So, here's the deal . . . today I was listening to the Me First & the Gimme Gimmes' rendition of "My Favorite Things" (you know - the song Maria sings in The Sound of Music). Whether you listen to their rockin' cover or Julie Andrew's singing it in the movie version, you know the chorus goes something like this:

"When the dog bites,
When the bee stings,
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad."

I got to thinking about some low points in my life, and I began pondering the question: would merely thinking about my favorite things make me feel better? The answer I came up with was NO. When I asked a couple of folks if thinking of their favorite things when they feel sad makes them feel better, they too said NOPE. So, what made Rodgers & Hammerstein think, "hey, good lyric"?

One of my favorite things is Big E the Wonder Dog. Emmett (aka Big E) is my dog, and I just really dig that little dude. When I am having a bad day at work, I do wish I could just go home and squeeze on him. But, it doesn't make me feel better. It just makes me all the more ready to go home and snuggle up with the dude while we watch Guys and Dolls or Monster Quest. It makes me MORE irritated or sad.

So, maybe Big E is a bad example. He isn't really a thing but a living being that I interact with, so I would naturally not get a total benefit from merely thinking about his sweet, furry face. So, I thought about another situation: stress monkey time at the office. When I am a raging stress monkey, will thinking about a beautiful sunrise or music really make me feel better? No . . . not really. Usually during the most stress-filled office moments, I would much rather be at the beach watching a sunset or even sitting listening to my iPod. Thinking about what I am missing out on makes me even more pissy.

Maybe I just lack Maria's plucky attitude. Maybe I am a "glass half empty" kind of gal. Maybe I just needed something to write a post about.