The Happy Guy

Guilt-Free Eating over Christmas

December 20, 2013 by David Leonhardt Leave a Comment

Christmas dinner and Christmas snacking and…oh, how we put on the pounds. Here are some tips to have a lighter Christmas, without missing out on all the fun.

Christmas is a time for celebrating. For most of us, celebrating means eating with family and friends – usually eating way too much. It is a special time of year, and restricting yourself while everyone else is eating only makes you feel as if you are missing out and means that you are more likely to break later on and binge on foods that are much worse.

It is fine to eat, so treat yourself with that extra slice of Christmas cake. However, be aware that just because it is Christmas, that does not give you the green flag to gluttony. I did say “slice”, not “slices”.

The Christmas meal itself can weigh in easily at 1,000 calories or even up to a shocking 3,500 calories, just for the one meal. That is not taking into consideration breakfast, snacks throughout the day and any chocolate or cakes that get raided towards the evening. Most people have themselves in the mind-set that during Christmas it is acceptable to over-eat, but this is not the best attitude to have.

It takes a long time to burn off that many calories and that should be considered before you embark on tackling that epic Christmas Dinner.

Whilst some people take Christmas eating to the extreme, the average person eats half a pack of lard in saturated fat and thirty two tea spoons of sugar. Consuming that amount is not good for your body, even if it is only once a year, and you could end up suffering for it in 2014.

READ ALSO: Easy, fun Christmas treats.

Everyone loves Christmas. It is an excuse to get everyone around to the house to have some drinks and good food. However, there are other ways to enjoy the holiday season, too. If you really want to get into the Christmassy mood, put in your headphones in and workout to a Christmas playlist from Spotify, or this one from iTunes.

You might ask for a fitness gadget for Christmas. These little tools are perfect for giving you motivation when it comes to getting out there and burning off some calories. Alternatively you could ask for a gym membership to help keep you physically active all year round. And even if the gadget or gym membership get lost in the back of a drawer over time, they are most likely to be used in the weeks when you most need them after overindulging at Christmas.

Foods to Eat for Under 50 Calories

50g of cooked prawns – 40 calories
2 florets of broccoli – 26 calories
A slice of ham – 46 calories
½ a cup of sprouts – 33 calories
10 strawberries – 40 calories
A carrot – 30 calories
Two crab sticks – 44 calories
5 green olives – 20 calories
28g smoked salmon – 48 calories
A slice of chicken breast – 27 calories
A pot of sugar-free jelly – 15 calories
A slice of pineapple – 28 calories
75g Christmas pudding – 200 calories

Exercises to Try

A 90 minute hatha yoga class – 200 calories
30 minutes of power walking – 100 calories
15 minutes of breast stroke – 100 calories
1 minute of sit-ups – 5 calories
15 minutes of skipping – 130 calories
3 minutes of bicep curls – 10 calories
15 minute run – 275 calories
5 minutes of lunges and counter push-ups – 160 calories

Make sure that you fit in even a half hour’s exercise daily during the busy Christmas season and you will have achieved something that many (most?) people do not do. Adapting your Christmas Day to include some exercise (Snowball fight, anyone?) is a great way to counterbalance your calories intake – and means you can have those little extras without feeling like you have ruined your diet altogether.

Remember, alcohol is full of calories even if there is no nutrition label to inform you, and that is a big part of Christmas for most people. Using smaller glasses can help you feel like you are not missing out, whilst cutting down on up to half your liquid calorie intake. Here is a great guide to calories in alcohol.

In a similar way, smaller food portions for people trying to lose weight is a fantastic way to accommodate the emotional attachments to certain dishes without putting on too many pounds. That way you are eating and drinking what you usually would, just a smaller portion. This works especially well for deserts. Also consider switching to low-fat dairy products and wholemeal, even if only for the Holidays. Both of these are lower in calories then their mainstream counterparts.

People typically gain from one to five pounds (two kilograms) at Christmas time, and most never lose it. Consider this from the New York Times:

Most people don’t ever lose the pound of weight they put on during the holidays, according to a report in The New England Journal of Medicine. Since the average weight gain during adulthood is about one to two pounds a year, that means much of midlife weight gain can be explained by holiday eating.

