Do One Thing Everyday That Makes You Happy

I was at my desk working, thinking about my new commitments to blogging and what my new topic would be.  I realized I had not blogged for a while but every time I did, I was thrilled by the replies.  When you, yes you reading this, take time out of your day to read what I have to share, well, it makes me happy, really truly happy.  And it turns out today’s blog post is about the word ‘happy.’

This blog topic came in a very organic way. Remember I opened with, ” I was at my desk….”  Stefanie, my  coworker and one of my best friends, walked by (yes, life is good when you get to see a favorite friend week to week…Although Howard gets annoyed when we talk too much). Stefanie said, “Hey Whit, I have been wearing the ‘Do one thing everyday that makes you happy’ cuff and you know, Whit, it works.  I have been doing one thing every day since wearing it and I like what is happening from wearing it.”

Wow, I was happy to hear this!  That comment reminded me of something, so I shared:

I was at the market the other day, and I saw a jar of Creamy Coconut Peanut Butter and thought, “Oh yummy! This will make me happy”.

I thought, “Oh, I do not need it, but…I think it will make me happy.”   So I bought it. And guess what?  It did make me happy!

I do that often when I am at the market.  I see jars of delicious gourmet sauces and jams and, whatever it is, I am  tempted to buy what I call ‘a little jar of happy’.

Stefanie’s cuff bracelet ‘Do one thing everyday that makes you happy’, is a great motto by which to live. I walk by my jar of coconut peanut butter (that no one else in my home wants to try), open the lid and dip in my finger. Then I smile really big.

I asked Stefanie what some of the things were she has been doing when she looks down at her wrist and is reminded to ‘Do one thing everyday….’  “I stop and think about my children. They  make me happy,” she said.  I was quite touched by this comment.

Today I ask you,

What is it you do each day to make you happy?  What is you do to recognize the need to “do one thing everyday that makes you happy”?

Please post and share….  You’ll be happy you did!  We’ll read your comments and it will make us happy that you shared. Thank you for taking the time to read, listen and post.

Whitney

“Life’s a Journey, Not a Destination”

Hi, this is Howard Schwartz, from Whitney Howard Designs.  When I was asked to work on my first blog, I was a bit nervous.  In college I had one of those horrible English teachers who, at the time, destroyed all my confidence in writing.

For me, life is truly about the “Journey”.  I love the quote “Life’s a Journey, Not a Destination”, and you can find that quote on two pieces in the WHD Collection.   A long time ago, when I was probably about 14 years old, I was in a horrible moped crash and I got a wake-up call.  I realized at a very young age that life is about what you make it each and every day.  No matter what you think of yesterday and how you can plan for tomorrow, all we really have is today.  THE NOW!!! (We have a NOW Key in the WHD Collection as well).

Whitney Howard Designs is an inspiring place for me, I feel very connected at our Studio and authentic to our collection, with a focus on Life’s Journey.

Each day we have the opportunity to choose to meet new people, experience new things or we can stay within our current existence and feel somewhat safe.  I try to approach each day with the idea that I have a whole new day, new conversations, possibly new people, certainly new business ideas, and even a new way to be with my kids.  I want to feel like, on any given day I have accomplished as much as I could within the time I was awake. When I go to bed I want to feel like I have walked the path of my day, kept my eyes open and let the journey unfold.   When I start my day, I have the right intentions and throughout the day I reaffirm that same idea. 

I heard a quote recently that resonated with me and it went something like this; ‘When you feel as though you are on the edge of a cliff looking down, you have more options than you think.  You can actually take a couple steps back from the edge, turn around and then continue walking a new direction’.   My take on this is that even when our lives seem so off and we are at the edge of comfort, we can still take the action to change our direction and search for the right place for us to be.

Appreciate life’s journey each and every day…

In appreciation for your reading my first blog, please share a favorite journey quote on our facebook and receive a Complimentary Journey Blessing Ring on ball chain, Green String, leather or key-loop.

Thank you,

Howard

Listen – Words – Integrity

WORDS

For years in my retail shop Handle With Care, I sold signs. Wall to wall signs. Some signs with just a single word.  Other signs with quotes.  

Listen, Integrity, Possibility, Love, Dream, Happiness…

I would often wonder why someone would purchase a sign with a simple word like “Listen”. What did that word mean to them? For me, it sounded like a command, for example, when a teacher would say to the children in class, “Listen”. However, as time went on, my definition of “listen” continued to expand and be redefined. Now the word “listen” has many different meanings than when I was 25, 30, and now 43. For me “listen” now is more than a command word, it means:

Listen

The singing of birds becomes louder, the sounds of nature that surround me are louder, when I stop to listen.

Listen

Listen my son go on and on and on and on about Lego Universe. One day he will be grown and his stories will be less imaginative. Listen to the magic of a child’s imagination.  

Listen

Listen closely to the lyrics of the music I listen to. Are the words inspiring, poetic or shocking?

Listen 

Listen to my heart. Quietly sit with myself, and listen to my thoughts. Listen to my heart beat, my breath.

