This month (August) I hosted a 14-Day Happiness Challenge. The call to action for Day 4 was to write down 5 things that make you happy and to share 1 thing with the group engaged in the challenge. I shared more than 5 and it inspired me to really look around my world and notice ALL the things that made me happy on that day. It inspired me to just keep adding to my list. The world throws curveballs everyday – some of them come in with a soft thud, but others land squarely in our laps; it’s nice to know that I control my happiness and how I respond to my environment. It’s easier to respond when I remind myself that “this too shall pass” and there are other things going on around me to be happy and grateful about. I encourage you to think about the things that make you happy. I know that my life is as good as I believe it to be. So, here’s a list of 100 things (in no particular order) that make me happy:
Morning coffee
Supper cooked for me
Overflowing flowerpots
No checkout lines
Chocolate
Clothes that aren’t
tight
Comfortable shoes
Soft blankets
Church
Slow Sundays
Antiquing
Autumn
Checking items off my
to-do list
Camping and road trips
Living debt free
Clean sheets
Clean feet
The smell of puppies
and kittens
Watching puppies and
kittens play
Reading
Hearing “I Love You”
Hugs
Surprises in the mail
Flowers
Getting my hair cut
Fall boots
Hearing kids laugh
Christmas lights
A big bowl of popcorn
with butter
Meals with friends
Makeup
Warm clothes from the
dryer
A good hair day
Birds chirping
Bookstores
Vacations
A warm shower
Smell of cinnamon, nutmeg,
and cloves
Babies
Holding hands
Random acts of
kindness
Leaves falling from
the trees
Fall colors
Old movies
Alabama football
Blue skies
Listening to the sound
of a river
Christmas music
Riding bikes
Falling asleep to the
sound of rain
Trusting someone
Crafting
Cutting the grass
Patio time
Porch sitting
Honesty
Watching kids play
Sitting by the fire
pit on a cool evening in a campground
Happy Hour (Peace
Time)
Friday afternoons
Finding the perfect
gift
Handwritten notes
Receiving a card in
the mail
Candles
Listening to music
The smell of cookies
baking
A new bag
Entertaining family
and friends
Seeing the American flag
waving in the breeze
Catching all green
lights during the morning/afternoon commute
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”
~Dalai Lama
In a digitally driven world, it’s easy to forget that all of us need connection to thrive as human beings. Take our live human connections away and we will wither away. No amount of texts, Facebook, Instagram likes, and tweets will ever substitute for one real human moment. If only for a second we know we matter in our truest form, it changes our day and our outlook.
Unfortunately, in this drive-through world, kindness and compassion takes a back seat to selfies, self-interest, and expendable human interactions. Why is that? Kindness is fundamental to our existence. We are wired for kindness. Being kind isn’t hard work. It just requires that we put others before ourselves.
Can you recall a time somebody was kind to you? Was it today? I hope so!
Now change the scenario and think of a time you were kind to another person. Was it today? I hope so! Think about their reaction and how your heart felt. After I’ve committed a single act of kindness, I feel less pain and stress, greater well-being and even a rush of peace.
If you read no further, can we agree that kindness affects the giver and the receiver?
“Kindness to me means doing things for the cause, not the applause.”
~ Unknown ~
Kindness helps me bite my tongue when I’m tempted to begin injustice collecting. Being kind says that I don’t need to be right if my goal is to promote and preserve peace of mind. Giving someone a piece of my mind has only ever resulted in a couple of things – (1) I lost a little bit of my mind and (2) I’ve incited conflict and separation.
Being kind teaches me to see the beauty in myself and others. As I look into a person’s eyes now, I know they matter. My life is richer because of them. The more I focus on kindness, the more kindness I see around me.
Kindness has many benefits including increased happiness and a healthy heart. It slows down the aging process, smooths out the lines in your face, and improves relationships and connections, which indirectly boosts your health.
Kindness acts heal. Given all the wreckage we see in the news on a daily basis, when a “feel good” story is shared, it instills faith that there are still people doing what they can to make their part of the world a nicer, more caring place.
That’s the world I want to live in!
“How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it.”
Have you
ever wondered if a door was truly opening or whether it was just another shiny
thing appearing before you, teasing you?
Sometimes
we want something so much that it can be difficult to decide whether the perceived
opening is really something we should pay attention to or whether it is a
distraction from our journey.
When our “wants” are so strong, we oftentimes confuse the two.
It takes
patience and focus to stop and ask yourself if this is what is meant for you at
this moment.
On the road through experience, I can attest to wasting years following pursuits I thought were meant for me. I went down rabbit holes, chasing the shiny thing only to admit too late that I was led by something other than what was going to support me on my journey.
Likewise, there have been times I missed an open-door opportunity due to fear or uncertainty that I had the skill or ability. Fear drove many of my decisions to hold back and stay in my comfort zone. Timing is everything.
This week
we lost a very dear friend – suddenly. It is one of those deaths that stopped
us in our tracks, made our hearts skip a beat, and rendered us without words. Time
stood still for a brief moment.
This loss has given me pause; I’ve wondered how much time I’ve wasted pursuing opportunities that were never for me. Worse yet, how many opportunities slipped through my fingers because I was afraid or because I didn’t believe in myself? Timing is everything.
Without
the certainty that we’re going to have tomorrow, it’s important to be certain
of our path, our calling, the direction we want our life to follow so that we can
make the most of the time we do have.
Our
choices today have a direct effect on our life tomorrow. Today we are as blessed
as we’ll ever be. That is something I whisper to myself every day.
When you’re trying to understand who you are and what your purpose is, walking through the right doors at the right time is serious business and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Timing is everything.
Through
this tragedy of loss, I am more committed to live my life happily, to love
without holding back, to eliminate negative people and negative situations from
my life, to minimize my time on social media, to look up more, to sing and
dance more, to read more, and to put my bare feet on the earth as often as I
can.
In times of strife, I hope I can remember to ask myself “what would water do?” Water finds its way around obstacles and can either be powerful or soft. It can take on the form of a solid, liquid, or gas. I hope my answer is be humble, be in harmony with what is around me, and be open to shaping myself to the situation I’m in.
Timing is everything. What will you do with your life today?
