Answer #1- Don't Whine

Yes, we all love a good whine (and wine) with friends. Keep it up, it's cheap therapy. But then we all know those people who suck the feel-good right out of a room the moment they walk in. Bitch moan bitch moan, waaaa! I don't want to be that person. I don't care if the air conditioner broke down or my back hurts or my manicure only lasted two days, lets slap that cheerful face on and sing something from Rodgers and Hammerstein. There are so many people in the world who carry on through grief and heartache and depression and illness with dignity and courage, and since I know quite a few of them I will shut up about my petty complaints.
I would like to extend that to the national level too because we are a nation of whiners. Oh the gas at the pump went up two cents, oh back in the good old days blah blah blah, oh THOSE people stole our country, oh lets sue the bastards, oh  the government.......fill in blank here. Try living in Syria for a day and then see what you think.
Let me tell you about the ladies and men who come to my Yoga classes, and especially the ones who come to Seated Yoga. The latter group are mainly my age and up, all the way to the late 80's. They've raised children, fought illness, had surgeries, had things replaced and removed, lost parents, children, spouses, and dealt with lots of aches and pains and all the miserable crap that happens with aging. Yet they show up to my classes week after week and push themselves through exercise and stretching. When we do hand weights some can barely lift a one pound weight but you can see the determination. They are showing they still have the fight in them.

Look at this sweet lady. Her husband wheels her in on her walker seat because she is so frail and weak. She's had a stroke and she recently took a bad fall, but she shows up still, and even when something is hard she keeps that smile on her face. Mona helps me put things in perspective because when I am in pain I am grumpy and self-pitying and I don't like being around people. But putting on a smile, even a forced one can take ten years off, or at least lift up all those facial muscles that are tending to slide down into the neck. (not whining, just observing.....painfully).

I love this photo here from the movie, "Zorba the Greek", (1964) not just because it's a great film and two great actors, Anthony Quinn and Alan Bates, are dancing together, but because it happens at the end of the film after EVERYTHING has gone wrong. The Full Catastrophe, as Zorba labels it. All plans smashed, money lost, the two women they both liked are dead, so what the hell....... let's just dance on the beach.