Kelly Epperson's Blog, page 21

Happiness is a drug and I’m a dealer

Well, yeah, sorta.

I teach happiness and how to get yourself there. You can go from feeling yucky to feeling yummy. No drugs required.

Anybody can get happier. The first step is to decide you want to.

That sounds silly perhaps. Wouldn’t we all want to feel happier? You would think that, but many people stay stuck in the rut of humdrum existence. It’s all they know. People often choose to stay in their comfort zone even if it’s not comfortable. They choose the known instead of entering new territory, even if that new place would be so much better.

Some people also wish for some kind of magic solution and maybe would take a “happy pill” if offered. In theory, that’s why people use drugs or alcohol; they are wanting to feel better.

The amazing news is that you can feel better and the happiness drug is one you create yourself. We have to power to change our own internal body chemistry. Now that’s a groovy kind of magic.

Pay attention to your body and the cues it gives you. If you are in a tizzy about something, or feeling down, your stomach is probably churning and you physically feel heavy, burdened, weighted down.

When you are doing something you enjoy, your body feels physically different. You don’t have internal upset, don’t feel stressed, and you feel lighter.

That makes sense, but so often, we ignore our body’s signals. Our body is telling us what is aligned with our soul, our intuition, our deeper/wiser self. If we listen to our body, we can spare ourselves a lot of stress.

Start to notice what makes you feel lighter and what makes you feel heavier. If being around your next door neighbor makes you feel yucky, pay attention to that. Limit your time with him/her.

If going canoeing makes you feel lighter, pay attention to that. Schedule more outdoor outings into your calendar.

Make a list of all the things that light you up, make you feel lighter. Reading, running, writing, cooking, crocheting, watching funny movies, gardening, talking with a friend, exploring, traveling, biking, baking, volunteering, playing with your pet, playing games, deep conversations, laughing, painting, listening to music, playing music, going to concerts & plays, going to the beach, going to the mountains. On and on and on. Whatever resonates with you.

Those are your happiness drugs.

Do the things you enjoy. Be with people you enjoy. It makes you feel better. So do it more often.

Duh.

Yet, we don’t. We fill our schedules with Shoulds/Duties/Obligations (SDOs). We somehow have been trained to think that feeling good doesn’t matter. It’s all that does matter.

When you feel good and are doing what resonates with you, you are energetic, productive, and peaceful. The kind of person that others want to be around. The kind of person that others respect and admire. The kind of person that serves the world in a bigger way. Not what we normally think of when we think of someone “on drugs.”

Your natural drugs of doing what brings you pleasure changes your body chemistry. You are your own drug. We have that power. Science proves it.

Creating positive emotions, even by coloring with crayons in a color book, lifts your mood, and changes your brain chemicals. We have our own internal pharmacology. You don’t need a pharmacist or a guy on a street corner. You are your own chemist.

Experiment. I am your dealer today. I am giving you a happiness drug. Your joy assignment is to do one thing from your list that delights you. Notice the change in how you feel. Do another thing that makes you feel good. Notice how your body feels.

Focus your energy on what feels right and light. Turn on your favorite tunes. Have lunch with a fun friend who uplifts you. Rob a bank. (Just seeing if you were really reading.) The things that light you up will also feel right and not break any moral codes.

Keep your list. Write it on an index card and have it with you. Whenever you feel your body dipping into low mood, do something on your list to bring yourself back up a notch. Doing a 2-minute dance in your cubicle or kitchen does wonders.

The happiness drug is a miracle of sorts. Write out your own prescription and sign it with a flourish. When you need an upper, take two and call me in the morning. Your two could be your favorite show and a big bowl of popcorn. A walk around the block and a ball toss session with your dog. A good chat with a positive friend and a divine dinner.

Your delight is your drug. The best thing with happiness drugs: No harmful side effects and there is no way to overdose. It is absolutely okay to feel good.

Let me know what works for you.

(I am indeed a happiness dealer. If you need help figuring out your happiness drugs, I have openings for 1-to-1 clients. Also, the next Joy Beyond Your Dreams life mastery program will begin in late April. If you want to talk for five minutes to see what’s right for you, write info@kellyepperson.com to schedule a complimentary chat.)

Happiness is a drug and I'm a dealer

Well, yeah, sorta.

