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The Happy Friday Series: Things That Make Me Happy

08/16/2013 By Jayme Soulati

 

kaarina-dillabough-olympics.jpgWhen Jayme started her Happiness series, I started to think about all the really important things in life that make me happy. And I realized they aren’t things: they’re thoughts, family, friends, relationships, paying-it-forward and simply being the best I can be, to best benefit those around me.

But then I did begin to think of the “things” that add to my core happiness. They don’t create my happiness, but they certainly add to it. They enhance, enrich and enlighten me. They bring a smile to my face and lightness to my step.

Things That Make Me Happy

First and foremost…me ?
I’m responsible for my own happiness. It’s not someone else’s responsibility to make me happy. But the following are some things that send my happy-meter soaring.

  • The smell of freshly cut grass
  • Warm Spring rain and jumping in puddles
  • Combing for seashells on the beach
  • Browsing through bookstores, especially second-hand bookstores. Pulling out titles of interest. Glancing through the pages. Observing the font and paper stock. Finding that gem that begs to be bought.
  • Songs like “Dizzy”, “Build me up Buttercup”, “Four Strong Winds”, “Unchained Melody” and of course anything and everything Beatles, Roy Orbison, Burton Cummings and Eva Cassidy. They take me back in time and elicit strong memories.
  • Writing longhand
  • Taking photos
  • Champagne with frozen strawberries
  • Blankets, especially cozy ones. I own too many.
  • Giving gifts. I’m a constant collector of great greeting cards and little “special something” gifts that I tuck away, either with someone specific in mind, or for that occasion when it will be “just perfect” for someone I know.
  • Palm-and-beach-Soulati.jpg

    By Jayme Soulati, Santa Monica

    Rocks. I collect them. Ones that speak to me, and many do. They’re all around my house, inside and out. On my desk. In my gardens.

  • Vintage postcards, chosen for the stamp that’s on them and the beautiful handwriting that is now almost a lost art.
  • Doodling
  • Red wine and aged cheddar
  • My red wellies (to jump in puddles with ?)
  • Antique hunting and auctions
  • Movies like “The Jane Austen Book Club”, “Sliding Doors”, “Rear Window”, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “Con Air” (does that last one seem out of sync with the rest?)
  • Moon and stars on a crisp, cold night
  • Single malt scotch
  • Writing journals with beautiful covers and pens that feel like they were made for your hand
  • Being barefoot
  • Asparagus
  • Being fully present with whomever I’m with in the moment. Being fully present in each task at hand. Being in the moment.

Yes, these things add to my core happiness. I often say I’m happy even when I’m not.

In workshops, I draw two pictures.

One is of someone with a smile in their heart and on their face.

Another is of someone with a smile in their heart and a frown on their face.

My stance is that, as long as you’re happy in the heart – to your core – you’re always truly happy, even on crappy, crummy days when there might even be a frown on your face. Core happiness is an inside-out job…but “things” can certainly enhance, enrich and enlighten what’s already there. Cheers!

About The Author

kaarina-dillabough.jpgKaarina is a business/life coach living in Ontario, Canada. For over 25 years her high-voltage energy has inspired those she has worked with to reach beyond their grasp, to attain great things in business and in life. A former Olympic sports colour commentator and coach, Kaarina parlayed her coaching skills from the gym floor to the boardroom, working with business owners to improve their profitability and prosperity. Kaarina is known as an inspiring motivational speaker in areas such as branding, marketing, business growth strategies, and personal growth and prosperity. She loves nothing more than helping people achieve their goals in business and in life. She blogs here, and you can find her on Facebook here and Twitter @KDillabough.

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Filed Under: Happy Friday Series Tagged With: happiness, happy, Happy Friday, Kaarina Dillabough, The Happy Friday Series

The Happy Friday Series: How To Find Your Happy

04/05/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Credit: Amber-Lee Dibble, Alaska Chick

Credit: Amber-Lee Dibble, Alaska Chick

Taking a deep breath, pulling the crisp, clean air into you, filling you, pushing all the dark and insanely busy out.

Taking another, wiping the smudge of all the small and seemingly unimportant issues and little dramas of life, away.

