Crude oil varies widely in appearance and viscosity from field to field. It ranges in color, odor, and in the properties it contains. While crude oil is essentially a hydrocarbon, the differences in properties, especially the variations in molecular structure, mean that a crude is more or less easy to produce, pipeline, and refine. The variations may even influence its suitability for certain products and the quality of those products.
Crudes or crude oil is roughly classified into three groups, according to the nature of the hydrocarbons they contain.
Paraffinic base crude oils: A crude oil containing paraffin wax but very few asphaltic materials. This type of oil is suitable for motor lubricating oil and kerosene. These contain higher molecular weight paraffins which are solid at room temperature, but little or no asphaltic (bituminous) matter. They can produce high-grade lubricating oils.
Asphaltic-Base Crude Oils: Contain large proportions of asphaltic matter, and little or no paraffin. Some are predominantly naphthenes so yield a lubricating oil that is more sensitive to temperature changes than the paraffin-base crudes.
Mixed-Base Crude Oils: The "gray area" between the two types above. Both paraffins and naphthenes are present, as well as aromatic hydrocarbons. Most crudes fit this category.
Crude oil is a complex mixture of many different components. The separation of these components into useable products is known as refining. Refineries must be designed to handle the type of crude oil they are going to process. Crude oil from the Appalachian Basin (Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil) contains a lot of wax and paraffin. The amounts of gasoline and fuels that are produced or distilled are relatively small, and in some conditions are by-products of the refining process. The lubricating stocks and waxes that are obtained from Pennsylvania Grade Crude oil are the most desired portions. Other crude oil, such as that from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, contain much less wax and far more fuel. The bottoms or residue left after the distillation are very asphaltic and very good for making road tar and heavy burner fuel.
Pria, please note - which sort of crude source would be used is depend on what products you are intended for. You can not use Pennsylvania grade crude oil for the product intention of diesel, petrol, or methane, ethane, propane, butane requirements.
From the analysis of the crude oil, it can be determined what the basic composition of the crude is and what applications it is best suited for, (API) gravity methodology determines these differences.
The Pennsylvania Grade Crude oil can be broken down into the following basic fractions, or components: Gasoline, Kerosene and Fuel Oil, Gas Oil, Wax Distillate, and Cylinder Stock or Bottoms.
The gasoline fraction is further refined and through a variety of processes is converted into the fuel we power our cars with. Certain portions of the gasoline fraction are removed and others have their chemical structure changed (isomerized). Some impurities are removed (desulfurized), and others have components added to produce the final product (reformulated gasoline).
The kerosene and fuel oil fraction is basically unchanged and used as fuel for the trucking and construction industry. This fraction can also be processed into some of the specialty solvents used in manufacturing.
The gas oil fraction is a heavy, relatively slow burning, non-volatile fuel, or it is frequently used as a light lubricating oil. This fraction can be used either as a fuel or as an oil. If the gas oil fraction is hydroprocesssed, it can be made into white oil (sewing machine oil) or high quality oils for use in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
The wax distillate is a valuable source of lubricating stock and paraffin. By removing the wax or paraffin one of the basic components of lubricant is produced (neutral). Neutrals can be further refined through distillation (fractionation) and hydroprocessing (catalyzation) to produce a series of specialized components used in the manufacture of engine oils, gear lubricants, and greases. The addition of additives to control oxidation, thermal degradation, and viscosity produce the high quality lubricants used today. Paraffins are used in many different aspects of our daily life. They are used not only in candles, but in cosmetics, paper coating, inks, fabrics, and even on our foods.
The Cylinder Stock or Bottoms fraction is what is left over after the crude oil has been put through the distillation tower. The wax portion is removed to create a product called Micro Wax. Micro has a much higher melting point than paraffins and is therefore suitable for a variety of products we use daily, such as a component of many plastics, candy, and in building materials. Many types of candy that would be too soft otherwise, have their form because of the inclusion of micro wax. A Canadian company has even developed a process to form micro wax and polymers into a structural material that does not require maintenance, in essence it is a wax brick. The oil portion of the cylinder stock is further processed to remove the resins. These resins are used to create many different products ranging from high temperature insulations to undercoatings or fuels for ocean going barges. The oil portion of cylinder stock is then a heavy lubricant base stock used in heavy duty gear oil applications and many industrial lubricants.
The refining of crude oil is a complex and involved operation that generate many different components that are the building blocks for virtually every product we use in our daily lives. As you can now see, the products of the refining process are not just limited to the automotive industry, as many people would think, but are important components in almost every modern convenience manufactured today.
