I've been thinking a lot lately about happiness.
What it is? How can I be it as often as possible, for as long as possible? What makes me and those I surround myself with— Happy?
In the end, every action we take and every decision we make is done with the anticipated endgame that it will make us happy. We do work so we could make money, and that will make us happy. We study to get good grades because then we will be happy. We go to the gym to get fit and look good because then we will be happy. We swear up and down to ourselves that— by doing these mundane, monotonous practices— the end result will be worth the temporary dysphoria.
The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that it isn’t the rare sweeping moments that keep me going from day-to-day. Sure, those are the memorable moments that you look back on as the epitome of “ultimate happiness.”
In hopes to find an answer to the question, I mass texted a bunch of my friends, “What are random things that make you happy?” Here are my favorite responses and a few of my own:
-laying on the front lawn
-waking up and realizing you still have a few more hours left to sleep
-a freshly made bed at the end of a long day
-watching raindrops race down a windowsill
-the crunch of snow under snow boots
-the smell of coffee in the morning
-crackle of a record player
-thinking of a clever response to a text a lightning speed
-rediscovering a smell that makes you nostalgic for a moment in the past
-getting kisses from an adorable puppy
-driving with the windows downtown right when the weather gets nice
-making a wish at 11:11
-clicking the “add” button after finding a new song I love on Spotify
-when my favorite TV shows come back on after a hiatus
-playing with bubble wrap
-when a stranger smiles at you, and you don’t know why
-the smell of freshly baked cookies
-warm kisses
-when you hit shuffle and the exact song you wanted comes on
-anything and everything having to do with Louis C.K
-when you're driving and you hit the intersection just as the light turns yellow
-the feel of warm sand in between your toes
-eating a really good burrito
-Steve Carrell
-Seeing little kids play and run around
-when you're reading a book and the author puts your emotions into words perfectly
-getting a good morning text
-someone telling you that they miss you
-looking at myself in the mirror before I leave to go somewhere and seeing that I look great
-hanging out in my room and feeling a breeze come in from the window
-walking outside while having my headphones in and the song perfectly matches the mood
-meeting a cute guy/ girl for the first time and there's so much eye contact being made during the conversation
-roasting s’mores
-waking up on a Saturday morning and realizing you have a day of nothing ahead
-having intense conversations with new people
-when you get a scoop with a lot of cookie dough
-when shampoo and conditioner run out at the same time
-when people remember things I say because it means they pay attention
-having a class I wasn't going to anyway get cancelled
-finding a close parking space when you're in a hurry
-the sunset’s “magic/golden hour”
So maybe happiness isn't necessarily the huge moments— not the weddings and the birthdays. Those feelings of happiness are generally fleeting. Maybe it's just the continuing practice of all these smaller, seemingly unimportant rituals that get you through each day.
I challenge you to, next time you're upset or life just isn’t going the way you planned, take a moment. Take some time to catalogue the small blisses in life that make you feel even a little bit better.
It’s easy to dwell on all of the negative, but when you take a step back and reflect— there are just too many things in life that are damn good.