I teach happiness and how to get yourself there. You can go from feeling yucky to feeling yummy. No drugs required.

Anybody can get happier. The first step is to decide you want to.

That sounds silly perhaps. Wouldn't we all want to feel happier? You would think that, but many people stay stuck in the rut of humdrum existence. It's all they know. People often choose to stay in their comfort zone even if it's not comfortable. They choose the known instead of entering new territory, even if that new place would be so much better.

Some people also wish for some kind of magic solution and maybe would take a "happy pill" if offered. In theory, that's why people use drugs or alcohol; they are wanting to feel better.

The amazing news is that you can feel better and the happiness drug is one you create yourself. We have to power to change our own internal body chemistry. Now that's a groovy kind of magic.

Pay attention to your body and the cues it gives you. If you are in a tizzy about something, or feeling down, your stomach is probably churning and you physically feel heavy, burdened, weighted down.

When you are doing something you enjoy, your body feels physically different. You don't have internal upset, don't feel stressed, and you feel lighter.

That makes sense, but so often, we ignore our body's signals. Our body is telling us what is aligned with our soul, our intuition, our deeper/wiser self. If we listen to our body, we can spare ourselves a lot of stress.

Start to notice what makes you feel lighter and what makes you feel heavier. If being around your next door neighbor makes you feel yucky, pay attention to that. Limit your time with him/her.

If going canoeing makes you feel lighter, pay attention to that. Schedule more outdoor outings into your calendar.

Make a list of all the things that light you up, make you feel lighter. Reading, running, writing, cooking, crocheting, watching funny movies, gardening, talking with a friend, exploring, traveling, biking, baking, volunteering, playing with your pet, playing games, deep conversations, laughing, painting, listening to music, playing music, going to concerts & plays, going to the beach, going to the mountains. On and on and on. Whatever resonates with you.

Those are your happiness drugs.

Do the things you enjoy. Be with people you enjoy. It makes you feel better. So do it more often.

Duh.

Yet, we don't. We fill our schedules with Shoulds/Duties/Obligations (SDOs). We somehow have been trained to think that feeling good doesn't matter. It's all that does matter.

When you feel good and are doing what resonates with you, you are energetic, productive, and peaceful. The kind of person that others want to be around. The kind of person that others respect and admire. The kind of person that serves the world in a bigger way. Not what we normally think of when we think of someone "on drugs."

Your natural drugs of doing what brings you pleasure changes your body chemistry. You are your own drug. We have that power. Science proves it.

Creating positive emotions, even by coloring with crayons in a color book, lifts your mood, and changes your brain chemicals. We have our own internal pharmacology. You don't need a pharmacist or a guy on a street corner. You are your own chemist.

Experiment. I am your dealer today. I am giving you a happiness drug. Your joy assignment is to do one thing from your list that delights you. Notice the change in how you feel. Do another thing that makes you feel good. Notice how your body feels.

Focus your energy on what feels right and light. Turn on your favorite tunes. Have lunch with a fun friend who uplifts you. Rob a bank. (Just seeing if you were really reading.) The things that light you up will also feel right and not break any moral codes.

Keep your list. Write it on an index card and have it with you. Whenever you feel your body dipping into low mood, do something on your list to bring yourself back up a notch. Doing a 2-minute dance in your cubicle or kitchen does wonders.

The happiness drug is a miracle of sorts. Write out your own prescription and sign it with a flourish. When you need an upper, take two and call me in the morning. Your two could be your favorite show and a big bowl of popcorn. A walk around the block and a ball toss session with your dog. A good chat with a positive friend and a divine dinner.

Your delight is your drug. The best thing with happiness drugs: No harmful side effects and there is no way to overdose. It is absolutely okay to feel good.

Let me know what works for you.

(I am indeed a happiness dealer. If you need help figuring out your happiness drugs, I have openings for 1-to-1 clients. Also, the next Joy Beyond Your Dreams life mastery program will begin in late April. If you want to talk for five minutes to see what's right for you, write info@kellyepperson.com to schedule a complimentary chat.)

Wild citylife

Watching turkeys, woodchuck, and chipmunks play in my yard. One would think we live in a rural area. Nope.

Happy or Hippie?

If it feels good, do it.

If it brings you joy, do it.

