The happy state of mind
Today's guest blogger is Charlotte Squire, editor of Happyzine.
I run Happyzine – an electronic magazine (ezine) which is entirely focused on the positive – as in: feel-good news, ideas, stories, art, events and more. I started Happyzine six months ago to provide a complementary positive media source for people who are aware of the power of positive thinking. I'm a natural optimist, and as a freelance writer for the past five years I used to be constantly on the lookout for markets for my good-news environmental stories. Eventually I decided to create my own platform for positive media, especially after I watched The Secret (over twenty times!) and saw how excited people were about that DVD. Happyzine is intended to inspire people to feel hopeful and excited about their future, and their children's future.
The economy may be drooping, but there's plenty to get excited about here in New Zealand. Happiness is always an essential ingredient in life, especially right now, while the media are constantly telling us that our quality of life is under threat. Actually the state of our GDP doesn't indicate the health of our environment, of our bodies, our minds, or our spirits.
Now that I'm a parent, it's the simple things that fill me with wonder. Spring has become rather exciting and I'm not the only one feeling this way. As a direct result of the state of the world's financial mindset, New Zealand's gardening scene is booming. Right across the nation I imagine a new generation of gardeners watering their first trays of seeds and watching anxiously for signs of life. There's a saying among permaculture enthusiasts: "Make gardens, not lawns". My friend Sol Morgan – very recently named Nelson's Gardener of the Year - once informed me that it takes less energy to maintain a garden than it does for a lawn. My family dug up an unused patch of grass and it's now producing beans, zucchinis, potatoes, spinach and carrots. It's far more exciting eating food from your own garden than watching grass grow and then cutting it. And for those who (like myself) feel that they missed out on the gardening gene, now's the perfect time to bond with grandparents and wizened gardeners in our circles as we ring them every day with gardening-related questions (doesn't everyone do that?).
It's important to invest in feeling good, and this means something different for each of us. The happier we are, the stronger our immune system, the better we sleep, and the more pleasurable our relationships. Happy people also feel more wealthy, and this state of mind is exactly what we need here in Aotearoa.
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Other than the rather odd gardening references can someone explain to me what "new age" rubbish like "the secret" has to do with the environment?
Want to know the REAL secret - it's that you can get away with selling any old tripe to certain segments of society to make a fortune!
At last! Yay! So much control fodder in the world using doom and gloom to further install fear and disempowerment will not prevail with such heros as Happyzine. You will find whatever you lòok for in this life ; your world is your mirror.
Totally agree with Dan,(which i'm SO happy about) Seriously, lets be happy when happiness is due, I'm not a believer in "prozac" happiness and i see it alot particularly from hardcore church goers who claim to be happy ALL the time, mainly due to their new found ignorance of the worlds problems, life to them no longer matters, its all about what happens when they die now.
Quote: I'd rather be "negative" & proved right than "positive" and proved wrong!, one is a realist, the other is a delutionist!
Yeay for focusing on the positive , To those of you who got caught up in blagging the secret which had some good points even if sold like a awful american infomercial. Your attitude can really make a difference in your life , Any successful person in any area of their life has always had focus. You need motivation and drive to get out of the house and make this world a better place. Lifes rythyms always has its ups and downs but flows easier when you focus on the positve and make concious corrections to that you want to change.
Dan you missed the rest of this fabulous uplifting blog. I subscribe to happyzine and Charlotte is lush and amazing
This is an exciting time to live in with people finally realising money and things are not life .Appreciate and care for our enviroment.
Some Nz'rs are the worst for trashy littering when they cant seem to take their rubbish away from beautiful places in their cars. Why dont you pick on them neagative Dan.
A war on terror only creates more terror , i wonder if we had focused on international unity if the world would be a better place now .
We are all one and there is enough . there is just a distribution problem.
Sparkles
Just one more thing in response to ugly.... Happyzine is FREEE!!!!!!!!
uplifting, interesting , organic and FREEEEE.
Miss Sparkle,
Clearly your very young & naive to the real world around you. Happyzine could easily of been published in the 60's and early 70's. We talked about "World Unity" then which will never happen simply due to human nature and our need to control nature & others. As i stated in my quote. It's not being "negative", its about being realistic and learning from experience. You can be as postive as you like, it will not change the fundamental outcome because YOUR life is not just your own. Most things in life you have no control over.
Another quote for you: Q: Is the glass half full or half empty? Answer: That all depends on whether the glass was empty or full to begin with!
True, justice, human nature does often involve needing to control and dominate.
But how many people have changed that need and become peaceful, happy, content beings through various experiences (be it from a religious experience, a life-skills workshop, dream, near death experience, reading a book, listening to a wiser person...or a myriad of other daily experieinces)and gone on to make the world, even if just a teeeeny bit of it, a better place?
I know a few.
Imagine if all those greedy, control freaks also had life changing experiences, in time (a long time!!) the world might just become a better place.
Idealistic, unrealistic, delusional? Maybe. But not impossible.
(I also have a theory that a general state of happiness is hereditary and some people just are, regardless of their situation, while others are not happy unless they are unhappy)
And a quote for you Justice,
“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”
Oscar Wilde.
numbers changing on a big electronic screen don't stop the sun from rising and setting!!! and yes... i've seen vege gardens popping up in all my friend's gardens... so I can see the positive effects of this 'financial meltdown'... andn they're super! thanks Charlotte, for your damn good vibes, I know the world holds suffering and misery but every time we hold back a negative thought or word i'm sure we're making our little part of it more beautiful...
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Ok, well, yay for a positive state of mind, I agree, and for an attitude of gratefulness towards life, but I have to say that "the secret" was the biggest bunch of pseudoscientific garbage I have ever seen in my life. Possibly the only thing that alan wilkinson and I will ever agree on. I'd also say that an attitude of unrelenting happiness, no matter what is actually happening, is counterproductive because it results in being satisfied with situations that are not satisfactory. Are you actually happy with the state of the world? And if so, what's wrong with you?