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The Happy Friday Series: What Is Silver Is Gold

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Susan-Silver-screen-shot.jpgOn January 25, 2013, Ms. Susan Silver cheerily volunteered to write the second installment in our The Happy Friday Series, The Top 5 Cheery Songs. You know this series is “our” series because I didn’t write it, all y’all did!

If you missed last Friday’s installment, let me update you…the series is taking a turn to you. Thanks, huge and glorious thanks to each and every one of you who contributed to the longest-running series a blog has ever known (is that true? I have no idea, but it sounds true to me). There have  been 38 guest posts from mostly 38 different people.

Susan was the second to join in. Thank you, Lady, for your interest, support, ‘raderie, and #RockHot awesome.

Don’t know Susan? She blogs here at Cirque du Mot, which means “life is a circus.” When you hit her website, that is constantly changing, she puts right on the front, “Friendship is a communicable disease, spread the infection.”

What’s also on the home page is Susan is the community manager for  Gygax Magazine. (You’ll need to ask her what that is…Hey, Susan! What is that?)

Where you can find Susan blogging most frequently is right here, at 12Most. Her latest article there explains a lot. She’s in to Dungeons & Dragons! Remember that game?

Susan is one of the most endearing people you’ll meet on the interwebz. She has a knack for quirk and an amazing ability to DIY tech and API stuff. Anyone who does that is my hero.

I’ve watched her come alive; nearly completely out of her shell. We finally get to see an avatar with her picture, and I’m so excited because she’s been hiding for some time.

Susan, you go, go, go…it’s my pleasure to know you and watch your confidence blossom in your writing.

Susan Silver, thanks for your Happy Friday; you are #RockHot!

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The Happy Friday Series: Positively Peggy

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Peg-Fitzpatrick.jpgWhen I launched this series on Jan. 11, 2013 quite by happenstance, I had no idea where it would go, what it would become, or how I would write on happiness every Friday. I instinctively invited the very happiest person I know online and with whom I’ve never spoken or met, to kick off the first official guest post for the series.

She accepted my invitation with relish, and did me and us justice; The Happy Friday Series was official and rolling.

Every Friday since January, I’ve been jazzed with a cadre of #RockHot guest authors. People who have shared their most personal thoughts and feelings, and people who have shared their passions about what puts smiles in their hearts. The series hasn’t been off the hook giggles; it’s been about life and the pursuit of happiness. Sometimes we find that happy in odd ways, with one little bit of graciousness and generosity.

As the series has continued and my invitations to many to author here have become more sparse and peoples’ time has become less to commit, I’m turning the tables to you.

This series is taking a turn; it’s my turn to thank each and every one of you for your generosity of sharing and caring right here.

And, so, today, I thank Peg Fitzpatrick for her spirit and generosity for kicking off this series right here.

Peg, Positively Peggy, writes a blog that is always generous. She’s a teacher extraordinaire, she shares happiness for real with her community, and if you don’t follow her, you’re truly lacking.

Peggy is one of those sincerely genuine nurturers and givers. She puts herself last, she puts her community first.

She’s a managing partner at 12Most.com, she manages the Google+ community for APE, The Book by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch, she is on all social channels, and she’s writing her own book. If you link to that blog post of hers, you’ll get a positive sense of this woman’s creativity and how she teaches you with relentless giving.

May I say, she’s forever in smiles, too?

Please give Peggy a nod your way; she will imbue positivity and inspire creativity — promise.

Peg Fitzpatrick, thank your for your Happy Friday. You are #RockHot!

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The Happy Friday Series: Disasters And Blessings

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Amber-Lee-Dibble-Terry-Overly.jpg Happy Friday!

The Happy Friday series is the brainchild of one of the brainiest chick I know, the #RockHot Jayme Soulati. I have been here a time or two, as have many others and we all speak to you (and each other) through our writing about being happy. What it really means, why you can be, should be, how to do it, how to get it back and how to live everyday just plain happy.

Are you happy?

I am. Yes! Now, many people, those who know me best, might read this (yeah, like if I twisted their arms, shoved their faces in front of the screen and threatened to take away their birthdays….) and say, “Huh? Who? You?! Happy? Pshaw.”

But it is true. I am very happy. (Hey! It is the face I was born with, quit pickin’ on me!)

Let’s be very serious for a moment because I want to impress upon you how important this is to understand.