Life can be that simple. People think society would run amuck if we followed that rationale. Not so. If we tap into our inner voice, our IV, it is the voice of our higher self, our wise self. It's going to guide you to good things, not sex, drugs, and rock and roll on the neighbor's lawn.

The nitty gritty of happiness is tuning in to what makes you tick and building your confidence to follow your bliss. So many people follow the code of SDOs (Shoulds/Duties/Obligations) instead of the code of Does This Feel Right For Me.

I know women who have walked down the aisle to their groom, knowing in their hearts that they should not marry him, yet they do it anyway. I know people who have taken jobs, bought houses, created businesses, launched hobbies, and played sports that didn't jive with their gut, but they went along.

Sometimes we think keeping the peace or being liked or getting along is ultimately what we are supposed to do. And how does that feel? What does your gut tell you instead?

Our bodies are remarkable gauges for what is right for our soul. If you are chronically ill or feel wiped out all the time, odds are you not tapped into your IV. When you start living in alignment with what brings you joy, you will start to feel better physically.

Many women in my Joy Beyond Your Dreams life mastery program state they feel better and feel lighter. They learn to make decisions from that inner knowing, and instead of the stomach churning, they feel calmer.

Living relaxed is the same as "reducing stress" — which any doctor will tell you is the number health crisis in our country. Most of what ails us is stress induced. Who creates most of our stress? We do!

Learning stress management techniques is on par with learning happiness habits. Happiness is deeper though. It's not just keeping stress at bay, it's a whole new way of being. You take the reins of your happiness, and you end up feeling less stressed.

I teach people how to get happy. The outcome is better health, more wealth, better relationships, and an overall sense of well being.

I was talking to my younger son about mindsets and staying in positive energy. He doesn't quite get it yet. He smiled at me and said, "You're a hippie."

I replied, "I'm happy."

If we define "hippie" as someone who rejects conventional wisdom, then I'm a hippie. (I'm groovy with long hair, peace signs, and flowers too.) Conventional wisdom tells us to grow up, get a job, get married, get pregnant, get in debt, go-go-go until you get dead.

My Inner Voice, my IV, tells me to slow down and determine what is right for me and when. Inner peace. Maybe that is hippie talk. Maybe it's wisdom. The Dalai Lama says: "I believe that to have world peace we first have inner peace.  Those who are naturally serene, at peace with themselves, will be more open towards others.  I think this is where the very foundation of universal peace lies."

You may have noticed that happy people are not the ones starting wars, committing crimes, or causing any uproar in your community.

So why does being happy have a bad rap? Really, if you had your druthers, would choose to be happy and feel good, or stay stuck in the rut of what you think you "should" do and feel stressed?

Following your IV means you serve in your way. The world won't crumble. In fact, it will improve.

There will always be enough of everyone and everything we need. There are happy people in all professions. I have a joyful dentist, a joyful accountant, a joyful insurance man.

Discovering your passion and pursuing it is not wrong. Why do we think so? Somewhere along the way, we are taught that life is supposed to be hard.

I say nope. If that makes me a hippie, so be it. I simply think that living a peaceful existence where I give my talents to the world makes sense. Living a peaceful existence where we each give our talents to the world makes sense. If that sounds radical, then please join me in the joy revolution. Peace signs, flowers, and long hair optional.

One Way to Break the Cycle of a Bad Day

When the challenges of life get us going, we can take back the reins of our day and say, "Whoa!" We can put the brakes on our bad mood and we can stop ourselves before we go nuts and punch our computer.

Rarely are my frustrations with people. It is the tech stuff that gets me whirring, and not in a revved up good way. It's more like "Why can't I figure out how to do this?! Why does this take so long? Where did that go and how can I find it again?!"

I hire out much of my techie needs these days, and yet, there is always something I think I should do myself. I converted to Apple and am told the Mac is very intuitive. People said it would change my life. Maybe I need to watch the tutorials instead of diving right in, but so far it cannot read my mind at all.

When you get frustrated during the course of a normal day, there are ways to turn the tide. (FYI, flipping off the computer (or a person) doesn't help a darn thing.)

Instead, crank the soundtrack in your head. When my tech trek gets me frustrated, I hear The Knack singing "Frustrated." They certainly weren't singing about computers, but music really does soothe the savage beast.

