(This post-it note is part of a series on how to lead a simple life even more simply –  with pictures for those easily distracted by words.)

Today, I will discard my Victim card.

Yes, that one.  The one that’s creased and tattered from overuse.  Or maybe you’ve laminated it.  That way you’ll always have it.  You never know when someone might try to take advantage of you.

Today, you will destroy the V card.  This will be hard as likely it’s your favorite card.   But just like you did with your Banana Republic, Macy’s, Dillard’s, J Crew, and Victoria’s Secret cards, you will cut it up.

Do better.  Shred it and toss the pieces into separate trash bins.  (You’ll feel like a renegade and shredding’s fun.)

Today, you begin anew.

You are no longer small or guarded.  You are “King of the World!” (but not King VIII or King Louis XVI, a nice king.)

As King, you maintain full control.  You create your own reality.  Execute all your plans and set your own terms — which means no one can upset you.

You act; you don’t react.

As Deepak Chopra says “You are either a creator or a victim.”

Choose the high road.  Be Master of your Domain,  Lord of the Manor or even like Seinfeld himself “King of the County” and amazing things start to happen.

You thought being a victim had it good.

Try playing King for a day!

[Or as any of your flamboyant friends might quip: playing Queen for a day isn’t half bad, either.  ]

…

We are finally moved!  Thanks for all your kind emails.   More frequent and varied posting will resume.   Have a great weekend!

Sisters Daisy (*wink*) & Lu bring more kid art and their own creative genius to cheer you up!

Look at those smiles!

Don’t they just make you want to get out magic markers and create your own sign? 

Speaking of magic, Lexi glows with shimmering happiness every Sunday.

She’s one of the most joyful souls I’ve ever met…And quite the fashionista!

Look closer:  Those are gold stars in that pot of gold!

Trivia: Did you know dinosaurs evoke happiness?

Connor, 5, wants to cheerup everyone with his “really huge dinosaur”!

Check it out: Even dinosaurs with big orange spikes SMILE!  Who knew?

Finally, Nora brings it full circle with a simple, yet powerful truth:

ABOVE all…

LOVE YOUR LIFE!! 

How’s that to kick off your Monday!

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If any part of this post has brought you a smile, forward it on!  — and brighten a friend’s day.  You’ll feel better, and so will they. 

(Finally, don’t forget to subscribe by email.  It’s free!)

(This post-it note is part of a series on how to lead a simple life even more simply –  with pictures for those easily distracted by words.)

Today, I will write in CRAYON.

I will change up my routine and break all the rules.

Instead of calling out sick, I will call in rich.

I will turn off the the tv, and turn on music.

But not rap music because that’s not music. 

I will take off my watch and turn off my cell phone.   I will smile and say Hi.  Or say: “What’s up, dog?” because no one ever says that anymore.

I will carry cash.  I will skip dessert and leave the difference as a tip.  I will watch airplanes take off.   I will bask in AWE.

I will eat with my hands, crush ice with my teeth, blow bubbles in my soda.  I will take a two hour nap  –  and not feel guilty.

I will put the toilet seat down.

I will write the words I AM ALIVE! in marker on my bathroom mirror.

But not in permanent marker because that would be stupid and hard to clean.

I will spill over.

…

When was the last time you changed up your routine?

(Look for a surprise on Monday!)

(This post-it note is part of a series on how to lead a simple life even more simply –  with pictures for those easily distracted by words.)

Today, I will see a movie by myself.

Preferably, not a romantic comedy.

On Valentines day.

Like I did some years ago.

For some doing anything alone, especially seeing a movie or dining out, is the mark of death.  They’d rather eat beetle dung, staple their hand to a wood plank, or sit through eight hours of Full House repeats.

They know not what they miss.

Study anyone dining alone (you know you do, anyway), and you will see they are a happy lot.  They have the perfect Merlot, the perfect dinner that comes at the perfect time while they’re reading the perfect book.   (Head tilt to Glen.)  They are not lonely or bereft.   No, the opposite.   They are immersed.