Make sure you enjoy your Christmas meal, just don’t spend the rest of the year fighting to lose the weight you put on for that one day. If you need some extra support during the festive season, log on to Curves at any time. They are scientifically proven to help people lose weight, no matter the time of year. I have known many ladies to use their services and the ones that stick with it (ah, yes, there is that catch) have always been successful.

So don’t give up and don’t give in. Enjoy the Holidays in moderation, and keep up – indeed, step up – the fitness program. Otherwise it looks like you could be carrying an extra pound or two for the rest of your life.

READ ALSO: Why you should take fat seriously.

Filed Under: Fitness

Frugal and fabulous DIY Christmas treats

December 19, 2013 by David Leonhardt 1 Comment

Here are two yummy DIY Christmas treats that will wow your guests: Cupcake Rudolfs and Rice Kristmastreesicles. You can make them yourself at home with almost no effort and almost no cost.

So you want to really Wow your guests at Christmas this year, but a chocolate fountain and a dozen French maid server girls can’t be squeezed into your budget? No problem. Here are two tried and tested (by Mrs. Happy Guy and our girls) do-it-yourself Christmas treats.

What these two treats have in common:

They are each incredibly simple to make.
They look adorable…and pretty fancy.
They taste great.
Among several dozen items at the dance school bake sale, these were both among the first to sell out.

Cupcake Rudolfs

You start with a cupcake. You can bake these yourself, as Mrs. Happy Guy did in Christmas-themed cupcake paper (here are some cupcake recipes), or you can buy them from the store. Any flavour will do; pick a flavour that your guests will like, or make several flavours to lend an air of surprise. Chocolate, vanilla, red velvet – any will do.

Ice them in brown frosting. Reindeer are not dark-furred, so mixing chocolate and vanilla icing might be best, or you can do what Mrs. Happy Guy did and just add brown food coloring to white frosting.

For the snout, add miniature cookie. We used ginger snaps. I say “we” because I very helpfully taste-tested several of them (for quality control purposes).

For the nose, any red candy will do – Skittles, M&Ms, gum drops. Just use a touch of brown frosting for “glue”.

For the eyes, we bought them read-made at the bulk food store. Tip: put the eyes close together, or they start to look uncannily like brown bears.

For the antlers, just add mini pretzels, tucking them gently into the frosting deep enough that they stay.

That’s it. Ta-da!

Rice Kristmastree Squares.

You start with a large tray or two of regular Rice Krispy Squares about an inch deep. Here is the recipe.

Then you cut them into triangles, shaped like Christmas trees. If you want them to look like they came off an assembly line, measure them carefully to make sure they are all the same size and shape. If you want them to look home-made and like real trees – various sizes and shapes – go wild and cut with abandon.

To turn them green, we coated one surface generously with melted green “chocolate” melting wafers. Melt them slowly, stirring occasionally over low heat. Feel free to use a knife to ensure that they form a smooth surface for the trees.

Now stash them in your covered porch to cool. If you aren’t blessed with an unheated covered porch, a fridge will do.

Once the green coating is hard, you can decorate. How you decorate is up to you. We used piping icing for the garlands. We used Skittles (my younger daughter’s favourite) for the ornaments. Use some green piping icing for the “glue”.

And we used fondant for the stars. We added a yellowish coloring, but it turned out more orangish. But that’s OK, because stars are actually balls of flaming gas, and orange is good for that, right? Besides, it didn’t stop people from grabbing them up.

For an added dash of festivity, carefully stick a popsicle stick through the bottom, and Presto! – your Rice Kristmastree Squares become Rice Kristmastreesicles.

With that, you are all ready to receive your guests and make their eyes pop and their mouths salivate. And you didn’t even have to hire 12 drummers drumming.

Filed Under: Frugal, Fun Tagged With: Christmas, crafts, dessert, diy, rewcipes, treats

You are a lot more creative than you think

December 16, 2013 by David Leonhardt 2 Comments

Wish you could be more creative? Well, you can. You can teach yourself how, and that is what this article is all about.

Creativity is about finding the expression that is original, aesthetic, and distinct which you can call your own. No matter how creative you are at this point, you can always become a lot more creative. Whether you get bored at your creative efforts or you’re excited about them, you can continue to improve in so many ways. Below are some helpful tips that can help you bring out the best – the most creative side – in you.

