Potato cup is what I think every time I hear the phrase “rotator cuff.” What is a potato cup? I don’t know. A cup for potatoes? What does potato cup have to do with anything? Nothing, I just wanted to start with something different, and I bet few have ever heard the phrase “potato cup.”
Since I’m so easily distracted, I just Googled “Potato cup,” and I’d just like to say, “delicious.”
[special]In case you’re curious: Independently Happy, part 1.[/special]
I had potato cup surgery in December of 2010. During my recovery, I decided to write down my philosophies about happiness. Luckily for me I’m right-handed, and my right arm was immobile, so I had to type down my philosophies on happiness.
I fired up the computer and started typing, one-handed. Left-handed. Yes, it was exhausting, but I persevered. For you.
As I typed, I realized a couple things.
- Most of my happiness was the result of action.
- I needed examples for each area of our lives that contribute to or detract from our happiness. So I listed the areas and started outlining.
I decided, probably in a haze of painkillers and exhaustion, to combine the two. That meant writing a book. I was going to write my book with one arm!
Here I am six years later writing a blog post with two arms. Yes, I’ve been letting this idea steep for six years. Let’s not dwell on dwelling.
Thinking about action got me thinking about acts. Not the book of the Bible, but things you do. Look up acts in the dictionary. I’m pretty sure it says “the things you do.”
Direct Deposit
Independently wealthy
It occurred to me that…each act for good was like a deposit into an account. If we consistently deposit acts into our account, the accumulated acts will start to earn interest just like money in a savings account earns interest. If we consistently deposit enough money into enough accounts over a long enough period of time, we’ll reach a point where the interest our money earns monthly exceeds our monthly expenses.
Independently wealthy.
Independently Happy
I think that if we consistently deposit enough acts into enough accounts over a long enough period of time, we’ll eventually reach a point where the goodwill, karma, interest our happiness earns monthly will exceed the little annoyances that happen each month.
Independently Happy.
It occurred to me that the guy writing a book with one arm about how consistent decisive action contributes to long-term happiness should probably reserve a domain name. It just so happens that indepentlyhappy.com, .net and org were available.
Lol. “A book with one arm.”
What!?!
Surely I’m not the first person to ever come up with that phrase!
Independently Happy, not “a book with one arm.”
I Googled. Blue October has a song called “Independently Happy.” If you Google the phrase now, you get more results, but at that time, Blue October song got all the results. Interestingly enough, I rank on page 4 of results.
I write for humans, not for computers.
I grabbed the domain and spent the next six years researching, learning, practicing and writing. You mean you procrastinated six years getting serious about your blog. Then finally in 2016, I got serious about the blog!
So, can someone with photoshop please make me a picture of a book with one arm?