Kindness in the Car

In some places, driving has become a competitive sport of sorts involving much tension, aggression, and anxiety - even in places where traffic is not a problem.  Perhaps tapping into some primeval instinct to be first, to conquer, many people don't even want another car to get in front of them.
   If you want to become a nicer person, start with your driving.  Let people in ahead of you (not so many though that the drivers behind you become angry), quash the aggression that causes you to go faster and faster and feel that you must be first. 
   When you need to get into the next lane, don't speed up and try to get in front of the car that is already 2 lengths ahead of you.  Get behind that car.  (I don't know why people always try to speed ahead here in D.C. to get into the next lane when there's plenty of space behind the car).

   If you can be a gracious driver, it will improve your day!

Want your flowers to show up beautifully in any setting? Just add a mirror! If you have flowers on your coffee table, a mirror underneath doubles their impact and beauty. And it's easy to find inexpensive flat mirrors for a few dollars at a Michael's or any other craft store. For a tall vase of flowers, there's no better environment for them than in front of a long mirror over a mantel or an entryway chest or your dresser.

Mirrored trays are wonderful for so many other things as well as displaying flowers.

Flowers on the mantel are a classic!

My husband did a wonderful thing for Mother's Day. He sent me flowers and a box of candy from our two cats, Cluny and Cuervo, with a "thank you" for all I do for them. It was very special since it was very unexpected and something that I didn't even think he thought about. By the way, the flowers are still here, but the chocolates are gone! 

Send something special and very unexpected to someone special in your life. The feeling it will give that person is tremendous!

Graciousness

By way of Hybrie Morgan (I don't know the original):
 

 Two things determine success in life:

The way you manage when you have nothing.

The way you behave when you have everything.

          I believe true graciousness is behaving the same in both instances.

Eat Some Chocolate: It Does You Good!

Do something nice for yourself today: Eat some dark chocolate.  Get a bar of dark chocolate from your local Whole Foods or Trader Joe's - try for the highest cocoa content you can get, or you can even get a Hershey's Special Dark chocolate bar.  Eat it with your green tea or coffee, and enjoy the wonderful aroma of chocolate and the extra rush of endorphins it gives you! 

 While you do want to take in account the calories and amount of fat and sugar if you are on a strict diet, dark chocolate is actually very good for you. A report in The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that dark chocolate (most emphatically NOT milk or white chocolate) can lower your mild high blood pressure. Also, dark chocolate has antioxidants, and antioxidants "gobble up free radicals, destructive molecules that are implicated in heart disease and other ailments"(webmd.com). It has been shown to help harden tooth enamel. And since it has a low glycemic index, it won't cause your blood sugar to spike.

  Just remember: NEVER eat your dark chocolate while drinking milk as it will cancel out the good effects.

Saying "I Love You"

Have you said "I love you" today to anyone that you do truly love?  If you don't feel like picking up the phone, send an e-mail. It's unobtrusive, you get the point across, and the recipient reads at his or her leisure. It's a small gesture that takes little time and one that will give someone a smile and a good feeling.

Sleep, Sleep, Ah......Sleep

I am an insomniac.  I live for decent, deep comforting sleep that I seldom get. But I am working on it! If you have problems with insomnia (and I have had since I was only 6 years old when fears kept me awake) make sure that you are doing the following (they really are important):

• Don't sleep with your television on.  Okay, that's a given, right? But if your insomnia started early in life and was terror-based, it's hard to believe that you can actually go to sleep without the television. I used the television for everything from company to blocking out other people's annoying sounds. TURN IT OFF! Breathe deeply, and see that now that you are grown, it is much easier to go to sleep without the light and sound of a tv.
• Don't take long naps in the early evening.  It's tempting, especially if you are really sleepy and can lapse into a delicious sleep at 6 or 7 in the evening.  That sleep feels so good - but it's going to keep you up for the rest of the night when you actually go to be at 11 or 12. Find something to do and skip the nap.
• Don't drink coffe, tea, sodas.  When I was in my twenties, I drank cup after cup of coffee all day and made fresh pots at 6, 7, 8 and 9 at night, then complained that I couldn't sleep.  The coffee wasn't the only cause of my insomnia, but it certainly didn't help.
• Do take a warm bath with something that smells soothing and great added to the water about 30 minutes or more before bed.  Don't watch Criminal Minds, CSI (any of them), Forensic Files or any of the other doom and gloom programs you may ordinarily enjoy. You may think that they do not disturb or scare you, but they are unsettling to the mind which doesn't forget them that easily. Best: watch something funny, something that can make you laugh out loud. Try Nick at Night or TV Land for some of the lightest comedies going.

Sleep is too important to us to tolerate poor quality sleep or insomnia. Do something, even if the last resort is a sleep clinic or doctor-prescribed sleeping pills. Your quality of life will vastly improve!