They know the secret rule: sometimes the best companion is one’s self.

How many a good movie has been ruined by going with the wrong friend?  How many a bad meal has been suffered and extra tip paid by eating with the wrong (cheap) crowd?

And, honestly, sometimes it feels good not worrying if someone else is having fun.

(I haven’t even touched upon *ahem* some of the best activities you can do alone.)

You can eat what you want, read what you want, even laugh when you want.  There’s no stress about which restaurant to pick, which movie to watch at which theater at which time… or, the big one: whose picking up the bill.

Therein is the one drawback.

When it comes to paying there’s no mystery.

It’s all YOU. 

…

If you enjoyed this, please Facebook it.  If you really enjoyed it: print it out and put it up in the breakroom.  People eating in breakrooms read anything. 

(This post-it note is part of a series on how to lead a simple life even more simply –  with pictures for those easily distracted by words.)

Today, I will make an Executive Decision.

That decision may be to stay in bed all day and eat a whole box of bon bons and drink a six pack of Mountain Dew but that’s okay.  It’s a decision.

As long as you stick with it.

The problem arises when you lie there turning things over and over again in your head not making a decision.

Thus your indecision is a decision.  A decision to fail.

Some of you may even seek advice for your indecision.   “Tell me what you think I should do.”   This is not a good way to make friends.

There is a name for this: waffler.

No one likes a waffler…Not even other wafflers.

Or any of their wavering, weak-kneed, wishy washy friends.

Instead, decide to decide.  Be clear.  Be certain.  Be confident.

And move forward.

Make enough (good) decisions, and you might just score that corner office with the tall windows.   Waffle, and you might be cleaning those windows.

Don’t be a wishy washy waffler. 

(This post-it note is part of a series on how to lead a simple life even more simply –  with pictures for those easily distracted by words.)

Today, I will dig up my past.

We’re experts at digging up everyone else’s past (ex lovers, bosses, high school flames), but today it’s an inside job.

Anyone who says digging up the past isn’t healthy hasn’t dug in the right places.

Today, get out your high school yearbooks.  Your Bar Mitzvah videos.  Your prom pictures.   Relive the braces, the zits, the poofy hair, stirrup pants, shoulder pads, butterfly clips, starter jackets, leg warmers, goth makeup, wearing overalls with only one strap up.

Dig deeper.

Pull out your tattered copy of  The Fountainhead, your comic books, the journals you said you’d never read again.  The picture of you posing on your Pontiac Firebird in your leather bomber jacket you vowed to burn but still have.

Find the “ME” folder you have hidden on your Mac desktop.   (Yes, that one.  The one you’ve password protected).

Click it OPEN.

Pour over the first love letter you sent, your attempts at Shakespeare, your Kurt Cobain angst scribblings, the letter you wrote your parents saying you were running away to Italy with Enzo if they didn’t let you date him at least three months because that’s what Sarah’s parents did when she fell in love with Tony and they’re Catholic.

That is YOU.   Then.

Today, you are taller, smarter, even more beautiful.

Just as tomorrow you will be even more so.

We all get stuck.

But as our past reminds us, we always move on.

(This post-it note is part of a series on how to lead a simple life even more simply –  with pictures for those easily distracted by words.)

Today, I will get excited like a dog.

Even a dog without a tail shakes it’s whole body.

Even a dog with three legs walks faster than most people with two.

Even this sentence has an exclamation mark!

It’s easy to get excited about Happy Hour, Superbowl, or Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet Tour.  All of these are spectacles with built in buzz.   But what about the times in between?

This is about the small things, the overlooked things, the things we rush by…to stand in line at Starbuck’s.

Have you ever seen flat peaches?

What? Yeah, they look like little baby butts.  Until today I had no idea they existed.  I’m still smiling thinking about them.

What about sand crabs, accents, brain surgery on TV, a surprise letter, a huge wave, pelting rain, Teen Spirit Font, Twitter, Facebook, planes taking off, Foam core, green apple fortune cookies, back scratchers.

There’s little that doesn’t excite me.