Types of Crude Oil accoridng to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. The petroleum industry often characterizes crude oils according to their geographical source, e.g., Alaska North Slope Crude. Oils from different geographical areas have unique properties; they can vary in consistency from a light volatile fluid to a semi-solid. Classification of crude oil types by geographical source is generally not a useful classification scheme for response personnel because they offer little information about general toxicity, physical state, and changes that occur with time and weathering. These characteristics are primary considerations in oil spill response. The classification scheme provided below is more useful in a response scenario.
Class A: Light, Volatile Oils. These oils are highly fluid, often clear, spread rapidly on solid or water surfaces, have a strong odor, a high evaporation rate, and are usually flammable. They penetrate porous surfaces such as dirt and sand, and may be persistent in such a matrix. They do not tend to adhere to surfaces; flushing with water generally removes them. Class A oils may be highly toxic to humans, fish, and other biota. Most refined products and many of the highest quality light crudes can be included in this class.
Class B: Non-Sticky Oils. These oils have a waxy or oily feel. Class B oils are less toxic and adhere more firmly to surfaces than Class A oils, although they can be removed from surfaces by vigorous flushing. As temperatures rise, their tendency to penetrate porous substrates increases and they can be persistent. Evaporation of volatiles may lead to a Class C or D residue. Medium to heavy paraffin-based oils fall into this class.
Class C: Heavy, Sticky Oils. Class C oils are characteristically viscous, sticky or tarry, and brown or black. Flushing with water will not readily remove this material from surfaces, but the oil does not readily penetrate porous surfaces. The density of Class C oils may be near that of water and they often sink. Weathering or evaporation of volatiles may produce solid or tarry Class D oil. Toxicity is low, but wildlife can be smothered or drowned when contaminated. This class includes residual fuel oils and medium to heavy crudes.
Class D: Nonfluid Oils. Class D oils are relatively non-toxic, do not penetrate porous substrates, and are usually black or dark brown in color. When heated, Class D oils may melt and coat surfaces making cleanup very difficult. Residual oils, heavy crude oils, some high paraffin oils, and some weathered oils fall into this class.
These classifications are dynamic for spilled oils; weather conditions and water temperature greatly influence the behavior of oil and refined petroleum products in the environment. For example, as volatiles evaporate from a Class B oil, it may become a Class C oil. If a significant temperature drop occurs (e.g., at night), a Class C oil may solidify and resemble a Class D oil. Upon warming, the Class D oil may revert back to a Class C oil.
A method with pulsed electric or magnetic field to reduce the viscosity of crude oil is developed. Specifically, for paraffin-base crude oil, a magnetic field pulse can effectively reduce its viscosity for several hours, while, for asphalt-base crude oil or mixed-base crude oil, an electric field pulse can do the same. The method does not change the temperature of the crude oil; instead, it temporary aggregates paraffin particles or asphaltene particles inside the crude oil into large ones. This particle aggregation changes the rheological property of the crude oil and leads to the viscosity reduction. While this viscosity reduction is not permanent, it is suitable for many important applications, such as oil transport via deep-water pipelines, since it lasts for several hours and is repeatable.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Friday, February 6, 2009
Happiness Interview with Michael Melcher
Michael is a career coach who has an incredible breadth of personal experience from which to draw: while in college, under the name "Jane Harvard," he wrote a novel with three friends, The Student Body; he has a JD / MBA from Stanford and has worked as a lawyer; he served in Calcutta and Taipei in the Foreign Service; he has a blog with a lot of great material, at The Creative Lawyer.
One of his most recent accomplishments is the publication of The Creative Lawyer. This book is described as "a practical guide to authentic professional satisfaction" and is aimed to help lawyers be happier in their work. For my happiness project, I’ve read a lot of books about career satisfaction, and this is absolutely one of the best (and I’m not just saying that because Michael is a friend!). In fact, I think that the book isn’t helpful for lawyers only, but for anyone who is thinking about ways to be happier at work.
Michael has not only done a lot of thinking about happiness, he's done a lot of thinking about what practical changes actually can help boost happiness at work.
Following is his interview with Gretchen:
Gretchen: What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier?
Michael: Giving someone directions on the subway or helping them carry a bag up a flight of subterranean stairs makes me almost bizarrely happy.
What’s something you know now about happiness that you didn’t know when you were 18 years old?
