Secrets For A Happier Life January 13, 2014

 

Secrets For A Happier Life: Ideas, Inspiration & Practices     Buzz Thought   Right and left together   Michael D Selzer DDS   I would love to hear from you.   561 487-4555   Share your happiness tips and see them in a future newsletter.   Email Link Quick Links Joy Coaching  Boca Smile Center Happiness on YouTube Spread The Word Want to live around happier family and friends?    A book I have enjoyed Zen  and the art of Consciousness   by Susan Blackmore     Smile       of the week              Carol “In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed” . Ralph Waldo Emerson  Archive  4-22-2010 Happiness comes in drops 5-13-2010 Thought matches body sensations 6-3-2010 Trigger zone for happiness 6-24-2010 You can have happiness now 7-15-2010 Happiness & Sunshine 24×7 8-05-2010 Start where you are 8-26-2010 Generosity builds happiness 9-16-2010 Happiness a balance of opposites 10-07-2010 Happiness a wave of energy   10-28-2010 Happiness a wave of energy 11-18-2010 Happiness step by step 12-06-2010 Wide eyes for happiness   1-6-2011 Smiling eyes for happiness 1-27-2011 Happiness inside out 2-17-2011 Edges of happiness   3-10-2011 Polishing for happiness    3-31-2011 Gaps of happiness   4-28-2011 Decisions for happiness   5-26-2011 Pivoting for happiness   6-16-2011  Stretch for happiness   7-7-2011 Breathing for happiness   8-4-2011 Pausing for happiness    8-25-2011 Oasis for happiness   9/22/2011 Happiness says me   10-20-2-2011s Silent Smiles   11-17-2011 A story for happiness   12/15/2011 Adventure for happiness   1/12/2012 Fun for happiness   2/21/2012 Sounds for happiness   3/1/ 2012 Salad bar for happiness   4/05/2012 Stretching for happiness   5-03-2012 Starting over for happiness   5-31-2012 Ice water and steam for happiness     7-5-12 Circle back for happiness   8-2-2012 Experience vs interpretation for happiness   10-2-2012 3 seconds of balance for happiness 12-18-2012 Choice for happiness   1-24-2013 Disolving habits for happiness   4-5-2013 Vibration for happiness  4- 10-2013 Letting go for happiness   8-23-2013  Taming your habits for happiness   1-13-14  Grandmothers for happiness Being a kid at heart January 13, 2014  Dear Michael,      Ice skating on P pond was especially a fun activity.  We had a pile of old ice skates in a box in the basement.  Every winter when it got really cold for a few days we started to think about ice skating at P pond.       I invite you to continue reading below. Michael Selzer DDS   Quick Changes P pond was a small pond that bordered on the side of a hill next to the Grand Central Parkway near Springfield Blvd in Queens, NY.  Some years later it turned out that a high school fraternity brother Jay, lived right across the street from the pond.   I had fond memories of that pond from the skating and used to take an old girl friend there when I first started to drive.  We sat on a tree stump and … watched the lake freeze. This was in the mid sixties. The age of Aquarius.                                         As I was saying the ice skating started with a box of skates in the basement.  We, my mom, sister and me, I don’t think my dad skated, would all try on the skates and figure out for this year the new sizes of my sister’s feet and mine and who would be able to wear which skates.   We never bought skates that I can remember, they probably came from our Uncles George’s second hand store.  He would buy up bunches of stuff from old homes or warehouse storage and sometimes he didn’t even know what was in the boxes or crates he bought.  After it was sorted out he would sell what he could.  I imagine the skates came to us from one of those un-known containers.  Well thank you to who ever used them first.      With the skates sorted and equipped with many extra pairs of socks, to fill in the space when the size was too big or band-aids for the blisters when they were too small, we were off to the pond.  If it had snowed as a part of the cold days we would shovel off as much snow as we could and then skate on that part of the lake.  It was always a bit scary to go out over the ice. Small Moments Of Happiness Of course it was my mom who would check the ice somehow to determine if it was thick enough to skate on.  She would bang on the ice with the edge of the blade of the skate and look at where the ice met the shore line and tell us that the ice had to be at least 4 inches thick to be safe.     Me I just looked out over the ice and if there were a bunch of big kids already out in the middle and they didn’t fall in it was okay for me. I didn’t weigh much at the time and felt really safe because I thought if anything happened the bigger kids would fall in first.  Hey! one for me I finally figured out a benefit of being small.    Oh I forgot that’s the very thing that made the skating so much fun; that you might fall in at any time.  Even when the ice was thick and you forgot about it you never really forgot about it.  Falling in was always in the back of my mind.  It  probably created a  zone of mindfulness that kept me focused more on the now of what I was doing rather than thoughts of yesterday or tomorrow… No probably not.   When your a kid skating is just too much fun to think about anything else.    A puppy’s perspective I recently returned from my yearly trip to the frigid Northeast to enjoy a change in the weather.  This year was no exception. When I arrived in Stockbridge, MA  at the Kripalu center for yoga and health it was 16 degrees.  After putting on multiple layers of clothing I went for a walk down to Lake Mahkeenac.   I had picked up a walking stick on the way and as I leaned on the stick while gazing at the lake I fell in.  No, not into the lake but into a profound zone of mindfulness of peace and calm.  This arose or was enhanced by a simple technique of attention or perhaps it just came up by itself.     Balanced Attention   Standing or sitting still Gently wiggle the fingers of your right hand* Focus attention on just the thumb Focus attention on each finger in turn Focus attention on the sensation of the palm of your right hand Place attention on your entire right hand Maintain this sensation for a few breaths  Repeat with your left hand starting with your left thumb, then each finger and palm Focus attention on your entire left hand Maintain this sensation for a few breaths Focus attention on both your right hand and left hand at the same time Hold this dual awareness for a moment Relax and watch your breathing going in and out * this can be done in stillness without the wiggling   The key is to really feel the sensation on both hands at the same time.  My thinking is that this balances both side of the brain.  Usually  being focused on the right hand would be felt with the left side of the brain and vice versa for the other side.  By focusing on both together you are balancing the brain or creating a short circuit, which allows your awareness to flow smoothly and release thoughts of past or future.  If you are not driving or operating heavy machinery try this right now.  You may start to feel a slight opening or floating sensation in both hands.  Let this continue and become buoyant as if you were floating on a cushion of air.   By watching your breathing you will naturally relax.  As this relaxation deepens old habitual thoughts or emotions may arise that tend to become Lake Mahkeenac Lakestuck in a knot in the area of the amygdala (mid brain).  The balance of the right and left sides tends to relax the knot and allows the forebrain area to become more active.  The forebrain allows more of the feeling of peace and calm to emerge.   I have aged “several” years since the ice skating on P Pond however I still enjoy being  a kid at heart.