What's Making You Happy This Week?

Happy Friday everyone! Again I've been meaning to update for a few weeks, but time has been slipping away from me. How have you been?





As for me- purely as an exercise in nostalgia, I've been going through a lot of my old blog posts. It's like watching a home movie or seeing pictures from an old vacation.... such a time warp! Sure there are some squeakers, but there are also a few gems in the mix that have sparked inspiration in me and reminded me of a time when I LOVED to blog.

For example, I came across this post that about making lists of the things that make you happy. At the time, I had recently read a book that asked you to list out your "pleasure touchstones" as an exercise. These are specific things that strike joy in your heart and make you truly happy. The more detailed, the better.

After thinking about it for a while, I came to the conclusion that sadly I wasn't sure what many of my pleasure touchstones were anymore.

Maybe it's the result of the current generations' tendency of trying to cultivate happiness through a screen and ignoring physical realities. Always living in our heads and passively consuming pleasure through Instagram and Facebook. Or if we're in the moment, always thinking about documenting that perfect moment rather than living in it. Maybe it's just the inevitable reality of being an adult, and thinking mostly about responsibilities.


Either way, it got me thinking about living and really savoring some of the things that make me happy.

So what makes me happy? Here's a few ideas-

+ Fresh chewy brownies
+ The smell of a fresh pot of coffee
+ The golden light as the sun is fading
+ The feeling of crossing something off my to-do list
+ Playing music- this I don't do often enough anymore, even though it soothes my soul.
+ New goodies from Target! They have a section called Opalhouse now that is everything boho dreams are made of. We ordered sooooo many pillows.
+ The soft caress of cool wind on your skin at the end of a hot day.



I think that the current way of thinking about moments like this is that they are disposable and that we need more and more of them in order to be happy. Like once you've smelled that pot of coffee in the morning, it's gone. The moment is over and we're on to chasing the next magical moment, hopefully to be experienced RIGHT NOW.

But lately, I'm into savoring these pleasures for as long as possible in the moment. I'm into the thought that these things are special, not something that I need more and more 'fixes' of in order to be happy.

So if you have the time and inclination, really think about what you're happy about this week. Make a list of magical things and moments that you love. Then take the time to REALLY experience them. Get yourself out of your head and smell the roses (or pot of coffee.) It's a whole other world!


xoxoxo




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