Health and Happiness

I just looked at the date on my last post here and realized I’d missed the whole month of December.  Although, I missed posting here in December,  I was very engaged in “life.”

As usual, Christmas came too early. I like to have my presents for mailing done by the end of November, but in 2025, they weren’t ready until the second week of December, and that required some marathon sessions with needle and thread, not to mention sweat and tears.  The cause of my angst is pictured above. Every year I make tree ornaments for the “greats” in my family. Usually I crochet, cross-stitch or quilt a small item. This year I embarked on hardanger embroidery.  Although the actual stitching goes fairly quickly, there is one stage of the process where you have to cut away the backing, in the middle of your stitches. That is where the sweat and tears come into play. Anyone who has ever done hand embroidery can understand the near panic I felt when taking scissors to the inside of my work.

Anyway, the project did get finished and was delivered in time for Christmas Eve. Whew! And, I learned something new. Learning something new is cited as important for health and happiness by numerous experts. Here is one example. 

Another key to health and happiness is gratitude. I know this one from personal experience. Several years ago I committed to keeping a journal that listed three things I was thankful for at the start of every day. I embarked on this adventure by following Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts. I had a great year. Even on the gloomiest mornings, I could conjure up gratitude. Our earth is so full of blessings, if we only look. Seeking and naming the things I was thankful for, made for a great start to the day. Once the year was over (I made it to 923 gratitudes) I looked around for something else for a morning exercise, but nothing was as successful in leading me to health and happiness.

Now it is another year. The world is still full of abundance and blessings, but I’m aware of a miasma of fear too.  While I’m resolved to start the day with gratitude,  in the back of my mind there is a “but . . .”

All is not well in the world at large, or in my particular corner of it. I hope that gratitude will overwhelm my fears, but they are still there. Hiding what disturbs me is a form of lying, and study after study confirms that lying is bad for our health. Lying is stressful and puts strain on the heart and lungs and brain. We live in “fight or flight” mode when we tell lies. The bigger the lie, the worse the stress. 

Fiction writers often joke that they tell lies for a living, but creating a novel is not the same as lying to the teacher, or falsely accusing a friend, or cheating on a spouse. Those kinds of lies damage us both physically and emotionally. 

The Sunday sermon at my church urged us to be honest with God and with each other. “Tell the truth,” the preacher said. If the answer to “how are you?” is not “fine,” then don’t say you are. Admit to loneliness, or fear, or pain, or want . . . By being honest, and naming that which is not “fine,” we reduce the stress on our own bodies, and we make ourselves available to receive help from others. 

So, in 2026 I’ll continue to learn something new, I’ll start each day with gratitude, and, in my journal,  I will name one thing that causes me distresses. That is my recipe for health and happiness in 2026.  Petting the cat is a proven stress reliever.

How about you, dear reader? Please click on the comment button at the top of this post to share your hints for making the most of the year ahead.