Don’t Believe the Myth That Creative People Are Geniuses

It is very easy to look at others and associate their creativity with their natural gifts. It’s true that some people are born with the propensity to be creative. But creativity can be learned, cultured, improved upon, and transformed into one’s distinct style. Penn State University professor of chemical engineering Darrell Velegol says:

“It’s a myth that only some people are born creative. In fact, all of us are born with creative ability. This ability can then be radically enhanced by learning a process for creativity, which we lay out in this course. Creativity can be learned – that’s the key.”

If others can be very creative, you can also be as creative as they are. You do not need to be a genius to be more creative. You only need to find your own unique language.

"If you can find new ways to look at old things, you’ve discovered creativity." http://t.co/RC6ojm59gj

— David Leonhardt (@amabaie) December 16, 2013

Be Courageous Enough to Try New Ideas

This has to do with your self-confidence. It’s easy to feel like you’re not going to do it well, just because you haven’t done it before. If you admire people who are creative in organizing events like parties and weddings, it can be a sign that you can do well at it also. Instead of thinking that you’ll not succeed, just take the plunge and give it a try.

READ ALSO: Give Yourself a Gold Star

Take the time to study what others are doing. You can find ideas at places like http://www.getskills.com/ and http://www.lifehack.org/ and other websites dedicated to creativity. I even have a Pinterest Board dedicated to creativity: http://www.pinterest.com/amabaie/creativity/, which you can follow for ideas.

Pay attention to how they do what they do. Compare different styles to see what they all have in common and what variations there are. Don’t be shy to copy those things that are common to many, and to adapt aspects that vary from one person’s style to another’s. And give some thought to what brand-new variations you might bring to the table.

If you can find new ways to look at old things, you’ve discovered creativity.

You could very well unlock a geiser of creativity from inside, that you did not even know was lurking just below the surface. You’ll never know until you try.

Get Close to People You Admire for Their Creativity

Creative people can help you get out the best in you. If you hang around people who seem bored, tired of life, and always complaining, you end up feeling like your energy level diminishes. But if you hang with people who are confident about their creativity, they communicate positive vibes that make you want to discover more of who you are and what you can do.

Yes, it’s true – you can tell a lot about somebody by the company he keeps, because that company shapes who you are.

Creative people can have a great influence on your creativity. Famous writers, singers, guitarists, painters, and others always experience the influence of a successful artist whose work they love. Find yourself a muse or two, or at least some creative people to hang out with.

Work with What You Already Have

You do not need to invent something new or come up with a new style of doing things. Everyone is capable of doing something. You can be a single mom who can successfully juggle an online job, taking care of the kids and doing home chores, or you could be a writer with limited imagination and a huge wish list. The truth is that you have something to work on. You can discover new ways of honing your creative skills by rethinking your style or looking at those with similar skills.

Choose the Right Time to Test Your Creativity

The best time to test your creativity should be when your energy levels are high. You’ll find it very challenging thinking new ideas or trying new things when you’re bored or tired. Creativity takes mental energy. You should be able to identify the time of the day when your energy level is high. It is that time that you should try new things.

Capture your ideas. Make your own Idea Journal

Make your own repository for all of the things that interest and inspire you. It can also provides a safe environment to experiment and grow creatively. Ideas are fleeting. Be prepare when they arrive at your doorway. Unless you write them down, you will likely lose most of them.

Creativity has no limits. It can grow everyday with the right motivation and the desire to do things better. This means that you can discover own creativity each passing day as you immerse yourself in the reality of your life.

Feel like getting more creative? Eat, Pray, Love Author Elizabeth Gilbert speaks about her own fear of both failure and success, and how to overcome both to keep honing one’s creativity.

Filed Under: Fun Tagged With: confidence, creativity

Why Use Protein Shakes?

December 13, 2013 by David Leonhardt 2 Comments

Protein comes in many forms, but sometimes it is the most accessible form that’s best. Let’s look at protein shakes, which are the quick-and-easy form of protein.

There are many great reasons why protein shakes, as part of a balanced and healthy diet, can be very beneficial to the body, especially when it comes to gaining muscle mass. It’s all about drinking the right type of shake at the right time. However there’s a lot of unhelpful advice floating around the Internet these days.