Whatever issues you have at 18 related to self-acceptance, moodiness, need for validation and desire to be special (to name a few) will most likely still be present when you are 30, 40 or 50. They probably will never go away. But you can learn ways to manage them. So I guess I would say that a big part of happiness is recognizing who you actually are and finding ways to bring out the best in that person and manage the less wonderful parts.
Is there anything you find yourself doing repeatedly that gets in the way of your happiness?
Comparing myself to others is something that I do consistently, and it is always an impediment to happiness. See my answer to question #2 above.
If you’re feeling blue, how do you give yourself a happiness boost?
Every single time I exercise, I feel better. Even though I know this, it does take some effort to get myself out the door. I have also discovered over the years that eating quality, healthful food has a huge impact on my overall happiness, especially if I cook it myself. One happiness learning is that the physical and emotional components of happiness are completely intertwined.
Is there anything that you see people around you doing or saying that adds a lot to their happiness, or detracts a lot from their happiness?
People confuse “I can’t” with “I won’t.” I see this especially in my line of work, which involves working with people to take action to improve their careers and lives. It’s so automatic for people to say they can’t do things: they can’t move, they can’t get by on less money, they can’t send their kids to public schools, they can’t find a good partner, they can’t pursue their passions. In most cases the truth is that they can, but don’t want to accept the consequences of those choices. It’s fine to choose to do or not to do things, so long as we acknowledge that we are choosing. But when people speak in a way that eliminates agency over their lives, they end up frustrating, angering and depressing themselves. And they seem inauthentic to others. This is why we never want to listen to someone complain about all the things they can’t do in life.
Aside from raising children, our careers are usually the most direct creative expression we have. Yet most people I know live in a state of uncertainty and anxiety about their careers. The old paradigms don’t work, but we don’t have any new ones to replace them. There’s a kind of pressure to stand for finer things, but one’s own creative expression in the world is one of life’s important things. Bright conscientious people today are incredibly frustrated because they aren’t sure how to go along this unknown path, feel embarrassed that they’re making a big deal about it, and are also terrified that they’ll get things wrong.
Have you always felt about the same level of happiness, or have you been through a period when you felt exceptionally happy or unhappy – if so, why?
At my current point in life, I feel closer to who I was as a little boy than I felt for much of my life. I was a creative, positive, curious kid but at a certain point fell into a pre-professional kind of track that was not very satisfying to me. It took me a long time to unlearn that.
I think that I have always had a rich range of feelings — I have a lot of zest for life but at the same time have a lot of feelings that can go negative. For instance, I can’t watch nature shows or anything that shows animals or fish or birds being hurt or killed. Nature actually kind of freaks me out. I love it but it is so Hobbesian. So I guess for me a full life includes both happy and dark moments, feelings of great satisfaction along with unquenchable yearnings.
Do you work on being happier? If so, how?
All the time. I am like that character in Jonathan Franzen’s novel The Corrections who is constantly monitoring his serotonin level and wondering which factors are leading to which results.
Having followed your blog for some time, I think that you are really onto something: creating and following a set of specific habits is probably the best thing we can do to keep happiness alive in our lives.
Have you ever been surprised that something you expected would make you very happy, didn’t – or vice versa?
I’m surprised that selling makes me happy.
One of his most recent accomplishments is the publication of The Creative Lawyer. This book is described as "a practical guide to authentic professional satisfaction" and is aimed to help lawyers be happier in their work. For my happiness project, I’ve read a lot of books about career satisfaction, and this is absolutely one of the best (and I’m not just saying that because Michael is a friend!). In fact, I think that the book isn’t helpful for lawyers only, but for anyone who is thinking about ways to be happier at work.
Michael has not only done a lot of thinking about happiness, he's done a lot of thinking about what practical changes actually can help boost happiness at work.
Following is his interview with Gretchen:
Gretchen: What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier?
Michael: Giving someone directions on the subway or helping them carry a bag up a flight of subterranean stairs makes me almost bizarrely happy.
What’s something you know now about happiness that you didn’t know when you were 18 years old?
Whatever issues you have at 18 related to self-acceptance, moodiness, need for validation and desire to be special (to name a few) will most likely still be present when you are 30, 40 or 50. They probably will never go away. But you can learn ways to manage them. So I guess I would say that a big part of happiness is recognizing who you actually are and finding ways to bring out the best in that person and manage the less wonderful parts.
Is there anything you find yourself doing repeatedly that gets in the way of your happiness?
Comparing myself to others is something that I do consistently, and it is always an impediment to happiness. See my answer to question #2 above.
If you’re feeling blue, how do you give yourself a happiness boost?