Japanese tourists excite me.  Why?  They get excited about everything.  Their camera’s buzz: Click! Click! Click!

Half the time, I have no idea what they’re photographing.  Often it’s the food they eat.   Or inspired lattice work.

But maybe they have it right.   Perhaps it’s not all about the statues, the museums, the Times Squares.

Perhaps it’s about the flat peaches.

Woof.  Woof.

(This post-it note is part of a series on how to lead a simple life even more simply –  with pictures for those easily distracted by words.)

Today, I will reveal my secret powers.

But first I will take a nap.

On second thought, maybe I’ll start tomorrow.  It’s already 2:43.

Why do we postpone our own greatness?

Why when it comes to choosing heroes do we pick everyone BUT ourselves?

Pick me!  Pick me!  Pick me!

Not today, SKINNY BOY!!

Our minds tell us.  Yet, not all heroes wear capes and not all caped crusaders are heroes.  Some are just out right nut jobs.  (With a special affinity for stretch nylon.)

Heroes can be mompreneurs like Julie Aigner-Clark, who was so intent on bringing her daughter happiness that she developed a brand  new concept of learning videos named Baby Einstein for a whole new generation of kids.   (Hope that’s true; I read it in Wikipedia).   Or the Dad who ignores the rat race and embraces the non traditional role of stay at home dad.

Or the guy who climbs Mount Everest in a wheelchair.  Not that I advise that.  First, you have to buy a wheelchair.

Point is anyone at any moment can decide to become a hero.  Don’t wait to find the magical cape.

Leap.

The magic is YOU.

(This post-it note is part of a series on how to lead a simple life even more simply –  with pictures for those easily distracted by words.)

Today, I will wear my favorite shirt.

Nothing says CELEBRATE like when you look in the mirror see your bright face and say “I’m HOT!”

I own it.

So why then do we put the shirt back in the closet and save it for a different day?

A day when your hair looks better, your stomach’s flatter, your purse isn’t at the dry cleaners.

A day when you feel 100%.

How many days do you allow yourself to feel 100%?   Do you throw on a shirt, any old shirt, instead and just go with it?  Screw that.  Here’s a simple rule: “If the shirt ain’t a 10, throw it in the bin.”  Give it away.   Someone will rock it out.  You want to wear the shirt, not the shirt wear you.

Everyone’s seen the I heart NYC or I heart black guys or I heart soccer moms T-shirts.   Maybe you have one.   Return it.

Buy the one that says I heart ME.

The ME in big, fat, bold letters.

Don’t just put it on.  Rock it out.   Iron it if you must.

Style it to YOU.

Don’t think because you’re already at work it’s too late.

Take an early lunch break.   Leave.

If you’re boss says, “Where you going?”  Say:

“I’M GOING HOME TO PUT ON MY FAVORITE SHIRT.”

And keep walking.

You got business to do.

Today, celebrate YOURSELF.

(This post-it note is part of a series on how to lead a simple life even more simply –  with pictures for those easily distracted by words.)

Today, I will walk my dog.

Lest you think this is a metaphor (guys), I refer to the outside activity.

Don’t have a dog?  Take someone else’s dog, preferably someone not already walking a dog.

Do not take your cat for a walk.  That’s just freaky.

Allow yourself an hour and just walk…without any set direction, course, or destination in mind.

And watch what happens.

Suddenly, you discover a cool vintage shirt shop you never noticed while driving.  You spot a flyer for Spanish lessons and it reminds you people still do have a sense of humor.   You see a SMART car and smile “So that’s what it looks like.”

People come up and pet your dog.   You have conversations.   Maybe you talk about Caesar Milan.  Maybe you talk about Caesar Salad.  Or Julius Caesar.

But you talk.  You socialize.  Maybe even exchange I phone apps.

Your brain races.  You feel free.

Your dog wags it’s tail.

And, suddenly, you’re back home feeling alive, rested, and at peace.

Until you reach for your keys and discover a huge, gaping hole in your pocket.

[This post-it note is dedicated to Tristin G.]