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| Every Day Celebrations August 2008 |
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| Written by Jean Caster | |
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Oh the beautiful lazy, days of summer. The days are bright, the temperatures are high, and at night if you listen you can hear a symphony of crickets and tree frogs! Summer is definitely my favorite season of the year. Did you know that August is National Admit You Are Happy Month? I found several references to this fact on the Internet, but I couldn’t find any sites that explained how August was bestowed this honor. But isn’t it exciting? A whole month to focus on how happy you really are. What if you spent the whole month focusing on your blessings, on the little things that bring you joy, instead of the things that you wish you had, or wished were different or simply wished would go away. I bet if you tried you could come up with 10 things that make you happy in less than a minute. Here’s a quick list from me: my children, my husband, sunshine, my newly weeded flowerbed; the new vegetable plants that are coming up in the garden; my pets, the caramel latte that I have just finished; fresh peaches for dessert, and my job. To admit that you want to be happy is, in essence, making the “choice” to be happy. Are you looking at the world as if your glass is half empty or half full? How might you change your perception; “re-frame” your world, if you would, so that you celebrate what you have as opposed to what you don’t have? What if you focused on making the choice to be happy every single day? Wouldn’t that be great! And what better way to be happy every single day than to celebrate the month of August? The 2nd week of August is National Smile Week. Isn’t this great! Let’s focus this whole week on smiling more. Sometimes even if you are faking a smile, pretty soon you just feel happier. So, let’s get out your biggest, most charming smile and share it with everyone you see! Don’t feel like smiling? Do it anyway. Smile at the people in the grocery store line, smile at people when you are filling your gas tank, smile at the waitress at your favorite restaurant, smile at people when you are in an elevator. If someone looks at you funny, just shrug and say with your winning smile, “Did you know its National Smile Week, let’s pass it on!” The 3rd week in August is National Friendship Week. Why not make some new friends this week, or nurture old friendships that you have forgotten by the wayside? Send an email, send a card. National Kiss and Make Up Day is celebrated on August 25th, so why not reconcile with someone with whom you have had a falling out? Better yet - reach out to someone who doesn’t have a friend. Think you don’t have time in your busy day to take on a new friend? Nobody says you have to spend 24/7 with them, just start up a conversation with someone new at church, or work. Sharing pleasantries during your day makes everyone feel happier. August 22nd is National Be An Angel Day. You know how much fun it is to be a Secret Santa at Christmas time? Nobody says you can’t do something nice for someone anonymously at other times of the year too! Bring a bouquet of flowers, or leave someone a candy bar, or gift card to their favorite coffee shop. Go out of your way to do something nice for someone unexpectedly, you will feel like its Christmas in August! Perhaps you could leave someone a note on their desk. After all, August 18th is National Bad Poetry Day. There is no better excuse than a real-honest-to-goodness holiday to write bad poetry. So go ahead, give it try! Write a poem for your spouse or your children. Remember, it is supposed to be bad poetry on Bad Poetry day! Write as many bad poems as you can, just be sure that your poetry is spreading joy, even if the joys are giggles at how really bad your poetry really is. And if you really want to celebrate in August, remember the Olympics’ opening ceremony begins on August 8. The Olympic Games continue through August 24th. Why not pick your favorite Olympic event, and plan an Olympic Party. Ask friends and family to wear red, white and blue and root for the home team! This year’s Olympics will be held in Beijing, China, so you could serve a Chinese menu. Or because it is an “international” event, you could ask guests to bring their favorite dishes from around the world! If you have children you could host your own Olympic Games right in your own back-yard. You could have the Olympic Sack Race, or the Olympic egg roll, or even the Olympic back-yard dash! The Olympic Committee is always looking for new events to add to its venue, maybe the events you create will someday be Olympic features! When your children are worn out from their competitions, serve them red, white and blue cookies, and some fruit punch! You could have the children make Olympic medals from construction paper. Making and awarding the medals will be as much fun as competing in the back-yard events. Remember this month you are “choosing” to be happy! So get out there and celebrate! | |