Every single time I exercise, I feel better. Even though I know this, it does take some effort to get myself out the door. I have also discovered over the years that eating quality, healthful food has a huge impact on my overall happiness, especially if I cook it myself. One happiness learning is that the physical and emotional components of happiness are completely intertwined.
Is there anything that you see people around you doing or saying that adds a lot to their happiness, or detracts a lot from their happiness?
People confuse “I can’t” with “I won’t.” I see this especially in my line of work, which involves working with people to take action to improve their careers and lives. It’s so automatic for people to say they can’t do things: they can’t move, they can’t get by on less money, they can’t send their kids to public schools, they can’t find a good partner, they can’t pursue their passions. In most cases the truth is that they can, but don’t want to accept the consequences of those choices. It’s fine to choose to do or not to do things, so long as we acknowledge that we are choosing. But when people speak in a way that eliminates agency over their lives, they end up frustrating, angering and depressing themselves. And they seem inauthentic to others. This is why we never want to listen to someone complain about all the things they can’t do in life.
Aside from raising children, our careers are usually the most direct creative expression we have. Yet most people I know live in a state of uncertainty and anxiety about their careers. The old paradigms don’t work, but we don’t have any new ones to replace them. There’s a kind of pressure to stand for finer things, but one’s own creative expression in the world is one of life’s important things. Bright conscientious people today are incredibly frustrated because they aren’t sure how to go along this unknown path, feel embarrassed that they’re making a big deal about it, and are also terrified that they’ll get things wrong.
Have you always felt about the same level of happiness, or have you been through a period when you felt exceptionally happy or unhappy – if so, why?
At my current point in life, I feel closer to who I was as a little boy than I felt for much of my life. I was a creative, positive, curious kid but at a certain point fell into a pre-professional kind of track that was not very satisfying to me. It took me a long time to unlearn that.
I think that I have always had a rich range of feelings — I have a lot of zest for life but at the same time have a lot of feelings that can go negative. For instance, I can’t watch nature shows or anything that shows animals or fish or birds being hurt or killed. Nature actually kind of freaks me out. I love it but it is so Hobbesian. So I guess for me a full life includes both happy and dark moments, feelings of great satisfaction along with unquenchable yearnings.
Do you work on being happier? If so, how?
All the time. I am like that character in Jonathan Franzen’s novel The Corrections who is constantly monitoring his serotonin level and wondering which factors are leading to which results.
Having followed your blog for some time, I think that you are really onto something: creating and following a set of specific habits is probably the best thing we can do to keep happiness alive in our lives.
Have you ever been surprised that something you expected would make you very happy, didn’t – or vice versa?
I’m surprised that selling makes me happy.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Money: 9 Tips to Avoid Overspending
One source of unhappiness for people is feeling out of control of their spending – and this is a problem that’s far more widespread now than it was a year ago. Feeling regret about having bought something is a very unpleasant sort of unhappiness.
Being an under-buyer, as opposed to an over-buyer, I don’t generally have much trouble avoiding overspending. I have more trouble prodding myself to make the effort to buy things I actually need.
Nevertheless, even with my under-buying ways, I sometimes come home with something I didn’t really need to buy. Stores use extremely clever strategies to winkle customers into making purchases. Here are some strategies to make sure you don’t make purchases you regret:
1. Be wary of the check-out areas. There are lots of enticing little items here; ask yourself if you really need something before you add it to your pile. How many times have I picked up a jar of Balmex?
2. Get in and get out. The more time you spend in a store, the more you’re likely to buy. Even better: don’t even go in the store. Then you definitely won’t buy.
3. Question the need for an upgrade. You might want that device with a slick new function, or to get the improved version of what you have now, but do you really need it?
4. Be polite to salespeople, but don’t feel like they’re your new best friends. Don’t buy something because you’re worried about hurting their feelings or having made them do a lot of work helping you or explaining products to you. (At the same time, be respectful of clerks’ efforts. The other day, I was in Gap Kids, and I saw someone rifle through a pile of beautifully stacked shirts in a way that meant that they’d all have to be re-folded. Was he malicious or oblivious? I couldn’t tell.)
5. Don’t shop when you’re in a hurry or when you’re hungry.
6. Stick to a list. I’ve found that after I’ve decided to buy one thing, I’m far more likely to throw in other impulse items, because I know that I’m committed to going through the hassle of paying.
