Happy is a coconut?
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Can we cultivate happiness? I’m not sure.
This is what I do know. I’m happy most of the time, but I’m not happy all of the time.
Even so, ever since I wrote this post about gratitude I end my days on a positive note. I’m able to glean a happy moment or three even on the days that aren’t particularly good. The days when it seems everything is going wrong. The days when I can’t get the work done the way I want to get the work done. The days when I haven’t touched a guitar, felt a hug, or read a good book. The days when everybody and everything is frustrating me. Those days always end with, at the very least, a half-smile and a nice thought.
A couple months ago I discovered a site called HappyRambles that makes this gratitude exercise easier. Every night they e-mail me and I respond with 3-5 things I’m grateful for. I wrote about this in Insights Vol. 2, but I feel like this exercise has had such a profound effect on me that I needed to mention it again.
Maybe you’re happy about a chocolate bar, warm socks out of the dryer, a hot shower, a long walk, or a new idea. Or maybe you’re just happy you made it to this very moment. Whatever they are, these instances of happiness add up. Consciously thinking about them for a few seconds every day helps you realize how good you have it, no matter how bad you have it.
###
HappyRambles went down after I posted this article so I wrote up how to very easily (less than 10 minutes) create your own private HappyRambles. Click here to check it out.
Comments on this entry are closed.