changing to be grateful for! And how it’s made my life a happier and better place to be! I have learned how to be a digi-art doodlebug! I’ve grown my skill with experience. And I’ve gained confidence in my doodlebug digi-art skills and having a visual voice to share my love and happiness with you! I feel this is a gift that pays forward. Now that I’m digi-art doodlebug, I have another medium to share all my Love and Big Hugs with you, and this makes me so very happy!!! Especially as, let’s face it … most of us are visual people. A picture is worth a thousand words. And my art is me all over the page sharing all the PINKness in my heart to help you feel better, more loved, happier, and healthier. And this is gratitude in my heart!!!
I hope you give yourself the gift of Love and Big Hugs all day long today on this Thanksgiving day! And every day. May your day be filled with love, happiness, and healthiness, and may you be surrounded by peeps who get you, love you, and cherish you for all the goodness in your heart!
Lub is the happiest, PINKest, most love-filled monster, Ever! Her big, PINK heart is always with her, and it beams brightly in everything she does!
Lub loves you!
Join Lub as she shares with you her love and very happy, monster-ifically delightful day! Feel playful and bright, smile big, and be happy! Have fun and be cheerful as Lub lovingly models healthy behaviors, like:
Being happy
Smiling big
Having fun
Being kind
Spending fun time with oneself
Having independence/self-reliance
Being imaginative
Having positive friendships
Napping
Eating well
Having compassion
Enjoying silliness
Valuing companionship
Being grateful
Watch your child’s face brighten with big smiles at every adorable page turn. Kiss them goodnight with happiness floating in their heads and big smiles filling their hearts!
Additional Features of Lub’s Very Happy Day:
Adorable, bright, full color, happy art and images spark big smiles
6 Delightfully fun coloring activity pages included
Today, you get to ask yourself a powerful question:Do I want to be happy? … Don’t let this scare you off. I know I was super direct. But it’s a real and worthy question. That can sometimes be a bit scary. Please don’t be scared. I’m right here with you!!! We can do this together!!! Cuz I love you Big, and I’m holding you tight!!! We can grow your happiness with smiles!
I don’t need to tell you – I’m betting you already know: there’s a lot of unhappiness in the world. And it’s impacting so many of us.Even the brightest of souls can get hit. If you are a soul that has been feeling unhappy a lot, or even a little, lately, and you want to feel more happiness in your life again … the first step is acknowledging you are ready to feel happiness again.
So … are you ready to feel happiness again?
If so … let’s talk Smiles!
Now, I’m not
gonna sit here and try to sell you on a smile, telling you it will fix
everything. I, mean, come on, let’s be
real. Life can deal some serious
blows. Bigger things than a smile alone
can heal and fix.
But, a smile is POWERFUL!
Grow your happiness with smiles. It’s been proven and shown in study after study after study to make big POSITIVES happen in your life.The simple act of smiling can lift your mood, alter your brain chemistry, lower your stress, boost your immune system. Umm … yes, please … to all of this!
Here are just a few of the articles written about it … in case you want to check it out for yourself.
But really … do we need to skootch off to read about it? Why don’t we just try it? Like right now? You know. Smile, and see how it makes you feel.
Here, I even have a POSitude to share with you to guide you through it. LOL. Like, you’ve never smiled before. (Althooooough … maybe???? … Just kidding.)
Actually, in this POSitude, I take it up a notch … I like doing that. I try to get as much bang as possible for my happiness investment bucks.So I’ve added a little moment of self-reaffirmation to go along with the smile. Give it a try … it’s feel-good in like 5 seconds … it’s deliciously delightful!
POSitude card from Mary Kate’s deck of POSitude cards available at Etsy
So. Here we go. Ready? SMILE!
How’d it go? How are you feeling? … Little bit better? Maybe even a smidge better than a little bit better?
Well, we’ll take that, won’t we?!!!
Grow your happiness with smiles. A smile is one of the ways we can improve our happiness – and it’s a powerful one! If we practice smiling (and even taking it up a notch with a little extra self-reaffirmation) throughout the day … each day … every day … we can build a happiness and healthiness habit that can accumulate goodness, happiness, and healing in our lives.
With this, you can add SMILES to your Healing Toolkit of Goodness to be used daily and even more for extra tough times.
Remember. Happiness doesn’t come from the absence of darkness or bad things happening in life… although sure, that could help SO MUCH!!!! The thing is, life is gonna happen. It’s just how it rolls. But happiness comes through in us in how we deal with life. How we cope. How we approach life and choose to be.
If you want to be happy, you can be! Step by step. Practice by practice. Habit by habit. And smiling is a great and powerful place to start!
Grow your happiness with smiles. I love smiling. I love how it feels. I love how it sparks smiles in others. And I love how easy it is to do. I love how quickly it brightens my face and lifts my heart and my mood. I love how it grows my happiness and helps me heal! I love that it’s a quick and easy practice like Practicing Gratitude to help me grow and heal and feel happiness in my life. I hope sharing these practices and habits with you will help you grow and heal and feel happiness in your life, too!
Create and Grow Your Self-Care!
Want to dig even deeper into your Self-Care? Snag your copy of my “Mary Kate’s Be-Kind-to-You Interactive Self-Care Love Letter to You!”
When you find yourself feeling low, negative, unhappy –
doubting yourself – maybe your confidence has taken a bit of a tumble &
your self-worth is low …
Grab my Be-Kind-to-You Interactive Self-Care Love Letter to You!
You can start feeling better and start smiling again!
Filled with empathetic & supportive Love and Big Hugs!
Delightfully cheerful & colorful art will lift & brighten your smile!
14 loving, big hugging, and supporting pages include proven feel better strategies:
Reaffirmations & Positive Self-Talk
Gratitude Acknowledgements
Smiling POSitudes
Additional supporting ideas to help you find your calm and happiness again through self-care and self-love
Bonus Love-You Supports and Resources section
Find more gratitude, POSitude, and Self-Care from me at Etsy!
Bring brightness and goodness into your day, and into your life!
Get inspired every day with a deck of my new POSitude cards! Available in my Etsy shop. Check them out and learn more, now!
Until next week …
I’m smiling big and brightly and sending you the love in my heart! I’m holding and hugging you tight! May your day be filled with BIG Smiles, lots of love, and some giggles sprinkled in! Love and Big Hugs,