7 . Beware of sale items, which make you feel like you can’t afford not to buy, or limited-time offers, which make you feel like you have to take advantage of a special deal. If you don’t need or want something, it’s not a good deal, not matter how cheap it is. A friend of mine told her husband, “I got this 50% off!” and he answered, “That means it was 50% ON.” Along the same lines…
8. Don’t buy anything that you don’t know you need – this is especially important with clothes. If you’re not careful, you can buy a pair of pants marked down 75%, then realize that you can’t really wear them unless you buy the right shoes to go with them.
9. Choose cash or credit card. Some people find it far harder to spend actual physical cash; other people find that paying cash makes a purchase seem trivial, even when the dollar amount is high. Know whether you’re more inclined to overspend with cash or credit cards – and leave that payment method at home.
Being an under-buyer, as opposed to an over-buyer, I don’t generally have much trouble avoiding overspending. I have more trouble prodding myself to make the effort to buy things I actually need.
Nevertheless, even with my under-buying ways, I sometimes come home with something I didn’t really need to buy. Stores use extremely clever strategies to winkle customers into making purchases. Here are some strategies to make sure you don’t make purchases you regret:
1. Be wary of the check-out areas. There are lots of enticing little items here; ask yourself if you really need something before you add it to your pile. How many times have I picked up a jar of Balmex?
2. Get in and get out. The more time you spend in a store, the more you’re likely to buy. Even better: don’t even go in the store. Then you definitely won’t buy.
3. Question the need for an upgrade. You might want that device with a slick new function, or to get the improved version of what you have now, but do you really need it?
4. Be polite to salespeople, but don’t feel like they’re your new best friends. Don’t buy something because you’re worried about hurting their feelings or having made them do a lot of work helping you or explaining products to you. (At the same time, be respectful of clerks’ efforts. The other day, I was in Gap Kids, and I saw someone rifle through a pile of beautifully stacked shirts in a way that meant that they’d all have to be re-folded. Was he malicious or oblivious? I couldn’t tell.)
5. Don’t shop when you’re in a hurry or when you’re hungry.
6. Stick to a list. I’ve found that after I’ve decided to buy one thing, I’m far more likely to throw in other impulse items, because I know that I’m committed to going through the hassle of paying.
7 . Beware of sale items, which make you feel like you can’t afford not to buy, or limited-time offers, which make you feel like you have to take advantage of a special deal. If you don’t need or want something, it’s not a good deal, not matter how cheap it is. A friend of mine told her husband, “I got this 50% off!” and he answered, “That means it was 50% ON.” Along the same lines…
8. Don’t buy anything that you don’t know you need – this is especially important with clothes. If you’re not careful, you can buy a pair of pants marked down 75%, then realize that you can’t really wear them unless you buy the right shoes to go with them.
9. Choose cash or credit card. Some people find it far harder to spend actual physical cash; other people find that paying cash makes a purchase seem trivial, even when the dollar amount is high. Know whether you’re more inclined to overspend with cash or credit cards – and leave that payment method at home.
What is "Happiness" Anyway?
As someone who writes about happiness, I’m often challenged to answer these three questions:
1. How do I define “happiness,” anyway?
2. Instead of happiness, which is fleeting/deceptive/egotistical/illusory, isn’t the real goal to achieve joy/contentment/satisfaction/peace/self-realization or [fill in the blank]?
3. How can we agree on what it means to achieve these states? What I mean by happiness might not be what you mean by happiness. You say happiness is a warm puppy; I say happiness is living alone in a cabin at Walden Pond; etc.
In law school, we spent an entire semester discussing the meaning of a “contract,” and I know all too well how a term can elude you as you try to define it. For the purposes of my happiness project, I decided not to worry about definitions too much. In scholarship, there’s merit in defining terms precisely, and one positive psychology study identified fifteen different academic definitions of happiness, but when it came to my project, spending a lot of energy exploring the distinctions among “contentment,” “positive affect,” “subjective well-being,” “hedonic tone,” and a myriad of other terms didn’t seem necessary. I decided instead to follow the hallowed tradition set by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who defined obscenity by saying, “I know it when I see it.”
I think it’s enough to think about being “happier.” Even if we don’t agree about what it means to be happy, we can agree that whatever happiness means, it would be nice to be happier. I think the looseness of the term happiness is actually helpful; it’s a concept large enough to embrace many different perspectives.
I suspect that one reason that people try to avoid using the word “happiness” is that happiness has a bad reputation. It’s often associated with superficiality, self-absorption, narcissism, and pleasure-seeking. (As in Woody Allen’s movie Annie Hall, when Alvy asks a happy couple how they account for their happiness, and the woman answers, “I am very shallow and empty, and I have no ideas and nothing interesting to say,” and the man agrees, “I’m exactly the same way.”)