Breathing deeply and freely now, just in and out, until you can feel the chill of the air in every part of you, from your fingertips to the organs inside, clean and fresh.

There it is. I found my happy. As I look around, I realize that everything else is extra. The air. The mountains and the river.

What I am curious about is, am I so different than everyone else? Am I especially blessed? Is it simply being aware of what my purpose is that makes it so easy to find my happy?

How Do You Find Your Happy?

The #RockHot Jayme Soulati started the Happy Friday series and in doing so has brought many smiles to many faces over the last few months. The talented writers that have written the posts we have all enjoyed are a blessing.

They have also made me think strongly about why we are focusing so hard on happiness. The reason I would say such a thing is…

Shouldn’t happiness come easily to us all? We have read these posts and know that happiness isn’t money or possessions.

We all know that happiness, giving it and receiving it, can be as simple, and as precious, as a smile.

And, we all know that as bloggers, we tend to write about what people need.

My question is why do we need help finding our happy?

As I read and research and study, day in and day out I have taken note of a few quotes that may help you find your happy.

“When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?'” – Sydney Harris

“Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”  ~ Voltaire

“Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.” ~ Roy Goodman

“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” ~ Joseph Addison

“Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” ~J.M. Barrie

“Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.” ~Karl Barth

…and of course, my favorite…

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” ~ John Muir

Credit: Amber-Lee Dibble, Pioneer Outfitters

Credit: Amber-Lee Dibble, Pioneer Outfitters

I know how much simply “trying” wears a person down. I understand that certain sadnesses cannot be unfelt.

But finding your happy? Maybe, just maybe, if you stood still (only for a moment) and breathed and remembered what made you happy the last time… it could fill you again, if you let it.

My hopes and wishes are for you to find your happy (if it seems to be missing). Remember this, as you search for your own…. you are not alone. I’m here. 🙂

About the Author

Amber-Lee Dibble, aka Alaska Chick’s Blog, is a Professional Alaska Guide and Manager at Pioneer Outfitters. Find and chat with Amber-Lee and Pioneer Outfitters on FaceBook , on Twitter as @AlaskaChickBlog or on LinkedIn as Amber-Lee Dibble.

 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Happy Friday Series Tagged With: Alaska, Amber-Lee Dibble, happiness, happy, John Muir, The Happy Friday Series, Twitter

The Happy Friday Series: Be The Sun And Serve

03/29/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Screen Shot 2013-03-28 at 9.37.29 AM“Mommy, you have to come with us! It’s so fun. Please!”

We lived on Shady Lane, and the shade  was profound. I was making it through the days as best I could but truth be told I was struggling.

I needed light desperately. Sunlight.

So, I dressed my tired body  and trudged to Tree Hill down the street and bordering the pond. The kids were racing ahead, and I thought about warning them that I wasn’t going to last long, so hurry up and get done with this joyful experience you’re convinced I’m going to have. But I didn’t.

We reached the top of the path and came out of the woods onto a bare hill drenched in warming sunlight. I sat down and nearly cried. I sat and sat and sat and dreaded going home to the darkness. I spent a lot of time at Tree Hill while we lived on Shady Lane, needless to say.

You might think that this post is about getting outside and basking in the sun, collecting your vitamin D for the day.

It’s not.

It’s about being the sun for someone else.

Being On Edge

Let me share with you how I felt the other day in order to explain it better.

I was on edge. The edge. All I could focus on was the sleep I wasn’t getting and I was not a happy camper.

What do you do when you feel like that?

I considered the typical options, but nothing appealed to me. I was sinking deeper into the mire of misery…in the breeding ground of boredom…that was being fueled by extreme fatigue.

“Call Lois.” That was a strange and unexpected  thought. It bordered on annoying because all I really wanted to do was sleep.

Lois is in her late eighties, early nineties. I haven’t seen her for a while. I’d thought of her at least three times in two days. But I had no reason to call her. We used to visit a lot and talk about genealogy and her dogs.

So I picked up the phone and called her. Her phone was disconnected. So, I called her daughter. Her phone was disconnected, too. All of a sudden I was concerned about Lois and her family. Where were they? How was she? Was there something they might need?

