Happiness is without definition because it means something different to everybody. You will take the actions to be the best you that you can be simply because you are happy and exhume positive energy which will attract the same energy to you! You doing what makes you happy is a great example to set!
Honestly, in life, so many things make me happy. I have spent a long time being sad and a few years ago made a conscious decision to try and see the positives, the good things, the little things that often I would not appreciate because they were wiped away too quickly by a negative.
Some of the things that make me happy are standard, like the relationship I have with my man. He makes me so happy, we’re not what I would call “Big Gesture” people but when he cuddles me when I come home from work, or makes me laugh when I’m stressed or even when we have a lay in on a Sunday and he gets up to make me a cup of tea, he’s just amazing. I really hope I make him as happy as he makes me and will happily do everything I can to make sure he knows how special he is to me.
My family are amazing, and have always tried to make me happy. My parents both worked so hard to make sure my brother and I had holidays, and treats and great Christmas time, and they have been amazing in my times of need. When I am down, I hate hurting my family with that but I appreciate how strong, especially my mum was during my worst times. I’m sure I hurt her and I do regret that, no one likes to hurt people they love but I really am lucky that mum really tried to understand how I was feeling and supported me despite not really knowing what the best thing to do was.
Letters and random gifts – to and from me are more things that make me smile, I got a great present from a friend in Greece the other day and look at the amazing little bits and bobs she sent me! I am so lucky that I have friends who do such things, we all try to make each other happy and to make other people smile.
I’m also a fan of silly things to make me smile, like cake. Cake is ALWAYS a good way to make me smile – well, ok, food in general does that job haha!
I love where I live at the moment, I’m very calmed by the sea and by watching waves so being so close to beaches and water in general really pleases me. I spend a lot of time looking at waves, watching the world go by and am hoping that next year my photography will improve and I can start sharing the local beauty with everyone out there in the ether!
Travel and seeing new things makes me happy, I like exploring and finding new treasures. Whilst we were in Prague we went to a museum with not much planned and saw some really wonderful art and some unexpected things – like a room where you could try and make your own art – including things the man had done as part of his art education so it was nice to be taught something new.
In fact thinking about it, learning is something else I enjoy doing. I try to do many things, I tend to not do them well but I feel that’s a lack of talent as opposed to a lack of practise. I enjoy doing these things as they bring me joy, to be fair, I tend to avoid the end results as they can be truly awful – seriously, I suggested going to a paint clay cafe last year, seriously regretted that as my artist skills are dire!! It was a good day with some friends though so all in all, worth it – even worth the abuse over the shoddy things I produced at the end of it 😀
I think people who know me would understand that books are really important to me and vital to my happiness. I’d hate to be without books and sometimes I just pick up a book i’ve read a million times just to sort my thoughts out. I can be reading and another part of my brain can be settling down, sorting arguments, decided what to do etc. It’s the ultimate chill for me.
I know i’ve banged on about my Happy Jar a fair bit but it certainly is something which for me has helped me be more positive, to focus on the good and try to rebalance my brain. I’d heartily recommend it and would love to see other people’s lists at the end of the year. I didn’t actually do a jar this year, I’m keeping the list of things at work in an A3 envelope so that as soon as something occurs to me, I can scribble it down and then at the end of the year – or probably first couple of weeks of 2019, I will read them all, write them down and share the list, then you’ll see everything from 2018 which has made me happy.
Half Baked Productions 