When you’re happy, you can start a happiness virus through your social network, according to a Harvard and UC San Diego study.
So update your Twitter and Facebook status with good things and spread the love!
No conclusive info about when you’re down, although I know that’s as good a people repellant as B.O.
Recently I’ve spent more time in LA than I had since the time I went off to college. It’s paid off in some fun and interesting adventures I thought I would share as "off the beaten path" ideas if you are visiting Los Angeles (or if you live here)!
1. Go to the Silent Movie Theater
Who wants to see a silent movie? I didn’t think I did until I experienced the Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles. Who knows how long you can see the 94 year old Bob Mitchell improvise on piano and organ along with the cartoon and movie shorts? I believe this is LA’s #1 attraction that should not be missed.
http://www.silentmovietheatre.com/movies/
Add it as a goal on your SuperViva life list so you’ll remember to do it!.
2. Try Frittelli Doughnuts in Beverly Hills
It’s scary how many you can eat without getting that sick doughnut overload feeling - including green apple fritters. Double espresso for a dollar. What else do you need?
5. Watch kite surfers at Venice Beach then go to Abbott Pizza for a slice or two of heaven.
Malibu is also a great place to watch boarders and kite surfers. Both Main Street in Venice and Abbott Kinney are fun places to hang out in cafes and go shopping. Groundworks has excellent coffee but not a hang out space. Abbott Pizza is more like take out (and eat on the sidewalk) with just a few seats.
www.abbotspizzacompany.com/
Lessons in why it’s good to talk to strangers. You meet the darndest, coolest people. This year I met:
A guy who discovered a major cave
Sitting next to me on an airplane, he tells me he had such a strong desire to discover a major cave that he became a park ranger in Kentucky, known for its extensive cave systems which I’ve considered visiting several times on roadtrips. He spent 2 years walking the land looking for holes in the ground. Lo and behold he and his friends noticed a river dropping down and saw a hole which they entered. Eureka - the Martin Ridge Cave System. The way he tells what happened next, on a tour of the caves he was “ranging,” a professor from a local university said “You should get a masters degree!” He did, and the rest is history.
Everyone at the Maker Faire
4 guys who met surfing in Hawaii in the 70s who reunited over coffee and reminisced over waves.
Someone who is building the world’s largest menorah, that will be captured in satellite imagery (I don’t feel at liberty to explain how he’s doing this lest I cause him not to be the first). To boot, he isn’t Jewish.
A man who went to high school with Al Capone’s brother. He also did statistical analysis to recommend when the US should invade Germany in World War II.
Someone who wholesales granite and marble that comes from South Dakota but is sent to China to be cut up, then back to the US.
A boy who wants to be an actor who dressed up like a marshmallow to audition for his first commercial.
A water color artist who I met at a lunch in California who we discovered knows the person who lives across the street from my sister, in a 500 person town 3500 miles away.
A woman pioneer in the online music industry who patented numerous technologies and continues to be a visionary.
Someone who invented shaped waterbeds, known for the heart shape. Do I need to say this was in the 70s? Yet another airplane conversation.
Who did you meet in random conversation?
For the last seven years, I’ve done just that.
I start each year with a big hairy question: “How can I make this the best year of my life?” Making each year better than the last is a tall order, but I’d say four of the past seven years have been my best. The first year I did this simply blew me away, it was so great!
My self-challenge usually includes resolution-y things related to finance and weight. But the idea here though is to work on those goals as part of an overall yearly plan with related goals.
People with over 100 goals on SuperViva, like me, are using the site’s ability to have a true a la carte menu of things to do in life, both big and small.
Come time to plan the year, it’s easy to rearrange and re-prioritize based on the year.
My list has such random things as:
Is your life list complete? If not, have some fun searching SuperViva to get some more ideas for 2007.
Some practical and fuzzy tips:
First think about what you want to achieve and experience related to work, fun, community, spiritual, financial, relationships and health.
Now imagine your "resolution to lose 10 pounds" tied to a goal to run a marathon or go scuba diving. Or becoming a tango dance!
Come year end, you’ll have a lot more to look back on than a boring weight loss process.
Yes time will fly and every day life administrivia may take over. Every once in a while I stop and ask myself two important questions:
I often do this at quiet moments such as in the shower, while stuck in a traffic jam, or waiting for someone at a restaurant.
If either answer is no, imagine how powerful it is to know it’s up to you to re-set your course toward making it your best year
If you’re going to take the "best year" challenge, remember that things happen you can’t anticipate.
I won’t beat the proverbial dead horse and say that to remain happy you need to roll with life’s punches. Oops I guess I said it.
Well I’ve been there: at the end of one of my "best years" I got cancer. Of course this wasn’t on my life list. Even so I used my downtime to reconnect with friends, focus on spirituality, and learn about my body and health. Those are all things I’d been meaning to do.
Imagine it’s December 31, 2007 and you’ve realized the year hasn’t turn out how you planned. If you’ve reviewed your life list during the year, tried changing things to improve the year, and chronicled the year’s events on your SuperViva "things I’ve done" list, you’ll have a lot to look back on.
If you’re not happy with 2007 you can look forward to 2008 being your best and know that darn it, you tried!
What do you think? How do you go about planning? Discuss it in forums.
Yesterday on the phone, a friend spontaneously launched into a musing about how having a life list and life goals are instrumental to a life worth living. We talked about how instead of waiting for "TGIF" and counting each day till the weekend, if you have a life list with all kinds of little things on it, you can make every day fun and live it like it’s your last.
I asked him to put his thoughts in writing and I wanted to share this since it was a great "rant."
Most people lead lives of quiet
desperation, trapped in the monotony of work, with seemingly, at times, overwhelming
marital and family responsibilities. They’re so mired in the day-to-day
grind, they miss out on life. The symptoms are everywhere: divorce, affairs, broken
families, mid-life crisis. All of these are events are like explosions of
frustration from people who realize they need more from life. There’s a
better way to live.
We need more balance in our lives, we need
to take time to reflect on who we are, why we’re here and what we want to
accomplish in life. Socrates said “the unexamined life is not worth
living.” I’m not saying we should shirk our responsibilities, but
we need to be more intentional when it comes to how we live our lives. Life is
too short to live any other way. That’s why I love the life list concept.
You reflect on the things you really want to do, see, accomplish, experience,
learn. You prioritize them, then you pursue them. The most famous life lister
was Goddard. His list of accomplishments is amazing and he has lived a very
full life.