I’ve been paying close attention to the words around me. I most often wear ACAI Seeds of Life and Spirals from my jewelry collection, but lately I have been wearing Blessing Rings and choosing those with words that are resonating with me. I have been wearing the Destiny Blessing Ring on one chain, and on the longer chain, that I wear close to my heart, I stack 3: Family, Love and Abundance.

I am drawn to wearing Blessing Rings with specific words that make me a bit more focused on what’s on my mind. Jewelry can be neat that way. Wearing meaningful jewelry is healing, encouraging, and the tokens make me feel good, balanced and connected to myself. I love the way Blessing Rings look and I really like how I feel when I wear them.

I woke up this morning and I choose “Integrity” as my word for the day. 

Integrity.

Integrity with my blog. This blog due date was last week but I could not find the ‘Words’ so I was delayed. For me, better to be late and have integrity with my words and my blog. I really did stop and Listen to my heart. My heart said to wait until the words flowed.

These are my Words.

I hope it was worth the time.

I thank you for stopping to Listen to my thoughts.

Whitney

Freedom

I love the word Freedom.

 

I think of it often in the month of February, since President’s Day is in the middle of this month and my kids are often doing art projects about America , about our past Presidents and our American history. I think about freedom and how, for me,  being an American is the greatest freedom of all. 

 

In my mid twenties, traveling the world, I often thought about my freedoms and how fortunate I am to be an American. After traveling, I came home and created a collection of beaded jewelry called Freedom Necklaces.     

 

These necklaces were strung with beads I purchased throughout my travels: Murano beads from Italy , Czech glass beads from Czechoslovakia (at the time), amber beads from the Baltic Sea . The beads and final pieces of jewelry represented my Freedom to have the opportunity to travel, design and be my own business woman.

 

Freedom to explore what I was passionate about.

Freedom to travel.

Freedom to design.

Freedom to be me.

 

Recently I finished a book called A Vail of Roses. It remained with me once again about Freedom and how women all over the world suffer from dictatorships and their abilities to be self expressed and Free and not available to them.

 

This coming Presidents Day, I salute all those in our American History that fought for a Free America, for civil rights and for the Freedom to follow our dreams.

 

If you are home with your kids this President’s Day, consider

doing an art project with pennies. I love to drill holes into pennies with significant dates on them and slide them onto my key chain or wear the lucky pennies on a necklace. I love

 the color of the copper, the super cool President Lincoln and the significant date. I really dig doing penny crafts…by the way, if you google ‘Penny floors’ you will find some extremely cool floors people have made with pennies…only $1.44 a square foot!

Pay It Forward

Although I have not seen the film in a long time, the movie Pay it Forward still remains a favorite. And the act of Paying it Forward is one my favorite things to do. I’d like to share a little more about this topic.

I have just arrived back to LA after spending 7 days with Howard in New York City working at the International New York Gift Show.
After Howard and I complete an order with a client, we take a moment to share some Gratitude and Love with them. This is a special moment for Howard and I because we are so truly grateful for each order and for the opportunity to meet retailers who relate to what we create.

Before clients leave our booth, we take a moment to say thank you and to say that we appreciate them. We do this by placing a Gratitude Blessing Ring in their hands. After that, we give them a couple more Blessing Rings so they can share their Gratitude with others and Pay it Forward. 

During our stay in New York we had a relaxing night watching a film called I Am. Although the film is not about Paying it Forward, it is about ‘reality and humanity’. Truth is, scientists all over the world agree that our world and our human race work best when we as humans all work together, care, and share.

When Howard and I share Gratitude and Love with others, we get super excited! Sometimes we even share tears during the Gratitude exchange because our humanity is truly sparked; our human connection is taking place with others. When this happens, good things start happening inside our bodies, and it becomes an emotional experience. These exchanges were a highlight to my week away.

I must share about something else occurring as I write. A woman named PattiJo (aka earth angel) is a teacher, amongst other things. We recently gave PattiJo a Gratitude Blessing Ring when she was at our retail store, The Shop. Expressing Gratitude to PattiJo is easy because she does so much for our world and her students. Anyway, PattiJo really understood how great of a feeling it is to pass out Gratitude. She called us to purchase a couple of dozen Blessing Rings to give to her students. She asked her students to pass them out to those people they were grateful for. After a week her students came back to class wanting more; wanting more Gratitude to pass out and Pay it Forward.

This brings me much joy. My heart grows bigger, because when I am part of such movements, my humanity is so alive and I feel the best I can. Like the scientist’s interview in I Am, it’s true: we are made to operate in a state of Love and Gratitude, and when we do, the true essence of our humanity shines.
A gentleman named Dr. Dennis Prager, a national radio personality, recently said “when we are Grateful we are most happy.” I agree.

I am authentically Grateful that you read this post, that in your busy life you took a moment to read what I have to say. So in the spirit of Gratitude, please post a comment on Facebook or this blog post, and let all of us at the Studio of Whitney Howard Designs send you a bag of Love and Gratitude Blessing Rings, so you too can Pay it Forward.