When you feel your buttons being pushed, just walk away. (Yep, singing Kelly Clarkson, hey hey hey, just walk away.) I'm the one-line wonder. Most songs aren't applicable, but a phrase or two can express nicely.

Your life is a musical. When irritations pop up, you may not burst out into song, but in your head, you can. Picture your boss jumping up on the desk, belting out a blues tune. When you're stuck in traffic, imagine everyone leaping out onto the top of their cars in a united flash mob. When your honey done you wrong, visualize a Broadway musical apology production number.

Does this song-and-dance in your head change the situation? No. It changes you. You get your perspective back.

Often when we have a frustrating moment, we let it lead to another frustrating moment to another and another. We go down crabby road. Instead, we can break the cycle. We can get back to the here and now, and tackle the situation from a centered calm.

Usually, for me, it means I take a break from my desk. I may even You Tube a video of The Knack. Guys from the 80s in white shirts and skinny ties make me smile. When I return to the project, a cooler head prevails, or I wait until tomorrow when my energy level is back to normal. Or even better, I hand it off to a techie.

The point is I get myself back to a place where I can make rational decisions instead of being caught up in a spiral of tension and negativity. I let the air out, and exhale. No matter what frustration you experience, even a tense face to face exchange with a co-worker or family member, a pause and an exhale make a world of difference.

Do it right now. Exhale. Long. Loud. Slow. Again. Feel any different? (Did you start to hear Whitney Houston in your head? "You'll find a point when you will exhale. Shoop Shoop Shoop. All you gotta say is shoo be doop.")

When you have a stressful moment, you can nip it in the bud. A simple technique like thinking of a line from a song, or deep slow breathing, can shift you internally. Your brain is an amazing tool. It creates a chemical reaction which calms your body and creates a positive emotion. More positive emotions, more feel good chemicals, hand in hand they go, lifting you up out of your frustration and back to a healthier perspective.

Instead of going down the chain reaction of one frustration leading to a "bad day," turn it around. Let the chain reaction take you on the upward spiral. One song can do it. Chain, chain, chain….. (Aretha, sing it with me. "Chain, chain, chain, a chain of fools…..")

Left Handed Snails Have Advantage

Written by Kelly Epperson

I recently uncovered a folder in my computer with "story ideas" dating back several years. If a headline grabbed me, I'd put it here for future column fodder. Obviously I never run out of ideas to write about because I forgot I had this stuff. The links are all inactive now, but the titles indicate what sparked my interest.

February 2006: Valentine's Day Research Key for Hallmark. (Eternal fun with this one.) "Sweet" cemetery, home to Keats, Shelley, crumbling in Rome. (Maybe I thought I could visit this cemetery for poets while I was traipsing around Europe.) Britons Dedicate Renovated Franklin Home. (Not many Americans know that Ben Franklin lived across the pond for a while.)

December 2005: Iran's President Bans Western Music. (Not sure if I would go silly or serious with this one.) March 2006: US writer Norman Mailer wins top France prize. (Living in France then, was preoccupied with writers and France.) May 2006: Bob Geldof Given Moral Courage Award. (I was at the first Live Aid concert in London in 1985 and will always have respect and admiration for Bob Geldof.)

There is one item in the bunch that I may have written a column on: Left Handed Snails Have Advantage.

That headline still cracks me up. I researched to find the original posting, an article in USA Today from March 2006. Research had found evidence that snails whose shells coil toward the left have a better advantage at fending off crabs.

Crabs are apparently right-handed. Or is that right-clawed?

"The researchers studied about 1,800 snail fossils, looking for scarring evidence of a predator attack. Scarring was found more frequently on right-handed snails, the study said."

It did not say how many of the 1,800 were righties as opposed to lefties. "These snails that are left-handed, they have an advantage. It doesn't become an advantage if lefties are just as common as righties."

So obviously, there were more righties, and so obviously, to me anyway, would it not make sense statistically that more righties would be attacked simply because there were more of them?

I will not debate the study. I will simply relate my amusement in 2006, and six years later, the headline still makes me smile. The study was posted in the "Royal Society Biology Letters" so it probably was not a US study.

We have plenty of funny studies here in the states. I have always wondered who thinks up the studies, who funds them, and how does one get to be a participant.

