Happiness on Forgeover

So Much Joy

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:38:02 +0000

Ah the pictures. I know I have gotten behind, and I apologize. This batch is less about beautiful places and more about smiling faces. This last month seems to have been overflowing with joy here on Convivia. Here are a few choice vignettes.

101 Days of Cruising

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:00:23 +0000

We just sailed through our one hundred and first day. In this time we have begun to set the routines, behaviors, and mentalities that will be the foundations of our cruising lifestyle. After 101 days I can say with confidence that, while I haven’t experienced everything (who has) I am most definitely a cruiser, and I know that this life choice was the right one.

As with any milestone (and this one is arguably more arbitrary than most), I thought I would take a moment to publicly reflect on what life looks like at 101. So here, in no particular order, are some thoughts:

Lowered Expectations

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:27:34 +0000

One of my favorite pre-vacation practices is to intentionally lower my expectations. I contend that I am due a single 15-60 minute “moment of bliss” somewhere in a 2+ week vacation, and if I can get that I consider the experience a success. These moments of bliss generally take the form of reading a great book in the sun on a day with light breeze.

On this last vacation I got two moments of bliss. The first (which happened twice) was when the kids were playing happily in the cabin. Vick and I were sitting in the cockpit drinking coffee, and Convivia was sailing herself under nearly perfect conditions. The second was when I took the kids to Shorebird Park to play while Vick went to the store. Both kids were having trouble with relationships. I saw at least a dozen problems at the moment before they flared up. Somehow I managed to use just the right intervention every time and their conflicts effortlessly catalyzed into new friendships and joyful spirit. I was in a zone, writing a symphony of play with them and I couldn’t have been happier or felt more accomplished.

No Better Life Than This One: Reevaluating My Primary Relationship

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:51:35 +0000

Can critically evaluating your relationship lead to a happier healthier self while simultaneously improving the relationship?

Winning the Lottery

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:49:04 +0000

On the way to work this morning Victoria suggested that we play the lottery. “Its $166 million today, seems like a good time.” Now understand, we don’t play the lottery to win, that’s just crazy talk. We play for entertainment value. When we were younger we would go out an drop a cool Washington on a ticket and then spend all night talking about our fantasy future. As we got older, and started to live that fantasy, we did this less often. Still, a couple times a year, the mood strikes us and we splurge.