Remembrance Day

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

 Years ago, Whitney Howard Designs had an opportunity to create custom jewelry pieces for the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. It is a huge honor to create pieces that sell in the Holocaust Museum Gift Shop. People all over the world purchase tokens that say ‘Never Forget’. Many years later, this message applies to people all over the world who today, suffer the same atrocities.

   Whitney Howard Designs also creates tokens for the Tolerance Museum in Washington, DC, which say: Unity-Diversity-Equality. This token is another important piece with a message to remind us that today, we still fight for Civil Rights.

In the studio of Whitney Howard Designs, we also make a few meaningful pieces that are just perfect for when the time comes for us to Remember – when it’s our turn to embrace memories of those we hold dear. The Remember Heart is available with a flame cutout and the words “Forever in my Heart” written on the back. The other Remember Heart has a paw print cutout with the same messaging on the back.

         These hearts can be worn as necklaces, hung with keys, and can always be mounted onto a smooth river rock. Place these keepsake rocks in or on your vanity, in your garden, or at the gravesite of one Remembered.

  For Howard and I, it brings us much pride to know that people all over the world visit both the Holocaust and Tolerance Museums and purchase the Never Forget and Unity tokens. As Jewish people and humanitarians, the messaging on both tokens are essential to our quest for world peace and tolerance; honoring those we remember.

Go to Whitney Howard Designs Facebook page – share a memory and receive a Memories Blessing Ring.

Unique

I have always loved the word “Unique” – not because of its awesome meaning, but because it was the name of a funky warehouse store in New York City. While I was growing up back east, visits to the city with my mom and sister always included a stop to the Unique Boutique. And to this day, I have never been to a boutique quite like it.

Now I know why the store’s name was Unique Boutique, because everything about it was unique. This brings us to one of our newest Blessing Rings…The Unique Blessing Ring…on the back: Dare to be Different.

Often we ask customers and fans about ideas for new Blessing Rings. The Unique Blessing Ring idea came from a very Unique gal of 15 years old, named Sabrina. Sabrina is talented, smart, and strong. She is a teenager to admire: a flutist, a black belt, and a Karate instructor. Okay, you get the message. This Unique gal created the Unique Blessing Ring and we are grateful for her input.

As soon as the finished product was in my hand, I knew exactly whom I wanted to gift it to. Obviously Sabrina received a bunch to share with those other Unique people in her life. After Sabrina, I gave one to a woman named Wendi. Wendi has always had so much style – and she still does. For years, I have been inspired by Wendi’s Unique way of accessorizing and dressing. She always looks really hip. But not only on the outside. Wendi is a Unique woman; a mother of four, a clothing designer, a volunteer, a blogger, a professional organizer…on and on I can go.

I was also excited to gift the Unique Blessing Ring to another woman named Abra. She is a mom at my children’s school who recently turned 50 and showed up to school with fuchsia hair. When I saw her in her hot pink hair I was in absolute awe; total admiration, as a Buddha might say. I was grateful to be able to see that boldness. It brought the hugest smile to my face and I was giddy inside.  When my first son was born I wanted to do a blue streak in my hair, but I chickened out. Then my other boy came and I chickened out again. I admire Abra for being Unique…Daring to be Different!

Who do you know that is Unique? What is Unique about them?

Post it on Facebook.

Post it on their Facebook.

Let us send them a Unique Blessing Ring.

Go to Facebook and play.

– Whitney

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is by far, for me, one of the most influential people of history. I sometimes wonder about legendary people like him, who made such an impact on our lives and yet did not live to know it.

How powerful a man that we have a holiday dedicated to him and the Civil Rights movement?

I grew up in a home where there were no racial slurs of people’s culture and ways of life. We celebrated differences. I find it aggravating to encounter people who have no tolerance for the differences in each other.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I will have my children listen to the speech “I have a Dream” and afterwards we will discuss Civil Rights. It is impossible for me to hear that speech and not be profoundly moved to tears.

This Martin Luther King, Jr. Day we recognize all the people of history who rose up to speak their speak, fight their fight, and I salute the bravery involved in such epic fights for change.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day we ask you to post your favorite quotes by him or someone you admire who has had a positive impact in your world.

All participants receive a Dream Blessing Ring.

Also, send a free, virtual Dream Blessing Ring through our Facebook App to all your Facebook friends!

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”- Martin Luther King, Jr.

– Whitney

Lou Lou and the Remember Rocks

Lou Lou is missing her brother and sister. Her “Always in my Heart” Rock anchors the memory of those she lost. This picture perfectly represents the reason we created this rock. Our Remember Rocks serve to do just that – to help people remember. At Whitney Howard Designs, we believe in the importance of comfort. A rock is strong; it survives almost anything and can weather any storm. There comes a time in each of our lives when we need something deeply meaningful and everlasting. There comes a time when flowers or a plant is not enough. We need something unending that represents our love for the ones we’ve lost. We need a reminder. Strength. Encouragement. Comfort. We need to remember.