In fact, however, studies show that happiness doesn’t make people complacent or self-centered. Rather, happier people are more likely to volunteer, to give away money, to persist in problem-solving, to help others, and to be friendly.
One study showed that, all over the world, when asked what they want most from life — and what they most want for their children – people answered that they want happiness. I know when I feel happy. Trying to be happier – that’s good enough for me, without a precise definition.
1. How do I define “happiness,” anyway?
2. Instead of happiness, which is fleeting/deceptive/egotistical/illusory, isn’t the real goal to achieve joy/contentment/satisfaction/peace/self-realization or [fill in the blank]?
3. How can we agree on what it means to achieve these states? What I mean by happiness might not be what you mean by happiness. You say happiness is a warm puppy; I say happiness is living alone in a cabin at Walden Pond; etc.
In law school, we spent an entire semester discussing the meaning of a “contract,” and I know all too well how a term can elude you as you try to define it. For the purposes of my happiness project, I decided not to worry about definitions too much. In scholarship, there’s merit in defining terms precisely, and one positive psychology study identified fifteen different academic definitions of happiness, but when it came to my project, spending a lot of energy exploring the distinctions among “contentment,” “positive affect,” “subjective well-being,” “hedonic tone,” and a myriad of other terms didn’t seem necessary. I decided instead to follow the hallowed tradition set by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who defined obscenity by saying, “I know it when I see it.”
I think it’s enough to think about being “happier.” Even if we don’t agree about what it means to be happy, we can agree that whatever happiness means, it would be nice to be happier. I think the looseness of the term happiness is actually helpful; it’s a concept large enough to embrace many different perspectives.
I suspect that one reason that people try to avoid using the word “happiness” is that happiness has a bad reputation. It’s often associated with superficiality, self-absorption, narcissism, and pleasure-seeking. (As in Woody Allen’s movie Annie Hall, when Alvy asks a happy couple how they account for their happiness, and the woman answers, “I am very shallow and empty, and I have no ideas and nothing interesting to say,” and the man agrees, “I’m exactly the same way.”)
In fact, however, studies show that happiness doesn’t make people complacent or self-centered. Rather, happier people are more likely to volunteer, to give away money, to persist in problem-solving, to help others, and to be friendly.
One study showed that, all over the world, when asked what they want most from life — and what they most want for their children – people answered that they want happiness. I know when I feel happy. Trying to be happier – that’s good enough for me, without a precise definition.
February 2, is Groundhog Day --
February 2, is Groundhog Day. My associations with this quasi-holiday are less about a groundhog’s prediction about the beginning of spring, and more about the movie Groundhog Day.
In the movie, Phil Connors (played by Bill Murray) is a cranky, cynical weatherman who, while on assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day Festival, finds himself re-living the same day, over and over again.
(Which reminds me of a scene from another movie: in Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters, when Mickey reflects, “Nietzsche, with his theory of eternal recurrence. He said the life we live, we'll live over and over, the same way for eternity. Great. I'll have to sit through the Ice-Capades again.”)
Noticing that Groundhog Day was approaching prompted me to reflect: “If I had to re-live one day over and over, what would I want to do with it?” I’m such a lover of routine and familiarity that my perfect day wouldn’t be made up of anything very dramatic or exotic. Just reading in bed, for example, would take up several hours.
I asked some friends what they’d do during their perfect days, and the striking thing was how…attainable…these perfect days were. Several people distinguished between “a perfect day at home” and “a perfect day while traveling,” and one friend’s perfect “home” day was a Saturday morning trip to the green market, an afternoon trip to Whole Foods, a few hours spent cooking something challenging, and friends over for dinner. That isn’t an impossible dream! But when I asked how often she spent a day this way, she said, “I don’t know why not, exactly, but I can’t remember the last time I spent a day like that.”
So Groundhog Day makes a good yearly spur to ask: “What would my perfect day be?” It might be easier than you think to arrange it.
In the movie, Phil Connors (played by Bill Murray) is a cranky, cynical weatherman who, while on assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day Festival, finds himself re-living the same day, over and over again.
(Which reminds me of a scene from another movie: in Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters, when Mickey reflects, “Nietzsche, with his theory of eternal recurrence. He said the life we live, we'll live over and over, the same way for eternity. Great. I'll have to sit through the Ice-Capades again.”)
Noticing that Groundhog Day was approaching prompted me to reflect: “If I had to re-live one day over and over, what would I want to do with it?” I’m such a lover of routine and familiarity that my perfect day wouldn’t be made up of anything very dramatic or exotic. Just reading in bed, for example, would take up several hours.