It’s only fair to warn you that some people have even become ill from taking in too much protein, or simply living off it in order to lose weight. No, no, no. Protein shakes are not there to do all the work for you; they are there to improve on the work you’ve already done. So without the foundations of muscle and cardio training,overdoing protein can sometimes do more harm than good. Let’s take a look at how to safely incorporate protein shakes into a balanced and fitness-orientated diet.

The Benefits of Protein Shakes

Not only do protein shakes help to repair muscles, but the body also uses the protein to create enzymes, hormones and nucleic acids, which in turn help to increase weight loss. From organs to cells, tissues to skin, protein is used to create and replenish a variety of elements in our body, so without sufficient levels of protein as children, growth can even be stunted. In later life, injuries can become more frequent due to a lack of protein too.

So don’t skimp on the protein.

Pre Workout Shakes

These type of protein shakes should be combined with fruit, as they’ll provide you with energy to get the most out of your workout. Consuming the shake around half an hour before you begin exercising will ensure your muscles get to use the protein straight away, but make sure that you’re pre workout shake contains carbs as well a protein, otherwise you’ll find yourself running out of energy very quickly. Carbs also contribute to muscle repair, so don’t expect the protein to do all the work!

Post Workout Shakes

Although carbs are important for rebuilding muscle, you should limit carbs and fat after your workout. If your workout has been intense enough, then your body will continue to burn fat and carbs up to two hours after you’ve left the gym, so the last thing you’ll want to do is pile more on!

Whey protein shakes for bodybuilders are the fastest type of digesting protein there is, and it will get straight to work on repairing your muscles. If you’re exercising every day, and combining your workouts with a balanced and healthy diet, then you should be looking to take in around 2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight every day, to ensure your muscles are sufficiently repairing.

Protein is part of a healthy, balanced diet: Why Use Protein Shakes? http://t.co/X4VI1bUOPU

— David Leonhardt (@amabaie) December 13, 2013

Before Bed Protein Shakes

To help your body with overnight repairs, you’ll need a protein shake that works through your body slowly. Milk and bananas are great alternatives, however if you want to stick to protein shakes, then consuming one around an hour before bed should do the trick. In most cases, you’ll usually wake up full, so you won’t be temped to eat a lot for breakfast.

Between workouts

As I said earlier, protein shakes are not there to do all the work for you; they are there to improve on the work you’ve already done. That means that you need to be getting adequate protein from a variety of sources in between workouts and on off-days. Meat, seafood, nuts, grains and legumes, eggs and dairy products are all healthy sources of protein. Even some vegetables, such as mushrooms provide protein.

Of course, no article on protein is complete without a reminder that protein alone does not make a person healthy. Make sure you are getting all the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients you need by consuming a large quantity and variety of fruits and vegetables, and you might also consider taking other nutritional supplements.

If you prefer your protein in a bar for easier transport when on the road, then you should read my shopping guide: In Praise of Power Bars. Both are great ways to supplement the protein you eat at meal time.

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: build muscle, lose weight, proetin, protein shakes

Time, energy and money – phases of life

December 12, 2013 by David Leonhardt 1 Comment

Time, money and energy. You want it all, but you can’t have it all. At each stage of life, the balance changes. So enjoy what you have right now.

Remember when you were a kid, how you had all the time and all the energy in the world? Yes, the world was yours. You could do anything you want. Except that you didn’t have the money.

Well, as an adult, you finally have the money. And you still have the energy. But with the kids and the home and the business, there never seems to be any time to do anything.

No problem. When you retire, you will have all the time in the world. And you should have the money. But oops – where did that energy go?

READ ALSO: No, Really, You Are Never Too Old

You can’t have it all. If you did, you would be Superman. But it is amazing at what you can accomplish and what you can enjoy if you make use of what you do have.

I recall my childhood and how much fun I had. Without the money. Playing in the park and in the forest behind our house. Drawing maps. Reading books. Playing dodgeball. It was a blast.

As an adult, I am having just as much of a blast raising my girls and I really do enjoy most things about my business. I never seem to have much time, but that’s because I am spending – investing! – my time in my daughters and in my business. Sure, I would love to be off hiking and kayaking every weekend. But if I was, I would then wonder when I would ever find the time for the things I am doing now.

And I know that my batteries will start slowing down someday (like when I’m 150 years old, hopefully), but that doesn’t mean that I won’t enjoy doing things at a slower pace.

