happy

Enjoy Exercise

When was the last time you enjoyed exercise? If we change the word exercise to movement, when was the last time you enjoyed moving? It’s time to enjoy exercise again!

Enjoy Exercise Like A Child

Not long ago I was teaching my 2 and 2.5-year-old nephews to plank (as you do). One of them was really taken with it. He’d hold the plank for about two seconds and then pop up out of it (as you do when you’re two), look at me and say, “AGAIN!,” with earnest excitement. Then he’d shout an eager, “YES!” as he set his hands up on the ground to come back into plank. This cycle was repeated multiple times. I was overjoyed to see someone so unabashedly enjoy exercise.

What Moves Do You Love?

I love to move. That doesn’t mean that I never have to coax myself into it. There are times when getting started is hard for me. But overall I love the way moving feels. I look forward to taking a Pilates class, walking with Matt when he gets home from work, and running with my friends. I like the way it feels when a tough […]

Enjoy ExerciseMaggie Downie2020-09-18T15:13:33-04:00

Finding happiness

Being in motion on a long hike makes me happy. Here I am at a camp on Mt. Kili.

Figuring out and finding happiness has consumed me lately. I’ve been reading a lot about it. What makes us happy? As far as I can tell, what makes us happy is a series of contradictions. You need a stable government, unless you live in Mexico and then apparently you are happy without one. Earning more than $70,000 per year supposedly doesn’t lead to greater happiness according to statistics, except that in the very specific places where people are the most happy individual income is higher overall. You need freedom, but one of the happiest towns in the United States has a lot of restrictions.

In all my reading and research I can pinpoint four things that seem to truly make people happy—good relationships, volunteering or doing good for others, a sense of purpose, and your perspective.

Here are just a couple tips, using the four points above as a reference, to try and increase your happiness quota:

Get together with good friends at regular intervals. Have a monthly dinner club, or book club, or […]

Finding happinessMaggie Downie2018-02-14T15:58:45-05:00

Muse Paint Bar West Hartford

You’ve been mooned by Personal Euphoria

The Personal Euphoria staff went to Muse Paint bar in West Hartford for our quarterly get together. If you’ve never been, check it out. It was so much fun. It’s wine and painting—both superbly therapeutic. Although I think I’m the only one who would take the painting over the wine. We get good attendance at all our staff events (I think we like each other), but this was our best ever attended event (I think the staff likes wine). Love all the colors!

We booked a private class and picked a painting. Because we had a private, when we got stuck the instructor came around to help us individually. At one point, she came to Barb, sitting next to me, and said, “Do you want me to talk you through how to fix that or do it for you.” Barb wanted the lesson. “Talk me through it,” she said. When the instructor came to me with the same question, I was going to be ready with the same […]

Muse Paint Bar West HartfordMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:14-04:00

Christmas Music

Hooray!! I am a big Christmas dork, and I love Christmas music. When I start to get Christmas songs stuck in my head in July, I try desperately to get them out because in July Christmas is a long way off.

I really think it’s good to celebrate one holiday at a time, so in Maggie Downie’s made up rule book today is the first official day of the Christmas season. It’s finally okay with me if stores are playing Christmas music and have Christmas decorations displayed.

This weekend my family will be together to get my mom’s 12-foot plus Christmas tree, a tradition we have had for my entire life. It is one of my favorite days of the year.

What is your favorite part of the holiday your celebrate? If you don’t celebrate a holiday, what do you love most about winter?

Christmas MusicMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:32:04-04:00

Halloween Fun Comes Cheap

This weekend was a perfect fall weekend and Matt and I took full advantage. We bought some pumpkins and carved them. I’ve done pumpkins since I was a kid, but I certainly don’t do them every year, which is too bad because it was so much fun.

Plus, now that our jack o’ lanterns are hanging out on our front step, the house looks a little more alive, and I feel a little more in the spirit of a Halloween. Whatever we do that brings us joy is good for the mind and body. So if you’d enjoy carving pumpkins this year, I really recommend trying to make time for it. Not to mention, it’s such cheap fun. We got three perfect pumpkins at Bob’s on the Berlin Turnpike in Wethersfield for $18.

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Now, if only I can figure […]

Halloween Fun Comes CheapMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:32:06-04:00