Burning-Plane.jpgThis is “Cubby”. It blew up sitting on the ground. Cubby has been an Icon in Alaska for almost 30 years. It is also thought to be the lifeblood of Pioneer Outfitters. It’s jobs and responsibilities were enormous. A hero, Cubby has saved lives, numerous times. It could (and did) land anywhere in the remote wilderness of Alaska. Many times, Cubby was called upon to find lost people, lost aircraft and even lost horses or dogs in Alaska’s mountains.

RIP, Cubby, September 16, 2013.

Back to happy.

You may wonder how all of this strengthens my thoughts on happiness. It is very simple, really. Cubby, as valued and treasured as it was, was still just an airplane. A very special, experimental aircraft, but an inanimate object, just the same. Master Guide Terry Overly, known as the youngest old-timer in Alaska, was Cubby’s heartbeat. Master Guide Terry Overly, one of the last old-timers and mountain men of a largely gone era. Terry Overly, the only Father I have ever known and my children’s beloved Papa, was not in Cubby when it exploded into the flames that devoured it.

That is and always will be enough to enforce and enhance my happy.

Some of you may know me as the Manager at Pioneer Outfitters. Some of you may know of me through Social Media and all the different channels that I have frequented over the last few years, dealing with my own identity crisis, through Alaska Chick’s Blog and my first book titled, ironically, My Identity Crisis (Which by the way, the #RockHot Jayme Soulati actually named and helped me cure!).DSC_6911

As Alaska Chick, of Pioneer Outfitters Blog, I have most recently been sharing the trials, tribulations, wonders, blessings and dramas of the 7-week long 2013 International Horseback Adventure. I have also begun sharing the effects of that Adventure has had on Pioneer Outfitters 2013 Fall Big Game Hunting Season, and as the weeks to follow will come to show ~ it aint all been rainbows and unicorns here in the wilderness of Alaska.

Through it all however, one thing remains constant and prevalent: the blessings that surround us all, if we care to see them. The kindness in people, everywhere, towards strangers and friends alike and their own willingness to help as they can, anyone at all, because that is what people do. The beautiful world we live in and the moments that leave us in awe to witness are a blessing that surrounds us all.

What Cubby reminded us all at Pioneer Outfitters of, on the morning of September 16th, was that no matter how valuable, how needed something is or was, was that it was just a thing, a tool and something that could be replaced. Master Guide Terry Overly, a son, a brother, a Father and a Grandfather was so much more to us than a thing, a tool and something that could never be replaced.

DSC_6950As so many people have lost loved ones, and so many times our hearts break for ourselves and others for their loss, I wanted to share my own joy and yes, happiness, with each of you here, for the reminder of how simple happiness is. When everything else is taken away we all, each other and each of us, are what matters.

I wanted to share my happy with you all and I hope you have happy in your life today too.

 

 

About The Author (by Jayme)Alaska-Chick-horse.jpg

Amber-Lee Dibble is one tough cookie and one of the most genuine wilderness women I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting. Reading her stories, listening to her free think in her blog posts, and her love of pink (my least fave color), make you want to squeeze her in a Midwest bear hug. Knowing that her excursions are more real than any of us can imagine makes me want to escape the continental U.S. and move to the outer reaches of Alaska where danger lies in frost bite and mosquito bites. Thanks, Amber-Lee for writing here a third time; you are welcome always. RIP Cubby and so sorry about your loss.

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The Happy Friday Series: Without Woofs I’d Be Nothing

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bassett-hounds-buscall.jpgThe first thing that springs to my mind when it comes to happiness is the distinct lack of it in my life between 1986 and 2005. You see, a black dog often followed me wherever I went during those years. Not all the time, mind; but very often. And when it wasn’t there, I was the Three Muskateers: creative, dynamic, intense, a powerhouse of energy, a fighter.

Then the black dog would return, sometimes slinking up upon me, sometimes springing from nowhere.

Now this wasn’t the kind of black dog that licks your ear or comes when you call. No, this was like Winston Churchill’s black dog: a massive depression that sat on my back, suck its teeth into my very core and crushed me dangerously close to the point of destruction at four points during these years.

Early Spring 2004

I used to teach at the university. I’d dedicated all my early adult life to academia, pouring over books, writing, teaching, determined to inspire others just as I found inspiration. But one March morning, having just taught Seamus Heaney’s Midterm Break, it occurred to me that jumping out of my 8th floor office window felt like the right thing to do. The black dog had savaged me time and time again that winter, even though I hadn’t known it at the time, and now he had floored me. In that very moment I didn’t have the strength to fight him off once more. So I decided to put him to sleep, no matter what it took.

I don’t know what it was that got me out of that room; perhaps the experience of having been here or at moments very similar and even worse before. But out of that room I fled and I never went back to the university.

