Congratulations! You survived 'Blue Monday'

If you're reading this, you will have survived 'Blue Monday' - which I wrote about in my blog yesterday.

'Blue Monday' is so named for several reasons; all of which are pretty negative.

However, yesterday, from where I was writing, there was some brilliant sunshine - even though the day started icily cold and became so again later in the day.

I wrote about some of the things which I hoped would get me through the day yesterday. However, I have to admit that I was very low by the evening.

Anyway, nasty Blue Monday is over for another year. And, as I am writing this after mid-day on Tuesday, we're nearly through Tuesday too. By tomorrow morning, we'll be half-way through one of the most difficult weeks of the year. 

Keep going!

Blue Monday. Ways to 'Pink' it up...

The newspaper I read yesterday carried a reference to 'Blue Monday' - that is the Monday that, this year, is the second full working week of the year.  As if we didn't need the reminder, the weather is usually not great at this time of year. (Last year there was torrential rain on Blue Monday). The festive season is well and truly over; but the debts we have incurred are still with us. What's more, we may have failed in our efforts to even make, never mind keep, any new year resolutions. So that the problems we had at the end of last year are well and truly carried over into this year. None of us are immune, according to the report in Wikipedia. However, help is at hand in the form of a handy little website specifically made for the purpose of trying to cheer people up on, what is known to be, a day with depressing tendencies.  In the meantime, I said I'd be mentioning a book which my son gave me for Christmas. It's called 'The Happiness Project' and it's about one woman's quest to spend an entire year on various experiments to see if she could make herself more happy. The end result for the author was a book in which she reported that 'yes' - she had made herself happier. She is not the first or the last to carry out such an experiment. She lists a whole load of references of the kind you'd expect to find in any self-respecting 'self help' book. However, no book or website, by itself, is going to make someone happy. As someone (possibly me) once said: 'Self-help books? I've read them all and they don't work'.

So what's the answer? In a nutshell: try and do something to cheer up someone else. Taking action increases energy and starts the fight against depression. Make a list of the good things in your life (starting a 'gratitude' diary or list is one way.)

In my own experience, I have found that to a) ask for and b) accept help is the first step to conquering depressing thoughts. I am certainly no happiness guru - but, for me, the fact that my son gave me such a thoughtful and insightful gift is something I treasure.

Writing this blog is my 'gratitude' list (in a way).

 What follows is the entry from Wikipedia which relates the origins of 'Blue Monday':

Blue Monday (date) 1
Blue Monday (date)
Blue Monday is a name given to a date stated, as part of a publicity campaign by Sky Travel, to be the most
depressing day of the year.
This date was published in a press release under the name of Cliff Arnall, at the time a tutor at the Centre for
Lifelong Learning, a Further Education centre attached to Cardiff University. Guardian columnist Dr. Ben Goldacre
reported that the press release was delivered substantially pre-written to a number of academics by public relations
agency Porter Novelli, who offered them money to put their names to it.[1] The Guardian later printed a statement
from Cardiff University distancing themselves from Arnall: "Cardiff University has asked us to point out that Cliff
Arnall... was a former part-time tutor at the university but left in February."[2]
According to a press release by a mental health charity,[3] the formula is:
where weather=W, debt=d, time since Christmas=T, time since failing our new year’s resolutions=Q, low
motivational levels=M and the feeling of a need to take action=Na. 'D' is not defined in the release, nor are units.
Arnall says the date was calculated by using many factors, including: weather conditions, debt level (the difference
between debt accumulated and our ability to pay), time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s
resolutions, low motivational levels and feeling of a need to take action. Writing about the calculation, Ben Goldacre
stated: ... the fact is that Cliff Arnall's equations ... fail even to make mathematical sense on their own terms.[1]
This date allegedly falls on the Monday of the last full week of January. The date was declared by Arnall to be 24
January in 2005,[4] 23 January in 2006,[5] 22 January in 2007,[6] 21 January in 2008,[7] 19 January in 2009,[3] 18
January in 2010. In 2011 there has been confusion about the correct date. Some claimed it was on 17 January 2011[8]
while others say blue Monday was on 24 January 2011.[9][10][11]. In 2012, Blue Monday will fall on January 16th.
[12][13]
Mr Arnall also says, in a press release commissioned by Wall's ice cream,[14] that he has calculated the happiest day
of the year—in 2005, 24 June,[15] in 2006, 23 June,[16] in 2008, 20 June,[17] in 2009, 19 June[18] and in 2010, 18th
June.[19] So far, this date has fallen close to Midsummer.
References
[1] Goldacre, Ben (2006-12-16). "MS = media slut, but CW = corporate whore" (http:/ / www. guardian. co. uk/ science/ 2006/ dec/ 16/
badscience. uknews). London: The Guardian. . Retrieved 2008-01-21.
[2] Goldacre, Ben (2006-11-18). "How GxPxIxC = selling out to your corporate sponsor" (http:/ / www. guardian. co. uk/ science/ 2006/ nov/ 18/
badscience. uknews). London: The Guardian. . Retrieved 2008-01-21.
[3] "Campaign aims to help ease January blues British public urged to ‘Beat Blue Monday’" (http:/ / www. mentalhealth. org. uk/ media/
news-releases/ news-releases-2009/ 13-january-2009/ ). www.mentalhealth.org.uk. 2009-01-13. . Retrieved 2009-01-13.
[4] "Jan. 24 called worst day of the year" (http:/ / www. msnbc. msnMSNBC. 2005-01-24. . Retrieved 2007-03-13.
[5] "Jan. 23 most depressing day of the year: report" (http:/ / www. ctv. ca/ CTVNews/ World/ 20060123/ depressing_day_060123/ ). CTV.
2006-01-24. . Retrieved 2007-03-13.
[6] "Blue Monday: The unhappiest day of the year" (http:/ / www. dailymail. co. uk/ news/ article-430389/
Blue-Monday-The-unhappiest-day-year. html). London: Daily Mail. 2007-01-22. . Retrieved 2007-03-13.
[7] Booth, Frances (2008-01-21). "Smile! You're not the only one in a bad mood" (http:/ / www. telegraph. co. uk/ news/ features/ 3635353/
Smile-Youre-not-the-only-one-in-a-bad-mood. html). London: Telegraph.co.uk. . Retrieved 2008-01-21.
[8] "'Blue Monday': Today the most depressing day of the year" (http:/ / www. joe. ie/ health-fitness/ health-fitness-news/
blue-monday-today-the-most-day-of-the-year-008758-1). www.joe.ie. 2011-01-17. . Retrieved 2011-01-17.
[9] "2011 is so bad – we have two Blue Mondays!" (http:/ / www. beatbluemonday. org. uk/ ?p=136). beatbluemonday.org.uk. 2011-01-17. .

