February 23, 2012

Be Happy

published this at 7:46 am

A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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You’re a hard-charging, forward-thinking, social entrepreneur master of the universe. But have you colored lately? Have you flown a kite? Have you read a novel?

No. Me neither.

Today’s post comes with a mission. If you accept, follow the steps below. Doctor’s orders.

  1. Take 15 minutes today and find a quiet, comfortable place. Turn off your phone, laptop, radio, etc.
  2. Close your eyes and picture your 12 year old self. School just let out and you just got home. You chucked your bookbag in the hallway, grabbed a snack, and you’re free.
  3. What are you going to do between now and dinner? Visualize as intensely as possible.
  4. Write down five things that came to your mind. Ride your bike? Curl up in your beanbag chair (don’t judge) and listen to music? Call your buddies and shoot some baskets?
  5. Now schedule time to do at least one of those activities this week. Schedule it. And while you’re doing the activity, you are not allowed to daydream about the TPS report or worry about how many Tweets you’ve missed. Simply revel in the joy of having fun.

As for me? You’ll find me in the hammock with the latest issue of Bon Appetit.

Would you like to share what your 12-year-old self was up to this week? I’d love it if you’d report back with your results in the comments.

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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee
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Filed under leadership / management, Motivation-Inspiration, Successful Blog | 8 Comments »


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8 Comments to “Be Happy”

  1. February 23rd, 2012 at 7:55 am
    Karen Putz said

    I’m really lucky, I go out to play with my 12-year-old self a lot in the last two years. Today, I’m going out to breakfast with a friend and then I get to curl up on the couch and write.

  2. February 23rd, 2012 at 8:00 am
    Rosemary ONeill said

    That sounds fantastic. Are you writing fiction or non-fiction? Do tell.

  3. February 23rd, 2012 at 9:48 am
    Andy @ FirstFound said

    I wish I could get 15 minutes a day to be happy!

  4. February 23rd, 2012 at 10:57 am
    Rosemary ONeill said

    Andy! You deserve to be happy. Please go right now and put on a great song really loud and dance like no-one’s looking. Do it. Do it. Life is good!

  5. February 23rd, 2012 at 11:43 am
    Owen said

    Hi Rosemary! Great post!
    Today I let my 12 year old self play on my sons Xbox! I find that when I get the opportunity to Game my creativity goes through the roof!
    Appreciate your words as they gave me an excuse to play.

    Thank you

  6. February 23rd, 2012 at 12:19 pm
    bax said

    Bike ride! Whoot! Thanks for the great idea.

  7. February 23rd, 2012 at 6:27 pm
    Lisa said

    I love this post about having fun, being happy. It’s all about play. When I chuck my bookbag (turn off my computer), I love to explore outside and with mixed media. I definitely take time pedal my bike around town almost every day, and play in my journal (mostly with colored pencils) at least once a week. You can check out my latest journal play on my personal blog at mtnmermaid.wordpress.com. You might like my entry about wandering aimlessly :)

  8. February 27th, 2012 at 5:32 am
    Rosemary ONeill said

    Go Owen, bax, and Lisa! So glad to meet your 12 year old selves! Thanks for visiting :)

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