A ridiculous apartment community newsletter recently held a blurb on knowing yourself to be healthy. Pretty sure I threw it out during the move, but I think it was on my fridge long enough to remember a couple of the points therein.

I’ve done this before, I think. But it’s helpful to redo it from time to time — knowing when to change the list is probably pretty important.

What makes you happy?

• Sunrises
• Writing something that deeply affects someone else
• Singing
• Hugs…I’m mushy
• Sharing a bottle of wine with a friend
• When staying in is more fun than going out
• Feeding people…dinner, dessert, whatever
• Making up words
• Learning something new
• Little kids giggling
• Thunderstorms
• Fresh coffee and a good bagel
• Daisies
• Waking up next to someone who knows you better than you know yourself and is watching you sleep
• Snow
• The smell of the Pacific
• Fresh sheets
• Changing leaves
• Friends who love me and aren’t afraid to call me on my shit (i.e., stopping at my favorite winery just to bring me back a t-shirt AND telling me when what I’m doing takes a special kind of stupid)
• Very loud percussion — vocal and instrumental

What makes you sad?

• Knowing that I’ve hurt someone I love, especially if I’m far away
• Seeing old people eating alone in McDonald’s
• When good people can’t catch a break
• Movies about heroic animals, especially puppies
• Wanting to help and not being able to, for whatever reason
• Falling short of my own expectations
• Friends: The one(s) where Ross and Rachel figure out they can’t not be together. I cry every time.
• Any kind of discrimination or belief in stereotypes
• Assumptions
• That I can live the way I do when other people can’t get three meals a day
• People who don’t take the time to be kind

How have your lists changed?