10 Easy Ways To Be Happier

There are few things in life that make me as visibly happy as the 8 year old is in this picture.

When do we lose that ability to be completely engulfed in the sheer fun of living? The thought made me a little sad. Then I read a magazine article that says you can buy happiness.

"Hot dog! Sign me up!" I thought and flipped quickly to the article… which then went on to detail a research study. Hate when they do that. Reading research studies is such a slog!

But it turns out this particular study had some good findings about happiness and gifts, two things I very much enjoy. So I kept at it. The researchers found that in every country, except one, folks became pretty darn happy when they gave someone a present. Happier when they gave the present than when they got the present.

Generosity makes us happy. (Unless you live in that one pesky country.) Which we do not.

The take away? Being generous is good. Good for other people and even better for you. Got it.

But sometimes it’s hard to be generous. We’re time pressed and money pressed and creatively challenged. The article had an answer for this too. It said to do an experiment, yourself or with your family.

Give $10 away. You decide how. One lady got 10 one dollar bills and hid them in different library books. Another bought the meal for the person behind her at the drive through.

I can’t wait to try this idea out with the guru crew. What a great, visible way to spread the love. You’ll brighten someone’s day and – bonus! – get to enjoy the feel good vibes yourself.

Gift away, guru girls & guys! Will let you know the results of our family experiment once it’s underway.

5 Things A New Mom Needs More Than A Push Present

We got ourselves a baby craze going on in Hollywood. Celebs all over are preggers. Drew Barrymore. Olivia Wilde. Kerry Washington.

Naturally, this makes me think of baby bling. Others call it a “push present”, but I find this term offensive. Because it conjures up images of the grittiest part of labor. Yuck.

I much prefer the phrase “baby bling”. Better term but the concept remains superfluous. When you are a new mom you do not need something new and sparkly on your arm, you already have that. It’s called a baby.

Instead, here are 5 things New Mom really, really needs (to be purchased by her baby daddy or particularly awesome family and friends).

1.      Meal delivery service – There are lots out there. Freshology will deliver healthy, pre-made dinners. Or if this is too spendy, go to a make-your-own-meal place like Supper Solutions and whip up a ton of meals that you can deliver to New Mom’s freezer yourself.

2.    Month of massages – Who cares about the muscles being worked? New Mom will sleep through the massages because no one will be crying in the room next door. Unless there’s particularly tough shiatsu going on over there.

3.    House cleaning for a season – The first 4 months with an infant are about one thing only: keeping that baby happy.

You really shouldn’t try to do anything else or you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment. But houses get really gross really fast and New Mom will be home more than ever. Get her a cleaning crew and she will cry, thank you and cry again.

4.    A standing babysitting date – This is a time you guarantee you will be there every week to watch the baby for 2 hours. This allows new mom to count on you and actually schedule appointments. You don’t know the gift you are giving New Mom when you do this. The biggest surprise a baby brings is the complete and utter change of your life focus.

Suddenly your schedule isn’t about you. It’s about the wee one. This gift allows New Mom to have the focus on herself for 2 hours a week. This is awesome.

5.     Gift certificate for a manicure – Because when New Mom’s under eye circles make her look like a Goth, her hair is greasy and her girls feel like they’re on fire from breastfeeding, she will look at her glossy, manicured nails and see that not all of her glam self has been lost.

That manicure is more than a $15 and 20 minute investment. It is a symbol of the future. A future when every bit of New Mom will be as polished as her manicure. It is a sign of hope in a time of spit up and explosive diapers.

Babies are terrific. So are the dads and family and friends who pitch in for the important stuff. Celebs may have glam squads for the red carpet, but it’s those of us who have glam squads for life that are truly lucky!

Read This: "The Circle" by Dave Eggers

This probably won’t surprise you, but I am a big conspiracy girl. I once discovered – completely by accident – that conspiracy theory is kryptonite to cocktail party conversation.

