lifestyle Archives - Cup and Quill

Don’t Pursue Happiness; Follow These Steps to Get Happy!

April 25, 2018

There is no point in pursuing happiness. That is, there’s no point in doing stuff that you think will one day lead to being happy. I can almost hear you thinking, “wow, this one’s going to be a downer. No thanks!” Before you stop reading, stay with me for a minute or two. You’ll be, um, happy you did. I am a huge fan of Shawn Achor, positivity psychologist and author of The Happiness Advantage. His Ted Talk is among the most watched of all time too. Here is a link to it. Shawn Achor’s Ted Talk In both his book and Ted Talk,

Food is Not the Enemy

April 15, 2018

We’ve got to stop seeing food as the enemy. Let’s stop beating ourselves up and shaming others, consciously or unconsciously, about what and when and how much we eat. Let’s just do our best to put good fuel into our bodies so we can use them to do things we want to do.

We owe it to ourselves to find ways to be active. We need to feed our bodies what and how much they need to do the things we ask them to do. Being active and eating well are ways of being nice to ourselves.

Why I am a Recovering Pentecostal

March 20, 2018

When I say that I am a recovering Pentecostal people often laugh. However, I’m quite serious; I do identify as a recovering Pentecostal and for good reason. I was raised in a Pentecostal church on the outskirts of my hometown, Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada. I don’t know if this is the case at all Pentecostal churches, but the sermons at ours were at least eight hours long. To add insult to injury, only the adults got to have a snack during those marathon sermons. As a child, I saw that as an injustice of the first order. Eventually, I found

Why Being Organized Counts As Self-Care

March 8, 2018

I have always found being organized and decluttering forms of self-care. This is not true for everyone. I remember vividly the day I discovered that some people do not fold their underwear before putting them away. I was in the second grade. I was enjoying a play date at Colleen’s house. We were happily engaged in some activity or other in her bedroom, when I noticed the open dresser drawer. To my horror, it was overflowing with what seemed like hundreds of pairs of “panties.” (At my house we just called them underwear.) Colleen’s “panties” were thrown pell-mell into the

Can’t Move On After a Trauma? Then Step to the Side!

March 6, 2018

Several years ago a very traumatic event dropped me to my knees. didn’t think I’d ever be able to move forward. “I just don’t know how to go forward,” I said to my good friend Erica. (Yes, the same Erica from my last blog post about not settling for a life you don’t love!) “I just don’t know how to move on” I explained. “So don’t” she replied. “Just step to the side.” Step to the side? Really? That wasn’t an option I’d even considered. No one “steps to the side” in a crisis. Isn’t that against the rules? You

Don’t Settle for a Life You Don’t Love

March 4, 2018

I love dogs because everything they feel, they reveal. When they are happy, they show us their unmitigated joy with the most beautiful, exuberant expressions of mind and body. People, in contrast, are often hesitant to seek joy for themselves and celebrate joyous moments when they are lucky enough to find them. Why is this? Is it because in today’s fast-paced world joy is seen as frivolous? Extra? Unnecessary? Is a joyful person seen as one who isn’t taking life seriously? Are joy and success perceived as mutually exclusive? I teach a course called Advanced Professional Writing. Most of my

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