Wow! I am overwhelmed and touched by all of your comments! I have read and reread them, gleaning inspiration and support along the way. Thank you for being part of this discussion and I hope that you will read and respond to them with me!
I have to give a shout out to mav-and this post where she mentions the book that sparked this conversation so many months ago. Also-check out these two amazing photo sets of her's for more "simple" inspiration.
So I've done some googling about living an intentional life and came across this page (take one minute and read it). I love three key points mentioned; " awareness, choice, and energy".
I am a huge believer of the notion that we may not be able to change a situation-but we can change our attitude toward it. I have to constantly remind myself of this as I tend to be overly emotional about many things. I often allow myself to be affected by the attitude of others. This has been a problem for me right now at work. Not to get too specific-there is a person who is constantly negative and hateful towards my coworkers. The person is actually fairly decent to me-but it is horrible listening to the gossip and mean words. I let myself feel really down about this-but recently have decided to put a stop to this. I decided to change the subject anytime gossip starts and to not let this person change my attitude. It's been hard-but the past couple of weeks have been so, so much better. I've noticed that this person has a lot of personal problems right now-which probably doesn't help their work life. I really hope I can help make all of my coworkers' days a little more pleasant.
What similar challenges do you face? What helps you stay positive and make good choices? What motivates you to reach for happiness?