Happily, I discovered this at a friend’s wedding, when I was stuck talking to her uncle, the most boring, long-winded man on the planet. When I threw my conversational nugget about conspiracy theories into the mix, he made up an excuse to get away from me.

I was equal parts offended and psyched. Which was the exact same reaction I had to the book I just finished, which also – coincidentally – touches on conspiracy theory.

The book in question?

The Circle by Dave Eggers.

Mostly, The Circle deals with the “a ha” moments our heroine, Mae, has when she lands a job at a company that bears a striking resemblance to Facebook. Mae’s company is basically a fictionalized Facebook, a start up where legions of hip, young things labor to connect all via their social media site that’s everything to everyone.

The company’s aim is to create a better society through surveillance. Think nanny cam on global scale. There are cameras everywhere, recording everything, with a vast audience of viewers watching, “liking” and controlling the results.

While this “smile, you’re on camera” state may help stop many human rights abuses, it’s creating a few too. The ethical questions Eggers covers are broad. What are the moral implications of a world where everyone and everything is known?

But just as your head starts to hurt from thinking about this stuff, Eggers throws in an issue that’s downright tawdry. Such as, who owns the digital rights in a hook up situation? Mae foolishly gets carnal with a coworker who records and posts the action online.

Is this an ethical breach or much ado about nothing? Shakespeare would be mystified by this brave, new world where the rules on romance and everything else have been rewritten. Is the technology Mae’s company offers the best thing to happen to humanity or the worst?

Read and discuss. Or read, discuss and, with your vocal opinions on the issue, scare off your friend’s boring uncle at the next family gathering.

Happy reading, guru girls & guys! (Click this link to go to amazon.com to learn more about "The Circle", available for around $12 for e-readers.)

Ditch Antibacterial Soap: Embrace Guru Girl Goodness Instead

Yesterday I saw a mouse skittering across the kitchen. You know how I feel about mice. I jumped on the chair first and asked questions later.

My questions were many:

1.      My friendly pest management guy had recently visited and given us the thumbs up.

2.    It was a very fast moving mouse.

3.    It was mysteriously shaped, almost like a shadow of a mouse.

Today I figured out it wasn’t a mouse at all.

It was a dust bunny! A dust bunny made up of black dog hair that flew across the kitchen when the back door was opened. I discovered this because there is another one, just like it, in the family room!

On the one hand, I’m happy. We have no mice.

On the other hand, I’m dismayed.

We have dust bunnies that double as small animals.

There is no good answer to this except for guru girl to quit the holiday merriment and apply a little elbow grease to the cleaning situation.

I don’t enjoy cleaning, but I do enjoy cleaning products. And this potion, which I shall call Guru Girl Goodness, is the very best of the bunch for 2 reasons.

1.      It smells divine.

2.    You mix it up yourself. So very on trend and DIY!

I got the recipe from some pro housecleaners who did the move-out clean for us this summer. You better believe those ladies know their stuff!

Guru Girl Goodness Cleaning Spray:

1 

I    In an empty spray bottle, mix 1/3 water, 1/3 Mr. Clean and 1/3 Dawn dishwashing liquid. (The specific kinds are: Mr. Clean with Febreze and Dawn Ultra dishwashing liquid.)

Helpful hints:

1.      It’s important you get the Febreze option.

2.    Don’t put in too much dishwashing liquid or you will have bubbles all over the place.  

Use this stuff on any counter that needs shining. It shines it right up, leaving no residue and the best scent ever.

Your kitchen will smell and look as high end as celebrity chef Nigella Lawson’s. But without the cocaine trails. 

And the only mouse sightings you’re gonna have are the ones next to your computer. 

Happy cleaning, guru girls & guys!

The Secret Benefit Of Play Dates

The only reason we’re getting the Christmas card out this year: manual labor from elementary schoolers.

Bonus: They will work for cookies. Though it slows their production time. And makes it unlikely their mothers will allow them to play here again anytime soon.

Look for our Christmas greetings in a mailbox near you sometime very, very soon.

Hopefully before Valentine’s Day.