Each phase of life is special

Each phase of life has something missing. But each phase of life has some wonderful opportunities, too.

So enjoy them all. You really have every reason to celebrate…unless, of course, the venn diagram below describes your situation.

Past Expiry Cartoons (Johnny Ancich) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

Filed Under: Happiness Tagged With: cartoon, energy, humor, money, time

Will One Direction defy the history of boy bands?

December 6, 2013 by David Leonhardt 1 Comment

What is it with “boy bands” that make them so ephemeral? Will One Direction follow the same direction as so many boy bands?

You know the song “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth“? Well all my ten-year-old daughter wants for Christmas are tickets to a One Direction (1D) concert. “It doesn’t matter if the concert is in 40 years, ” she told me without a hint of irony.

Well, the odds are stacked against her that there will be a One Direction concert in 40 years. Or in twenty years. Or maybe even in ten years. Such is the nature of “boy bands” – here today gone tomorrow. No, wait. Hold on just a minute… ah…here yesterday, gone today. Yes, they seem to last just about that long.

So if you’re a fan, or your daughter or niece or granddaughter is a fan, you might want to heed Elvis Presley’s advice: It’s now or never.

Tickets for the One Direction 2014 tour
are on sale now:
http://www.ticketstub.com/events/one-direction/

If you don’t have a pre-teen daughter or niece, you might be wondering what the fuss is all about. My ten-year-old has been their “biggest fan” for a couple years. She has the posters, the magazines (yes, something she actually enjoys reading!) and the t-shirts. My twelve-year-old saw the movie with a friend, and now she’s also their “biggest fan”.

The thing about pre-teen girls, is that very soon they become teenagers, then young ladies, then…well we all grow up. Some will still like the boy bands of their youth, but they mostly move on to other things, and the magazines get recycled and the posters are replaced by framed paintings.

A very short history of boy bands

And the band members grow up and disperse. Some members go on to launch solo careers. Or they keep on going with albums successful enough, but outshone by their glory days. Could the direction One Direction takes be foretold by the history of some other famous boy bands?

Will One Direction defy the history of boy bands? Find out here: http://t.co/b5pWAoyX6c | #1D #music

— David Leonhardt (@amabaie) December 6, 2013

New Kids on the Block: They hit the scene in 1986, but flopped. In 1988, however, their second album was a chart-topper, one of two Number One selling albums. They actually stayed together for a long time after their fan base had thinned out to just the hard-core followers. They reunited in 2007 with enough of their old fans remembering them to go on a reasonably successful tour with The Backstreet Boys.

Backstreet Boys: This band hit the charts in 1996 and enjoyed five years of fame, selling more records than any other “boy band”, including two Number One selling albums. Let’s just keep those quotation marks on that monicker for now. The Backstreet Boys have never really disappeared; they just stopped being the object of pre-teen obsession.

‘N Sync: This band hit the charts in 1998 and also enjoyed five years of fame, sort of like a Backstreet Boys echo. They did lay claim to two Number One selling albums, but Justin Timberlake went on to do his own solo career, so that was pretty much that.

Jonas Brothers: It took three years for them to make it big, mostly on the strength of the movie Camp Rock in 2008. Here we are, five years later, and where are the Jonas Brothers?

Boyz II Men: A more traditional group, these boys were singing together several years before their 1990’s fame, and continue to sing long after their fame subsided. They were not formed by a record label, so they don’t fit the mold of what one typically thinks of as a “boy band”. They don’t lay claim to two Number One selling albums, but they did break many records for their singles, placing them in the record books beside Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

Is there hope for One Direction?

I left the term “boy band” in quotation marks because their is one boy band that never makes the list of boy bands: The Beatles. Yes, when they first hit the airwaves, they were four boys creating perhaps the most famous teenage girl frenzy in recorded history. Parents worried that Beatlemania was the end of the world. And The Beatles enjoyed almost a full decade of popularity until they broke up, along the way becoming the best selling band in history. All four members of the band enjoyed successful solo careers afterwards.

But if you had waited ten years to see a Beatles concert, you would have been out of luck. Even The Beatles had dispersed in less than ten years.

READ ALSO: The Eagles and Hotel California.