I'm not a snail so that excludes me from that one, but I heard a study report that we look at our refrigerator 37 times a day. I use this stat often in my happiness presentations, and daily I think I will verify its accuracy. Daily I forget after two times to the fridge.

I would love to be in a control group that eats ice cream every day and watches funny movies versus those who eat ice cream every day and watch the news. I bet we can predict what group would report a higher level of happiness. (Weight gain is not part of this study.)

Think up a study and let me be a part. I am female, right handed, and I have never attacked a snail.

Do We Have the Power to Make Ourselves Feel Better?

A passage from Eckhart Tolle's book, The Power of Now, states something about holding on to the false belief that the past is more powerful than the present. Ponder that. How many of us let ourselves get trapped playing the "victim" to our past?

I realize some folks had pretty crappy pasts. I get it. Crappy childhoods. Crappy marriages. Crappy divorces. Crappy whatever.

How long do you let that rule you?

I absolutely understand that some people had horrendous things happen to them in the past, child abuse, rape, war refugees, etc and I do not take anything lightly. I also know that some people are still holding on to comments someone made about them in the 5th grade and they won't let it go. Whatever it is that you are holding on to, you have the power to let it go.

There is a proverb, or maybe it's a Will Rogers quote, that reads: Do not let yesterday use up too much of today.

Where are you? In yesterday or today?

I cannot tell you how many people I meet who stew over past events. They spend hours mulling over a conversation in their heads and wish they would have said the perfect comeback.

Unless the comeback is "I'm sorry" or "I forgive you" or "I love you", is there really any point?

Instead of staying stuck in the muck of the past, consider focusing energy on the right here, right now. Let's do an experiment. Right here, right now, rate yourself on the "feel good" scale with 1 being "Life is miserable" to 10 being "Happy as a clam although I never met a clam, happy or otherwise, and I simply trust they're happy."

How do you rate?

When you start to find your thoughts drifting to the past and you feel yourself getting all worked up again about something from long ago and far away, rate yourself on the feel good scale.

Does hanging out in the past feel good? Would you rather feel higher up the scale?

When you catch yourself dwelling in muck, you can physically do things to get you out of that place and bring yourself back to the here and now. My silly solutions are rooted in the serious.

The first thing you can do is pop yourself upside the head, a la Cher and Nicolas Cage in Moonstruck: Snap out of it! I thump myself on the head and have given others a loving thump.

We have a million gazillion thoughts racing through our brains all the time. Start practicing your catch and release technique. If a thought makes you feel like crap, throw it back. If it comes back again, physically push it away with your hand. I have waved both hands in front of me saying control, alt, delete to wash away those thoughts.

Being aware that it is just a thought, and you don't have to think it right now, is tremendously powerful.

Depending where you are when a "bad" thought tries to sneak in your precious mind, drop down and do a push up. Jumping jacks. Jump up and down like a jumping bean.

Get a mini-trampoline and bounce.

It's fun, and there is science to back me up. The physical act creates new chemicals in the brain. We have our own internal pharmacology (thank you, Dr. Lee Berk, for that phrase) and we can create positive emotions.

If you had a choice, and you do, would you rather feel negative emotions or positive ones?

To create more positive ones in your life, you can walk. 26 minutes. You can do any kind of exercise. Punching a bag (pretty pink gloves optional) does wonders. Pull weeds. Any kind of yard work or housework.

You don't have to enroll in a training program for a marathon (that does it for many people though), a walk in the woods is just as beneficial.

Even stepping outside and breathing fresh air, no matter the weather, can be enough to snap you out of the then and bring you back to the now.

The power is in the right now. Whatever happened in the past, those people or events cannot hurt you right now. Your precious self is in your hands now. You can take care of you.

Eckhart Tolle says: "The truth is that the only power there is, is contained within this moment. You are responsible for your inner space now. No one else is. The past cannot prevail against the power of the Now."

When you notice your happy scale deflating, pay attention to where your thoughts are. Are you focusing on the now, or are you rehashing the past? Bring yourself up the happy meter by listening to music, doing a dance move in your office or kitchen, waving and winking at yourself in the mirror, (blow yourself a kiss if you are really bold), blow a party horn to vent your frustration, blow bubbles, squeeze Silly Putty or Play Doh. Color. Doodle.