Inspiration for the coming year...

We always seem to start the New Year with new goals and good intentions. However, we very quickly realize that it's just not that easy. Inevitably, we face setbacks and difficulties. This short video of Maya Angelou reading one her poems, is truly inspirational. Enjoy...

Still I Rise
By Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise” from And Still I Rise. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, Inc.
Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994)

More energy, joy, peace and satisfaction in life...

Someone from the health club to which I belong sends me a motivational missive now and then. (I'm going to save you the expensive membership subscription by sharing it with you after I've had my little 'say')

It makes me realize that I should be at the health club instead of sitting on the sofa or at the computer; so maybe the 'nagging' works at some level. It makes me wonder about motivation, though. What makes us do what we do - either grudgingly, willingly; or with enthusiasm, energy and even passion? It's a question I've been addressing quite seriously over the festive period. It's led me to changing the subject matter of my blog. I want to make it more personal and relevant and, by this means, will hope to attract more interest and participation from my readers.

I was delighted with the response to my blog post yesterday. You can see some of them by clicking the 'comments' tag at the bottom of yesterday's post. Some people commented by email because they found the mechanism for leaving a comment too complicated. I'm going to look into that. Perhaps I should change to another blog provider with a clearer system?  Or perhaps I need some lessons on how to use this one more effectively. Anyway, I am 'open to the universe to teach me' (as they say in some of those self-help books).

Talking of 'self help' books, my son and his girlfriend gave me a really interesting one for Christmas. I'll tell you about it in my next post. In the meantime, here's that motivational missive:

A new year is a great time to reset your body clock, re-calibrate your settings, and re-chart your life course. There’s something motivating about using a fresh calendar to make new goals in your life. Take a moment to reflect on the past and look forward to a healthy future!

 

Healthy Lifestyle Tip: The Gift of Reflection

Reflecting on the past year is a good way to clear the path for the new year. Reflection allows us to let go of the restraints that can hold us back and think of new strategies to move forward based on the strengths associated with our accomplishments.

 

The benefits of the end of the year review offer us "lessons learned" from those situations that may have not turned out as we might had hoped and those that did. Something is always working in our favour – we just need to discover what it is.

 

Here are 20 questions that can get you started on your end of year review:

• What were my resolutions or goals for 2011?
• What were my greatest accomplishments for 2011 that I am most proud of?
• Now, what was one more?
• What are the actions I took to achieve these accomplishments?
• What strengths enabled me to be able to take these actions?
• How can I apply these strengths to move forward in 2012?
• What did I intend to do in 2011 that did not get done?
• What were the biggest challenges or barriers I faced in 2011 that contributed to not accomplishing everything I wanted?
• How did I deal with each of these?
• Where do I get my strength to overcome barriers?
• How have I grown from these accomplishments and challenges?
• What am I most grateful for as I reflect back on the year?
• What have I learned?
• Who are my greatest supporters or support systems that I can rely on as I move forward?
• How can I show my gratitude and appreciation to those who have supported me?
• What would I like to be different in the upcoming year?
• What would it feel like to experience this difference?
• What am I willing to do to make this change a reality?
• What barriers do I anticipate and what strategies can I put into place to overcome these barriers?
• What is the first step I need to take to get closer to my goals?
  Source: examiner.com

The first minute - the first hour - the first day of the new working year. Make it count.

This morning, I had no appointments, no deadlines, no train, bus or 'plane to catch; and no office I needed to get to. How lucky is that when the weather is as foul as it is this morning? It would have been so easy to stay in bed until noon, with the rain beating down and the high winds (both of which are forecast to be with us for the day).

On days such as these, I sometimes make a call to a friend or relative - and I will probably do so after I've done this post.

However, I wanted my post to be able to reach anyone I know who has had to start their working year this morning by getting to work on public transport.

This morning must have been really tough. First the getting there; and now sitting contemplating all that work that awaits you. Or the uncertainty of not knowing what is going to be expected of you.

I was trying to feel your pain as I lay in bed in the warm, enjoying a duvet morning. That is what made me get up and write this post. I wanted to have it done and online - ready for when you got to the office.

I hope this is the first email you open - or one of the first.

To wish you a very Happy and Prosperous New Year