Whether they will be together ten years from now or not, One Direction looks destined to have at least a little more time in the spotlight. Just a couple days ago, their third album debuted on The Billboard 200 at Number One, giving them their third album at that position. That is the first time a boy band reaches that milestone…if you ignore The Beatles.

One Direction will grow up, and so will their fans. They might become more obscure or not, but either way, they already have success. None of the examples of boy bands that we reviewed here is a failure. Any budding artist would be thrilled to have one tenth of the success any of them has had.

If you want to read more about the top ten boys bands, here is Billboard’s official take, up to 1012.

Filed Under: Fun Tagged With: 1d, bands, celebrities, fame, history, music, one direction

Sunscreen your youth

December 3, 2013 by David Leonhardt 1 Comment

New research out of Australia concludes that the Fountain of Youth might not be filled with water after all. It turns out that it is filled with sunscreen.

The Fountain of Youth. It was Juan Ponce de León‘s quest to find the legendary fountain that first lead him to Florida – the fountain that would supposedly restore the youth of any person who drinks or bathes in its mystic waters.

The legend dates back before history was written, so it is hard to say where they come from. But since those, times people have been searching for the fountain.

Even in modern days, through modern chemistry and technology, people continue to search for that magical solution to anti-aging.

If you have been around the Internet a while, and especially if you get your share of spam emails, you have surely come across dozens of announcements for some miraculous anti-aging cream. They even show up on mainstream television.

Sunscreen to the rescue

Now it turns out that you’ve been carrying just such a cream in your pocket all along: sunscreen.

Much of the sag and wrinkles in your skin are due to ultraviolet rays. If you spend a lot of time outside, you are a very lucky person. But your skin might not be so lucky. However, it turns out that a generous application of sunscreen daily can slow down the aging process. This is the chief finding of a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Lead scientist Dr. Adele Green of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research calls this “meaningful cosmetic benefits”. The video below explains the results of the research a in a little more detail.

That sunscreen protects the skin is nothing new. That’s why we use it. But we use sunscreen specifically to reduce the risk of skin cancer. Finding that sunscreen also reduces the pace of aging is a major revelation, making it useful not only to those at risk of skin cancer, but to others who spend lots of time in the sun.

This is great news for sunscreen manufacturers, but not so great news for those who peddle anti-aging creams (except those that already contain sunscreen).

Eurika! The Fountain of Youth discovered…in your pocket! http://t.co/9dQR69brXt #health #skin #aging

— David Leonhardt (@amabaie) December 3, 2013

What can you do to slow the rate of aging of your skin?

Cover up. Ultraviolat rays can’t eat away at what they can’t reach.
In the car, bus or train (or even in your kitchen!), sit on the side away from the sun, if you can.
Stay in the shade most of the time.
Use sunscreen, when and where other options are not available.

Remember that the sun is our friend. There is no vitamin D supplement that will ever give us the raw, natural vitamin D like the sun – and vitamin D is important. So a little sun is a good thing. But a little goes a long way. After a short exposure, you might as well cover up, get into the shade or smack on some Fountain Of Youth Sunscreen. Ooooh….did I just give someone a great branding idea?

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: aging, skin, sun, youth

Thanksgiving Day – celebrate happiness with the two most important words

November 27, 2013 by David Leonhardt Leave a Comment

If appreciation is the most important ingredient for happiness, then Thanksgiving Day gives us a unique occasion to focus on what makes us happiest.

Thanksgiving is the most important holiday of the year.

Oh, sure, Christmas is grand, and I know it has many, many fans. I’m not knocking Christmas. But the Thanksgiving story is more important.

Easter has its fans, too. Rebirth is a wonderful thing, but I still say Thanksgiving is more important.

Yes, kids jump for joy at the thought of Halloween. I am sure they enjoy the costumes almost as much as the candy and chocolate, but the Thanksgiving story is even more important than overdosing on sugar.

Why?

Because the two most important words in the English language are “Thank You” – the ultimate in positive thinking. This is true for business success, for social pleasure, even for self-actualization.

Please ReTweet:

The two most important words in the English language are “Thank You” http://t.co/AS7f5aXslt

— David Leonhardt (@amabaie) November 27, 2013

For business success, a thank you tells a prospect or partner that you are appreciative of what she has just done and that you are happy with them. It shows you have a genuine interest in that person and the business relationship.

