Discovering Happiness

What makes you happy?

Since I have a Bachelor’s in psychology, I could tell you that nothing can make you feel a certain way.  You choose to perceive the circumstances around you and interpret those thoughts into feelings. 

What fun is that?

Julie Andrews sang about “My Favorite Things” in the movie, “Sound of Music”:

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings…
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings…
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

I’m not quite as poetic, but here a few of my favorite things:


May sunshine, warming my face and arms
Rich dark chocolate, melting on my tongue
Scent of new leather, black and rebellious
Stars that shine, brilliant against a dark sky
A baby's first laugh, a cascading melody
Wind through my hair, riding with the top down
Hot flavored coffee, bold and perfectly brewed
Smell of chocolate chip cookies, freshly baked
Waning sunlight, glinting across water
The crash of thunder, bursting across the sky

The only reason these things “make” me happy is the pleasure and beauty they bring into my life.  They often spark memories of happy times in my past.  However, I have to take time to notice them to truly enjoy them.  I have to fully experience them, disengage my mind and my other senses and truly be in the moment.  Enjoying these simple pleasures is part of what makes life worth living. 

Sometimes I don’t think I want to live.  I get depressed.  The only thing that brings me out, besides the grace of God, is focusing on something outside of my sadness and pain.  Sometimes it’s getting involved with children’s play, or reading a novel, or enjoying one of my favorite things. 

If the things that make us happy are as simple as raindrops, or ponies, or snowflakes, or stars… what’s keeping us from happiness?

Source for lyrics:  www.stlyrics.com

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