Saturday 5 December 2015

Happiness is....

For those that have been reading me with any regularity, you will know half my world view comes from an intellectual crush on Messrs. Vonnegut and Bradbury. In the case of Happiness, Kurt Vonnegut sums it up perfectly. In the book, A Man Without A Country, he tells of his Uncle Alex who would interrupt them when they were all sitting around laughing and remark 'If this isn't happiness, I don't know what is.' By underlining the moment as it happened, you're highlighting the appreciation of a moment of happiness for everyone present. Bookmarking it, if you will.

I think it's human nature to enjoy the moment but not 'collect' it in our store of emotions. We remember the terrible slight and drama filled incidents, ready to recall them at a moments notice, but forget the daily moments where happiness is the reigning emotion - walking down a flower filled street on a sunny day, laughing with a friend over something inconsequential, watching a movie in cool air-conditioned darkness and so on. We don't see them as important enough to matter.

That's the trick to life, however. It's ALL important. The mundane is probably more important than the big events, because that's what we squander the most time on. In a way, laughing in the car on the school drop off is more valuable than the big birthday dinner or even a wedding...we spend a lot more of our life doing one than the other.

Happiness is a day at the beach.
Happiness is a swim.
Happiness is laughing with friends.
Happiness is smelling flowers.
Happiness is buying a new book.
Happiness is finding time to read.
Happiness is dancing. Anywhere.
Happiness is first cup of coffee in the morning.
The list goes on endlessly.

For the next week, when you're happy, pause and take a moment to acknowledge it. See if your mood lightens when you realise how happy you actually are most of the time. Start building that bank of happy moments.

"I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.'" Vonnegut.

Fill in the blank. Happiness is....

Linking with 
loopyloulaura

13 comments:

  1. Happiness is leaving work at 4pm on a Friday afternoon !!

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  2. Yes! This happened last night. For the first time in a long time, we moved away from the TV and had dinner at the dinner table surrounded by the lovely Christmas decorations I'd put up. My husband, son and I laughed and had great conversation. I actually remember saying to my husband how much I loved it, how happy it made me and that we need to do it all them time. I love the idea of mentally bookmarking too. I'm going to start doing it more often.

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  3. This is a great reminder to live in the moment. I need to take more notice of those happy moments when they happen. Story of my life...

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  4. I like that - pause - take in the moment and actually enjoy it. I haven't done that in a while as I am too busy thinking of my next happy buzz.

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  5. I love your happiness list, so many of them are what make me happy too. It is so good to know what makes you happy and to be grateful for those moments.

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  6. Love your list and yes, it's the little things x

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  7. Vonnegut is one of my all time favourite writers. For a crazy man he cuts right to it. Live your happiness list. I would just add discovering new unvisited places 😍

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  8. Happiness is the smell of rain, kids quietly playing (unheard of) and christmas carols in the background. My world right now.

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  9. For me happiness is that first sip of coffee in the morning too, and the 'I missed you' I get from my 3 year old when he opens his eyes in the morning.

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  10. Ah what a lovely post to link to #HighlightsofHappy , thank you! I find myself thinking during the day, "I can write that in my gratitude journal later" which I suppose is the same thing really. The more happiness the better!

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  11. I felt so happy this morning when my favourite songs came on while I was running. I was happy playing board games with the kids and treating them to some new toys.
    Thanks for linking up with #DreamTeam

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  12. Such a fab post Lydia. Little Button and myself had an absolute blast the other day playing some funky 90's music and singing at the top of our voices whilst dancing around the bedroom. It was her bedtime, and we ended up doing everything later than we should. But oh those peals of laughter!! Thank you for joining us for the #DreamTeam x

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