Let your imagination go. There are many easy ways you can lift yourself up that don't cost money, don't take much time, and yet you are shifting your energy. You are making yourself feel better, even if you didn't believe it was possible.

Who knows, maybe you'll even pry open a clam and ask just how happy it is. Perhaps we can start a new model-Happy as a human!

Leap Day is a bonus day – make the most of it

 

Written by Kelly Epperson

I may not understand time, the Gregorian calendar, or how planets rotate around the sun. All I know is that we get an extra day this month. A bonus 24 hours called February 29.

Do something fun with this day we call Leap Day. Call in to work and explain that there is no need to take a vacation day to take this day off because it is merely a day we created to play catch up. Don't use the day to catch up at work. Use the day to catch up with yourself.

What would you do with a day just for you?

Anything goes. Maybe you would cuddle up with a good book in front of the fire. (It's February; I live in the midwest. A book and a fire appeals to me.) Maybe you would walk the beach if you are a California girl. Maybe you would wander outside wherever you live.

Maybe you would get out your craft supplies and get messy. Maybe you would get out your recipe book and cook up old favorites or new experiments. Maybe you visit with friends or family.

How often do you treat yourself to a day just for you? Hopefully more often than just once every four years.

Babies born on February 29 celebrate their birthday most years on February 28. Except in the UK and Hong Kong. A Leap Day baby is not recognized as a legal adult until March 1 of the year of the 18th birthday. Remember the Gilbert and Sullivan musical, "Pirates of Penzance"? The Leap Day birthday was a pivotal plot point in that story.

I do not know anyone who is a leapling so I don't know how they feel about, but I think this birthday would be fun. The earth takes a complete revolution around the sun in 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 16 seconds. To make it right, to make things balance for our time-tracking sensibilities, we tack on this extra day. To be born on this special day would mean I could say the world really does revolve around me. Or something like that.

So Leap Day babies, play it up big. Your birth has such magnitude, we had to create a day just to capture you. Only one in 1461 people are born on this day. I believe there is even a special society for you.

An Irish legend states that on Leap Day women are allowed to propose to men. In some European countries, the folklore is that any man who refuses a marriage proposal on February 29 has to pay a penalty – he must buy the woman twelve pairs of gloves. Why gloves? So she can hide that her finger still sports no ring.

My modern mind says that a woman can ask a man anything, any day, and a woman need never be embarrassed if she has no wedding ring.

For all of us, February 29 is a bonus day so treat it like that. For me, it will be a no chores day. If for you, doing the laundry or the taxes or whatever will make you feel good, then go for it. Use this day for whatever makes you feel special. Even though most of us are not Leap Day babies, we can use the occasion to treat ourselves.

Once every four years. Don't let it go down as just another day. At least consider a piece of cake or maybe a scoop of ice cream. Or play a game of leap frog. Let me know your ideas.

Happiness Begins in the Bathroom

I occasionally infuse my happiness presentations with "bathroom humor." For example, a little boy was sitting on the potty pounding himself on the head. His mama noticed and asked what he was doing. He replied, "Well, it worked for the ketchup bottle."

A little laughter to start and end our days is beneficial. Where do we begin and end each day? The bathroom.

Thus, we should give attention to this important room, and we can start by keeping a funny book on the toilet tank. (My books were sized that way purposely.)

Take a peek in your powder room. Do you like how it looks? Do you like how it feels? (I won't ask if you like how it smells right now.)

As I work with my clients in mastering their lives, we deal with the external as well as the internal. Having too much clutter affects us on many levels. A good place to start the de-clutter process is the bathroom since our stuff there is usually not too emotionally charged.

Ready to begin?

Keep only a few books or magazines in the bathroom. This may be a reading room, but it's not a library.

How many toothbrushes are on the counter? When my sons and I shared a bathroom, we once had 8 toothbrushes for the three of us. How many combs and hairbrushes? How many bottles of lotions, creams, nail polish, beauty products?

One area at a time, use the interior design mantra: Keep only what you find to be useful or beautiful. If it no longer fits either category, toss it. (Or gift or donate.)

Hopefully some of your useful items are beautiful too. Part of the joy of living is to surround yourself with what feels good. Does your toothbrush feel good? Have one that feels good in your hand and in your mouth. A simple little luxury like that affects your well-being.