For social interaction, expressing gratitude is equally important to show how you value the other person and the social relationship you have with him. “Thank you” is a bonding phrase.

But giving thanks is most important on a personal level for our own pursuit of happiness. This is true for anybody who has ever lived, but it is even more true for us today.

A Happy Thanksgiving of gratitude

Consider how much we have today. More than any of our ancestors, we live in The Land of Plenty. We have more than anybody who has lived at any time before. And for those of us who live in the developed world, we have more than most people on our little planet have even today.

I’m not just talking about our abundance of “stuff”. Oh sure, we have ten-foot tall digital color televisions with 594,798,345,691 channels and the ability to program them several light years into the future, the past and the 13th dimension. And we have computers that send us around the world faster than the speed of a turbo-jet on growth hormones. And we have 31 flavors of ice cream waiting for us on every second street corner. And we throw out more “junk” than we ever could find a use for in the first place.

But we have so much more than just ‘stuff’. Consider the following:

FREEDOM AND CHOICE: More of the world lives in a democracy than ever before, and democracy is becoming more open or “democratic” with every year (perhaps in part due to the Internet?). For most of mankind’s existence, democracy was as common as scale models of tourist destinations and automated toothpaste squeezers.

For most of mankind’s existence,
#democracy was as common as scale models of tourist destinations.

OPPORTUNITIES: With freedom and affluence comes opportunity. We have more opportunity to make money, to earn it the way we wish, to choose our careers, our location, even our lifestyle. Women have just about reached equality with men in most of the developed world, and more people are able to flee oppressive regimes for the Land of Milk and Honey. Actually, does that not sound like a continuation of the original Thanksgiving story?

KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? With freedom, comes the ability to satisfy our curiosity: knowledge. And with knowledge comes a thirst for freedom. Let’s face it, the idea of “the ignorant masses” has become an anachronism. Even the dumbest among us has more knowledge than most people who lived a couple centuries ago. (I said more “knowledge”, not more “wisdom”, but that’s another topic.)

HEALTH: Just surviving past childhood used to be a major success. Now we expect to live comfortably into our 80s or 90s. And we expect – no, we demand – to have exceptional health care all along the way (even for those who are afraid to go to the doctor!).

Make every day Thanksgiving Day

This list could keep growing, but these are the major benefits I am grateful for living in twenty-first century North America. What does that have to do with Thanksgiving Day and happiness?

Well, follow this train of thought. Whatever you have, you can either appreciate or not. If you appreciate it — I mean really notice that you have it, that it is good, that you feel good about having it — it will bring you happiness. However, if you get used to it, take it for granted, and focus on things you don’t have, then whatever you do have just won’t bring you happiness; it is just part of the scenery, background noise.

Appreciation is the key to happiness. And daily appreciation is the key to daily happiness. Whatever you truly and proactively appreciate, whether “stuff” or education or a vacation or a nap (as I write this, there is nothing I would appreciate more than a nap!), will bring you joy. But in this fast-paced, dog-eat-dog, over-stimulated society, how can we appreciate anything?

Sadly, many of us who have the most to be grateful for express gratitude the least, and feel the least appreciation. It seems the more we have, the more we want. The more we want, the less we appreciate what we have. The less we appreciate, the less value there is to having anything, which may explain why we keep wanting more.

We who are drowning in luxuries and hold the world in our hands can’t seem to find the time to appreciate what we have … but we still make time to whine and complain. We still find things, however petty, to feed our negative thinking. How can we learn to appreciate our abundance and live a happy life?

The secret to feeling the appreciation we often overlook is in expressing our gratitude vocally or in writing. How can we possibly fail to appreciate something when we say “Thank you” for it and focus our attention on the appreciation? As I said earlier, “Thank you” are the two most important words in our vocabulary.

I offer several ideas on how to express gratitude in the Get Happy Workbook and my self-help book Climb your Stairway to Heaven: the 9 habits of maximum happiness, including keeping a gratitude journal, saying grace, practicing “bolsterism”, or just sending flowers, cards, or a thankful e-mail message – to name just a few ideas. Perhaps the most useful of all ideas is to make Thanksgiving Day every day – and really feel the gratitude.

Christmas is important. Easter is important. Halloween is important for the kids. But for our own personal happiness, there is nothing like a truly heartfelt Thanksgiving.