I asked some friends what they’d do during their perfect days, and the striking thing was how…attainable…these perfect days were. Several people distinguished between “a perfect day at home” and “a perfect day while traveling,” and one friend’s perfect “home” day was a Saturday morning trip to the green market, an afternoon trip to Whole Foods, a few hours spent cooking something challenging, and friends over for dinner. That isn’t an impossible dream! But when I asked how often she spent a day this way, she said, “I don’t know why not, exactly, but I can’t remember the last time I spent a day like that.”
So Groundhog Day makes a good yearly spur to ask: “What would my perfect day be?” It might be easier than you think to arrange it.
Do Something EVERY DAY.
A few days ago, I observed that it’s often easier for me to do something every day than to do it some days. I post to my blog six days a week. I take notes every day. I write in my one-sentence journal every day. Many people have told me that they find it easier to exercise when they exercise every day.
If I try to do something four days a week, I spend a lot of time arguing with myself about whether today is the day, or tomorrow, or the next day; did the week start on Sunday or Monday; etc.
If you do something every day, you tend to fall into a routine, and routine has a bad reputation. It’s true that novelty and challenge bring happiness, and that people who break their routines, try new things, and go new places are happier, but I think that some routine activities also bring happiness. The pleasure of doing the same thing, in the same way, every day, shouldn’t be overlooked. By re-framing, you can find happiness in activities like doing dishes or sweeping the floor, as well as your beloved morning coffee-and-newspaper.
The things you do every day take on a certain beauty, and provide a kind of invisible architecture to daily life.
Funnily enough, two geniuses whom I associate with the idea of the unconventional wrote about the power of doing something every day.
Andy Warhol wrote, “Either once only, or every day. If you do something once it’s exciting, and if you do it every day it’s exciting. But if you do it, say, twice or just almost every day, it’s not good any more.”
Gertrude Stein made a related point: “Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.”
So if there’s something that you wish you did more regularly, try doing it every day; if you do something every day, revel in it.
If I try to do something four days a week, I spend a lot of time arguing with myself about whether today is the day, or tomorrow, or the next day; did the week start on Sunday or Monday; etc.
If you do something every day, you tend to fall into a routine, and routine has a bad reputation. It’s true that novelty and challenge bring happiness, and that people who break their routines, try new things, and go new places are happier, but I think that some routine activities also bring happiness. The pleasure of doing the same thing, in the same way, every day, shouldn’t be overlooked. By re-framing, you can find happiness in activities like doing dishes or sweeping the floor, as well as your beloved morning coffee-and-newspaper.
The things you do every day take on a certain beauty, and provide a kind of invisible architecture to daily life.
Funnily enough, two geniuses whom I associate with the idea of the unconventional wrote about the power of doing something every day.
Andy Warhol wrote, “Either once only, or every day. If you do something once it’s exciting, and if you do it every day it’s exciting. But if you do it, say, twice or just almost every day, it’s not good any more.”
Gertrude Stein made a related point: “Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.”
So if there’s something that you wish you did more regularly, try doing it every day; if you do something every day, revel in it.
Nine Tips to Keep Yourself Exercising, from a Former Couch Potato
One of the most commonly made, and most frequently broken, New Year’s resolutions is the resolution to exercise more.
People who exercise are healthier, more energetic, think more clearly, sleep better, have delayed onset of dementia...the list goes on.
There’s also a lot of research into the connection between exercise and happiness – some studies suggest that it provides a real boost, some studies suggest that while correlated, exercise isn’t a factor in making people happier. I’m interested to see what further studies reveal, but I’ve made up my own mind: in my experience, and the experience of everyone I know who exercises, exercise makes me calmer, more cheerful, and more alert.
But even once you’re convinced of the benefits, if you’re not inclined to exercise, it can be hard to adopt the habit. My favorite activity is reading in bed, and I don’t enjoy games of any sort, but over the years I’ve managed to transform myself into a regular exerciser by deploying these strategies:
1.Always exercise on Monday. This sets the psychological pattern for the week.
2.If at all possible, exercise first thing in the morning. The longer the day goes on, the more likely you are to get derailed.
3.Never skip exercising for three days in a row. You can skip a day, and you can skip two days, but on the third day, you must exercise no matter how inconvenient. (This rule is more effective than it sounds; it kept me exercising regularly during college.)