I may be getting too personal, but your toilet paper should also feel good. Do you really think buying the cheap toilet paper is going to make or break the budget? Trust me, you're worth the extra two bucks.

Little things mean a lot. How you treat yourself day in and day out matters.

Pretend you are putting your house up for sale and folks are going to be looking at your bathroom. If you would dress it up for others, why do you not do that for you?

Do you like the shower curtain? Do you like the shower head? The first thing Prince Charming did when we bought our new place was install new shower heads. I tried five shower curtains before I found the one that made me exhale and say, yep, that's the one.

Our bath mats are cushy "spa" mats and my feet thank me every morning and every night for honoring them with something comfy.

Keep only the items you actually use. Are you saving half-used hair products for when 80s hair-do's come back in style? Do you have three curling irons or six bottles of dried-up nail polish? Do you have barrettes and bows shoved in a drawer that you wouldn't even use on your poodle?

You get the idea. Address the counter top, the drawers, under the sink, the tub. Take a hard look at your stuff and ask yourself if it's useful/beautiful and what you love?

Pull back the shower curtain. Having too many bottles, brushes, and gadgets in there means you start out your day feeling cramped instead of relaxed. Use aromatherapy in the bathroom. Have scents that calm you or energize you.

We spend more time in the bathroom than we realize. Make it a haven. Make it be a reflection of your style, your joy. I'd say the bathroom gives the kitchen a run for its money on being the most-used room in the house. So why not it make the most loved as well?

How you take care of your space is how you take care of you. How do you want to feel each day? Let it begin in the bathroom.

Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire

My dad was/is a big Jerry Lee Lewis fan. "The Killer" received heavy rotation at our house when I was growing up. When my boys were toddlers, they danced to Grandpa's jukebox and knew the words, "Goodness, gracious, great balls o'fire!"

I know Jerry Lee's checkered past, and I also know his talent and his ambition. His story is showcased in the hit musical, "Million Dollar Quartet."

The Million Dollar Quartet recounts the evening, December 4, 1956, at Sun Records studio when four young talents came together for an impromptu jam session. Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

I knew little of Carl, but certainly knew the legends of the other three. Carl Perkins wrote and recorded Blue Suede Shoes. However, when Elvis went on the Ed Sullivan Show and sang Blue Suede Shoes, the world forever believed it was Elvis's song.

Carl went on to rockabilly fame in his own right, and we all know the fame of Elvis. What grabbed me about this show was how it captured their raw beginnings.

These guys achieved professional success due to one man giving them a start, Sam Phillips of Sun Records. Million Dollar Quartet is Sam's story just as much as the four famous musicians.

Sam lived by his passion and his purpose. It was his desire to bring rhythm and blues music to all audiences. He gave a chance to these dirt-poor white boys who showed a spark of talent and he believed in them. Sam drove their records in his car to radio stations all across the country to get them air play. The rest is history.

I'm not sure what all transpired the night of December 4, 1956, as the stage play is "inspired by" the actual event. The heart of the matter was that the three who were now making it big were leaving Sam and Sun to go with bigger record labels. Jerry Lee was just getting launched and thrilled to be a part of Sun Records.

The show mainly bills itself as a musical spectacular, and it is, but the essence of their dilemmas as they journeyed on their paths, and how Sam didn't sell out to the bigger record companies, is what struck me.

They didn't say it this way, but it boils down to listening to your inner voice and trusting it. Following your heart, even when it's hard.

Sam didn't cave to pressure to join RCA in 1956, as he wanted to stay true to his passion, developing young talent. He signed on more who would become stars. Roy Orbison. Harold Jenkins. That's the real name of Conway Twitty, and he got his start with Sun under his real name, Harold Jenkins.

Sam Phillips did eventually sell the Sun label to Mercury Records in 1969. Sun Entertainment Corporation still exists today. The original Sun Records studio is open for tours in Memphis.

The world has done a lot of spinning in the 55 years since that famous jam session. The lesson remains eternal. Stay true to you. Follow your passion, even when others think you're nuts.

The only man still here from that one evening is Jerry Lee. I betcha when he thinks back on it all, he has one thought. Goodness, gracious, great balls o'fire.