Bryan Echo

Gratitude post

I feel like this is a wonderful time to be alive.  I'm living in this nice moment where life is both easy and challenging...

Another Happiness quote

"I have got to make everything that has happened to me good for me.”  --Oscar Wilde

Awesome. :)

From the Happiness Project.

Happiness Quote

"Because I recognize emotions only in retrospect, I didn’t know that I was happy. As always, there was something nagging at my mind’s corners. But I did know that I had all that it is proper in this world to wish for.”

Found at: The Happiness Project

Another day towards the rest of my life...

A personal journal entry where I talk about where I am in life and sort a few things out...

September 11th

I decided to write about my recollections of September 11th, 2001.  Its been six years, where was I?       

Friends and Happiness

Today I read this post on the Happiness Project about a study relating friends and happiness.  It found that the number of close friends someone has is related to how happy they are.  Those with five or more close friends were 60% more likely to describe themselves as "very happy".

I have trouble making close friends.  Its actually a source of unhappiness and something that I try to work on continuously.  I think its hard to meet people that I relate to.  I'm unique and different and just plain eccentric.  But even when I'm at my most social and friendly I run into resistance.  Many people just aren't open to making new friends.

The study discovered the number of close friends per person is on average declining.  So maybe I'm not the only one having trouble making friends. :-)

The House is Still

The house is still in this moment
I can feel myself at peace with myself
Its like the world has found a balance
And I'm happy to be in the middle of everything else
I can feel things pulling in my mind
But I don't really want to bother
I know this feeling will soon be gone
And life will seem a little harder
For right now though its all good
A feeling I'd rather not lose
I don't want to be anywhere else
I don't want to be someone else

I can hear echoes from last night
I can smile from ear to ear
I can laugh at the good times
I can feel as if everyone is still here

I feel blessed and happy
I feel at peace with my life
I know I'll soon forget
But in this moment things are right.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

I haven't felt much like posting for a while.  I've been writing more in my journal and keeping things to myself.  I don't know that I'll be posting more regularly or not but I got motivated tonight to redo the website.  I had a vision of something simpler and still functional.  I wanted something very minimal.

I'd like to think I'm on an upswing right now.  I'm pretty happy with things.  I'm getting a new room mate this weekend.  I'm scared to live with another person but I think it will be good for me, and good for the dog. ;-)  Its one of my oldest friends and I know him very well.  I know the good and bad and some of what to expect.  I know that my life will be disrupted and changed but I'm ready for it.

I've been playing music more often and finding my voice again.  I spent many months not playing or feeling like playing.  Its odd to look back and remember that I used to practice with the last band three times a week and play out a couple of times a month.  I miss it tremendously.  I found an open mic that I can perform on my own and it gives me that great performance rush.  Its been great seeing people respond to my new songs positively.  I'm trying to take it slow and not do too much at once. 

In learning about myself I've found I like to think big.  I try to swing for the fences or shoot for the moon.  I don't think its a bad thing but sometimes I need to think smaller and focus on the next step.  I've started noticing when I get carried away with big plans and just live a little more in the moment. 

I've been working on myself a lot and I'm very interested in the subject of Happiness.  What makes me happy or unhappy?  How can I increase my happiness?  I found The Happiness Project and its been very insightful.  I especially liked this recent article about passion: Why is Passion so necessary for happiness.

Plain white T-shirts

Tonight I went to Target to buy lots of odds and ends.  I needed clothes and some new shoes.  I bought a pack of white crew neck t-shirts.

I've always worn them and I guess I took it for granted that everyone did.  I realize that its something I get from my father.  He was in the military and would always wear a t-shirt under his fatigues.  When I was really little I remember my siblings and I used to wear them as night shirts.  Its amazing to think we were ever that small!  I sometimes ask if I'm turning into my father but other times like now I'm thankful for the things I got from him. ;-)

Dog Barking at the Window Washers

This morning when I came in to work I was in a little bit of a funk.  I noticed that the building next to the parking lot was getting its windows washed.  There were two guys on a rig lowered from the roof.  They were six or seven stories up and I could hear a dog barking at them. 

It made me think about how that dog must feel.  Two strange guys banging on the windows.  For all he knows they're trying to bust in and attack.  The dog can't know the bigger picture. 

It reminded me that sometimes fear is just a lack of understanding.  Its very hard to see the bigger picture.  And I'm getting tired of barking.  ;-)