So have a Happy Thanksgiving today, and every day. And I invite you to express what you are grateful for in the comments below.

Filed Under: Happiness Tagged With: appreciation, gratitude, happiness, thank you, thanksgiving

Home Of The Year

November 25, 2013 by David Leonhardt 2 Comments

It might never be seen in a magazine, but your home should be home of the year, every year, to you. Let’s see what kind of home we get when we mix in a dose of toddler and a dash of humor.

This was a few years ago, when we were gathered ’round the television, where Little Lady was watching an episode of Stuart Little. The kids on the show had entered their house for a Home Of The Year contest sponsored by some fancy magazine.

I turned to my wife with yet another one of my way-too-brilliant ideas. “Why don’t we enter the Home Of The Year contest?” I asked.

My wife looked around in horror. “What? With this place?”

Little Lady, just over two years old at the time, was looking for the green crayon. “Sure,” I replied, obviously missing something. “Why not? It’s a great home.”

“This place is a certified mess,” my wife said in frustration, as she started slipping the videos back into their sleeves. “What magazine would call this home of the year? Dump Monthly? Trash Can News? Oh, I know – Bad Housekeeping?”

Read also: The ultimate home makeover. Wow!

Little Lady emptied the crayon box on the floor. “Oh come on,” I answered. “This is a wonderful home full of love and joy. See all the drawings taped to the wall?”

“In the Home Of The Year, there are no crayon drawings taped to the wall,” my wife explained with just a hint of patience. “There might be an original Rembrandt or Van Gogh, or perhaps an exceptional imitation. It would be placed in an elegant frame.”

Little Lady found the green crayon. Now she needed a sheet of paper on which to draw.

Home of the year or house of the year – which would you prefer? http://t.co/cJ8VFS4HA1 | pic.twitter.com/TwSusyF0Mi

— David Leonhardt (@amabaie) November 25, 2013

What makes a house a home?

“I don’t know,” I hesitated. “Rembrandt and Van Gogh don’t sound very homey. I suspect you might find them in the Museum Of The Year contest.”

“Just look at this dust!” my wife cried. She blew on the top of the television set, which temporarily vanished into the haze. I think it’s time to buy a vacuum cleaner from [insert highest bidding vacuum cleaner brand name here]. (That’s called “product placement” in Hollywood. Except that Hollywood tends to place tire-squealing Porches and Mercedes, but that would probably make this “home of the year” even messier!)

Little Lady emptied her bookshelf with one fell swoop, but still could not find paper on which to draw.

“OK, so it’s dusty,” I admitted. “If we dusted more frequently, we would spend less time together and it would be less of a home.”

“The Home Of The Year contest Committee really does not care whether we spend time together,” my wife said. She headed toward the kitchen in search of iced tea, nearly tripping over a bag of clothes along the way. “They just want to see a spotless house with all the classiest decorations.”

Who needs paper, anyway? Little Lady found a blank spot on the wall, and started applying her green crayon.

“Well, that might make a good House Of The Year, but a home is a place to live in. It needs to exude love and comfort, not cleanliness,” I said.

Apparently, I was still clueless. “Homes of the year never exude love, and certainly not comfort,” she explained, ironically picking a copy of Good Housekeeping up from the floor. “They are showcases of a woman’s ability to keep a house in immaculate condition with absolute precision … despite the presence of a male creature around.”

Ouch. Little Lady gleefully switched to the red crayon. “Well I don’t know anything about keeping a house tidy, but if that’s what the magazines want, why don’t they call it The Janitorial Olympics?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s too hard for them to spell,” my wife replied, smiling. “But they don’t, so just get used to reality. We simply do not have even the slightest, tiniest, most minuscule hope of ever winning the Home Of The Year contest.”

By then, Little Lady had drawn three stick figures on the wall. “My home,” she shouted, running to give Mommy a big hug.

I didn’t need a magazine to tell me we already lived in the home of the year. And if the dust doesn’t kill us off first, we will live there every year.

Home Decorating Made Easy

Now, just for the sake of argument, suppose you wanted to decorate your home in some other motif than crayon scribbling. Get the Home Decorating Made Easy manual. It’s not as easy as scribbling with crayons, but even I will admit it looks much classier.

Filed Under: Fun