45.6.13: Good structure

• The emotional self-regulation that I have learned (and am learning) serves me well.
• I usually enjoy the rhythm of my life. What is important is the journey, the process. Good outcomes (destinations) are nice, but I spend a lot more time in the journey than at the destination, so it's important to enjoy the process of getting to the destination.
• I'm very fortunate to have the close, warm relationship I do with my sweetie. That makes me happy.

"Emotional self-regulation is a learned skill. We are all born agitated and helpless, and we learn self-management skills slowly over time." -- Loretta Graziano Breuning

45.6.12: Foraging for events that stimulate happy brain chemicals

• Finding events that stimulate happy brain chemicals: humor that makes me laugh, making my sweetie laugh, reading a book I enjoy, exercise, tasty food, good talks with my sweetie, being productive at work.
• Machines that work for me while I'm doing other stuff.
• Adding a daily quote to my good list.
• Starbucks on Saturday morning.
• Working on my computer in other venues.

"I've never seen evidence for a non-material realm separate from the physical world of the senses. I have seen a great deal of evidence that human beings have active imaginations and an endless capacity to believe whatever they like in the face of evidence." -- me

45.6.11: Good stuff in my life

• Weekend!
• New computers! (Something I like about my new computer is how quickly it wakes up when I open the lid. The old machine sometimes would spin the beach ball for the better part of 30 seconds.)
• Enjoying the passage of time.
• Restful sleep.
• Getting stuff done.

45.6.10: Stuff I like

• The weather forecast called for rain this morning but it wasn't actually raining when we got up.
• I'm finding that less expensive coffee tastes just as good to me as the expensive stuff, so I can save some money.
• Entertaining websites found through stumbleupon.com.
• Time to eat breakfast.

45.6.9: Things that make me happy

• I like living in Oak Ridge because it's small enough to not feel urban but large enough that we have a local Starbucks and it looks like this summer we'll get a nice new, big Kroger (with gas pumps!). 
• Feeling clean after a shower.
• Gluing old slivers of soap to the new bar so none is lost.
• Improving the code I'm responsible for at work.
• Making my sweetie laugh.

45.6.8: Stuff making me happy today

• Wildlife in my neighborhood.
• Seeing the wind turbines on the ridgeline north of town.
• My scenic commute through the country.
• Interesting things to do at work.
• A steady, comfortable relationship I can count on.
• I'm actually getting some traffic on this blog.

45.6.7: Getting back to the normal routine

• I go back to work today.
• But first we're going to get out for a walk, so my exercise for the day will be done.
• I just finished reading No Easy Day, the account of the Navy SEAL attack on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abottabad, Pakistan. I have a couple more books to read from the library.
• I've made it through a whole week on the current string of days.

45.6.6: Fun stuff happening

• Things I'm looking forward to: having a new, faster computer, having our mortgage paid off, getting back to work after almost two weeks away.
• I recently got a bluetooth headset that works with my phone that I'm enjoying using.
• Yesterday afternoon I went to the library and found several books that I'm going to get to read for free.
• I'm getting happier over time as I work on activities that optimize my brain chemistry (writing good lists like this one, consistent exercise, eating healthfully, fostering positive thinking, etc.)

45.6.5: Easy access to information makes my life easy and comfortable

• It looks like we'll finish paying our 30 year mortgage this year, just five years after starting it.
• My life is much easier than I deserve.
• I live in a place and time where the political and economic system is stable, which makes my life more predictable and comfortable than it would otherwise be.

45.6.4: Oh, what a lucky man

• I see ads for dating services for singles all the time, both online and in real life. They remind me how happy I am in my relationship with my sweetie, how very not single I am.
• We recently had a death in the family. It was sudden, but not unexpected. It's a bit sad. However, in their efforts to be sympathetic, the people around me seem to me to reflect much more grief than I'm aware of feeling. I think I'm fortunate to not feel as sad about the loss as everyone around me seems to assume that I am.
• This morning I spoke with a man who is considering moving into our neighborhood. He said that the sort of house we have is not easily available in other neighborhoods or areas. We are lucky to have the house that we do.

45.6.3: Getting back to normal

• We're safely home from our road trip.
• I'm happy to be back home with my normal food, in my bed, with my familiar bathrooms, in my comfy house.
• Monday I'll go back to work and things will get back to normal.

45.6.2: Living is easy

• Things will soon be back to their normal routine. We're almost at the end of the road trip.
• Travel in this country is very safe and easy compared to most of the world for most of history. We are fortunate.
• Summertime and the living is easy. :)

45.6.1: Try, try again

• It's so nice that with this building habit chains I get as many do overs as it takes. This is day 3 of the road trip.
• The weather for our road trip has been beautiful. This morning we actually got out and ran.
• Despite saying that the tires need to be maintained every time we start it up, the rental car has been reliable. It has even gotten relatively good gas mileage.

45.5.3: Road trip day 1

• We made it safely through the first day of our road trip.
• The rental car is very comfortable and smooth-riding.
• We're having pleasant weather.

45.5.2: Awareness

• Awareness monitors experience all the time, whether "I" thinks he's paying attention or not. Meditation is just when awareness is monitoring experience and noticing that it's monitoring experience (i.e., entertaining thoughts about how experience-monitoring is going on). Non-meditation is when awareness is monitoring experience but thoughts about the process are not arising. Whether a moment is designated "meditation", a "moment of awareness", or an ordinary moment, awareness is monitoring experience.
• I got a second day in a row on this chain.
• Plans for our upcoming road trip are well in hand and progressing satisfactorily.

45.5.1: Roadtrip!

It seems that my level of distractedness has not subsided as much as I thought it would have by now. I'm still trying to get a chain going and missing every other day. This is the next attempt.

• We'll be going on a road trip over the next week. I expect the travel to be stimulating.
• For the road trip, we're renting a car to save wear and tear on our own. I expect to enjoy driving the rental car.
• After today, we'll have the apartment closed down and be done with it.