Instead I went home and walked in the forest. At least that’s what I remember.

Sweden can be immensely beautiful as spring rages into life after the long, dark winter. But this year the rain came, weighing everyone down. Still, somehow, I felt a sense of release.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where to turn. So I kept walking the circle through the forest, trying to lead train the black dog once again, just a five minute walk from where I’m sitting now as I write this.

Eventually he slunk away with some help from a shamen. I dragged myself from my cocoon, translated a couple of books, wrote some articles for the newspapers. I started talking.

I also bought a basset hound.

2013

Anyone who knows me, whether it’s through my podcast, website, or in person will know that my four basset hounds are an enormous part of my life. They sit under my desk as I work. They drag me round the woods every day. Although I’ve been apart from them for a few days here and there, they are pretty much my constant companions. They bring me such happiness.

Watching them smile as they tear through the grass, their loose skin flaying, I want to wrap these moments up and treasure them forever. They are moments of intense happiness.

I’m blessed to have two grown-up step sons in my life, but I never really managed to sort myself out in time to have children of my own so the dogs are my true babies.

I’ve bred 18 pups the nine years I’ve had the woofs. Raising a litter of basset hounds until they’re ready to leave the nest means spending the first three weeks sleeping next to the whelping box, watching that mom doesn’t squash them 24/7 and being able to put life on hold. But I’ve done it and loved every minute of it. These have been moments of great happiness.

And happiness is what I’ve found growing a business, many days spent in my office, connecting with the people that work for and with me and with customers, stoically protected by the floppy-eared angels who’ve helped me keep the black dog at bay. It’s years since I walked with the black dog although I see him on the horizon from time to time.

Still, I couldn’t have built my business without Winnie, Aggie, Tia and Digby.

Being Happy to Share My Story

Being bipolar is both a curse and a blessing. It’s a blessing because sometimes I can feel so energised, so hyper that I really am like the Three Musketeers, able to tackle anything, do anything, conquer anything and that feeds into the immense creativity, determination and passion I run my business and (hopefully) bring to each project we do.

I also know that the subject of mental illness can make people uncomfortable, send them running away; friends, family and customers. Still, I’m always happy to be frank about my story, matter of fact if you will, because people who walk alongside a black dog can function and do succeed. Perhaps not all the time, but often. And that makes me happy.

About The Author

Dr. Jon Buscall runs Jontus Media, a marketing and design agency, out of Stockholm, Sweden. He regularly podcasts about Online Marketing from the Dog House Studio. See the podcasting gear he uses here.  Connect with him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jonbuscall or visit: www.jontusmedia.com. Access his blog here. 

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The Happy Friday Series: My Happy Place

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amusement-park.jpg

Soulati, Kings Island

When I was a little girl my father would gather us up on Friday nights to take us on a family car ride. When I’d ask where we were headed he tell me we were going to”jedbip” – a word of his own creation.

These rides were the highlight of the week, especially in the summer. The windows down, the cool breeze in my hair and WCAO out of Baltimore, MD with DJ Johnny Dark playing in the background.

I would sing along to every song. From the Spinners to Three Dog Night, I would just sing out my heart and my little brother, Robbie would cover his ears in horror.

Our trips to “jedbip” would take us to every inch of Maryland, the city lights of Dundalk and the smell of Fells Point. We’d pass the sailboats out on the Severn River near the Naval Academy.

Every trip ended the same, a trip to Tastee-Freeze for a chocolate/vanilla swirl soft serve ice cream cone. No trip was complete until you had your cone.

 

Family Memories

After all these years, I realized that we never did pass a town named “jedbip”.

However, now that I’m older, I have come to realize that “jedbip” was my happy place. It was those car rides with my family that I look back now fondly and remember as being some of the best times of my life.

There was so much freedom in those moments.

The memories my Dad created by gathering us in the car and taking off on those Friday nights. He didn’t have a destination in mind, no particular place to go; he just wanted his family to have a night together. To create memories for us to hold on to when the miles separated us when we were older.

To be able to go back in our minds to remember those rides to “jedbip” and smile about our happy place.

Jen-Olney.jpgAbout The Author

Jennifer Olney is the Founder #bealeader™ and CEO of . #bealeader™ is a virtual leadership community and multi-author blog dedicated to changing the game and making a difference in the lives of leaders of today and tomorrow by providing education and knowledge base sharing resources by connection leaders from around the world. Jennifer brings over 20 years of marketing and business development management working with organization from Maryland to Silicon Valley in the startup internet and technology space. You can contact Jennifer on @GingerConsult, LinkedIN and GooglePlus.

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