4.Give yourself credit for the smallest effort. When my father started running, he said that all he had to do was put on his running shoes and close the door behind him. I never push myself hard, because I know that if I did, I might stop exercising altogether. And don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The fifteen-minute walk you DO take is better than the three-mile run you DON'T take.
5.If you don’t have time both to exercise and take a shower, find an activity that doesn’t require a shower afterward, like yoga or walking. I do an extremely tough weight-training regimen that doesn’t make me sweat (and yes, it is effective, even with no sweat!).
6.Look for affordable ways to make exercising more pleasant or satisfying. Could you upgrade to a nicer gym? Buy yourself a new iPod? Work with a trainer? Get a pedometer? (they’re only $20). A lot of people are feeling a real money crunch right now, but exercise is a high life priority, so if you can afford it, this is a place to spend some money if that helps.
7.Remind yourself of the benefits from exercising. Personally, I’m more motivated by short-term gratifications like “I’ll feel more focused” or “I’ll sleep better” than long-term considerations like “I’ll live longer” or “If I have surgery, I’ll recover quicker.” A trainer told me that, in her experience, men are more motivated by the idea of improving their performance (a better tennis game) or restoring an ability (climbing stairs without getting out of breath); women are more motivated by the promise of improving their appearance.
8.Think about context. If you find it much harder to go running in winter than summer, maybe the real trouble is that you don’t like the cold. Do you hate the loud music in your gym? Is your work-out so exhausting that you can’t face the rest of your day?
9.When choosing an activity, a gym, or an exercise class, make convenience a top priority. You’re much more likely to go to a mediocre gym near your office or home than to a great gym that’s out of your way.
Apart from the happiness gain you'll get from the exercise, merely the fact that you've kept your resolution to yourself will boost your happiness.
People who exercise are healthier, more energetic, think more clearly, sleep better, have delayed onset of dementia...the list goes on.
There’s also a lot of research into the connection between exercise and happiness – some studies suggest that it provides a real boost, some studies suggest that while correlated, exercise isn’t a factor in making people happier. I’m interested to see what further studies reveal, but I’ve made up my own mind: in my experience, and the experience of everyone I know who exercises, exercise makes me calmer, more cheerful, and more alert.
But even once you’re convinced of the benefits, if you’re not inclined to exercise, it can be hard to adopt the habit. My favorite activity is reading in bed, and I don’t enjoy games of any sort, but over the years I’ve managed to transform myself into a regular exerciser by deploying these strategies:
1.Always exercise on Monday. This sets the psychological pattern for the week.
2.If at all possible, exercise first thing in the morning. The longer the day goes on, the more likely you are to get derailed.
3.Never skip exercising for three days in a row. You can skip a day, and you can skip two days, but on the third day, you must exercise no matter how inconvenient. (This rule is more effective than it sounds; it kept me exercising regularly during college.)
4.Give yourself credit for the smallest effort. When my father started running, he said that all he had to do was put on his running shoes and close the door behind him. I never push myself hard, because I know that if I did, I might stop exercising altogether. And don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The fifteen-minute walk you DO take is better than the three-mile run you DON'T take.
5.If you don’t have time both to exercise and take a shower, find an activity that doesn’t require a shower afterward, like yoga or walking. I do an extremely tough weight-training regimen that doesn’t make me sweat (and yes, it is effective, even with no sweat!).
6.Look for affordable ways to make exercising more pleasant or satisfying. Could you upgrade to a nicer gym? Buy yourself a new iPod? Work with a trainer? Get a pedometer? (they’re only $20). A lot of people are feeling a real money crunch right now, but exercise is a high life priority, so if you can afford it, this is a place to spend some money if that helps.
7.Remind yourself of the benefits from exercising. Personally, I’m more motivated by short-term gratifications like “I’ll feel more focused” or “I’ll sleep better” than long-term considerations like “I’ll live longer” or “If I have surgery, I’ll recover quicker.” A trainer told me that, in her experience, men are more motivated by the idea of improving their performance (a better tennis game) or restoring an ability (climbing stairs without getting out of breath); women are more motivated by the promise of improving their appearance.
8.Think about context. If you find it much harder to go running in winter than summer, maybe the real trouble is that you don’t like the cold. Do you hate the loud music in your gym? Is your work-out so exhausting that you can’t face the rest of your day?
9.When choosing an activity, a gym, or an exercise class, make convenience a top priority. You’re much more likely to go to a mediocre gym near your office or home than to a great gym that’s out of your way.
Apart from the happiness gain you'll get from the exercise, merely the fact that you've kept your resolution to yourself will boost your happiness.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