I reflected for a second on what had happened and giggled. I hadn’t even done anything more than start thinking about someone else and I’d started to feel better.

I’d sort of been like the sun.

The energy inside of me was released outward to touch someone else’s life and suddenly, somehow, I was brighter.

Showing up in life and giving what we can in the moments that we share makes us all a part of life’s warming rays for the people who show up at the same time. We choose whether or not to give our light or to withhold it.

I get it. Sometimes we’re tired. But maybe we’re not so much physically tired but emotionally fatigued because we haven’t been able to really connect with other people in meaningful ways.

Maybe we expect too much return on our investment of time and energy.

Maybe we are thinking “what’s in it for me?”

It’s About Service

There are some things I know about service:

  • A need is a need, and others’ needs come at inconvenient times.
  • People don’t wake up (typically) and plan to have an accident, lose their job, or have their house burn down, or struggle with depression, etc.
  • When we are the poorest we’ve ever been, a neighbor, a friend, or a stranger’s lack will remind us that we still have something to give.
  • The need for service doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t wait for us to feel refreshed and chipper. We are needed now. Sleep is for later.
  • Service blesses us more than the served if we do it like the sun shines its rays- with no expectation of thanks.
  • There will always be someone else that we can think of who is more able than we are at any given moment or in any situation who could do what is needed better. But they might think of someone else, too. There are no guarantees that the car behind us will stop to give aid to the person we just passed. We can at least stop to ask how we can help. Right?
  • There is no better short-cut to joy than thinking about how we can help someone else whether it be a smile, a hug, a “thank you”, an anonymous donation, or random kindness like shoveling their snowbound walkway.

I’ll leave you with a favorite quote of mine along with the hope for you to find the happiness that serving others brings.

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy.”
~Rabindranath Tagore

About The Author

Betsy Cross is a prolific blogger at What If Today and Remember. She is accessible all over the Interwebz on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest.

 

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Filed Under: Happy Friday Series Tagged With: Betsy Cross, happiness, happy, sunshine

The Happy Friday Series: Everyone’s Happy!

01/11/2013 By Jayme Soulati

kidsfaceHappiness is pervasive; everywhere you look and listen, someone is talking about studies on happiness at academic levels, about books they’re reading, about happiness jars they’re creating, and the love they have for their fellow man.

I applaud them all. We need more positive spirit and positive mental attitude and smiles and giggles and belly laughs to endure the constant stream of negativity, backlash and strife in this entire world.

Peggy Fitzpatrick is one of the happiest women I know; every day, her avatar greets us with that infectious wide grin complete with a sprinkling of stars in various colors behind her head. Her posts are always positive, always supportive, always full of love, and generosity. Her spirit is so alive, and she leads the 12Most.Com community with Paul Biedermann. Run to her blog and Facebook community or Twitter to see what I mean.

Happiness jars are being crafted all over and posted online. Do you know why? Because we need to share the good things we’re thankful for and recognize what makes us laugh and smile every day.

Did you know laughter is the best medicine? Not kidding; that tired old cliché is tried and true – laughter indeed makes the heart healthier. And, it releases the negative acids and endorphins and hormones into the sky leaving you with a rosy feeling and a spritely step.

On Fridays, please hold me to it, we’re going to find GOOD news that brings a smile to your psyche. Maybe it will make you happy, or maybe it will send away a negative thought, or two.

And, to make this really work, I’d like your help…here’s how:

  1. Guest Post here on a Friday about happiness, good mental energy, spiritual positiveness (yep, word coin), laughs, or whatever tickles you. I don’t mind if you have no blog of your own and want to get your feet wet. Send me 400 words if you don’t know what to write; we’ll get a story going.
  2. Share in comments something you saw or read that makes you or made you happy. I’ll cover it here.
  3. Send me links to happy stuff, and I’ll sprinkle them in the channels.
  4. Join my Bloggers Unite! Community on Google+ — we’re nearing 90 members and growing. It’s where we lend some levity to our seriousness with banter, XO and LOL. Knowing that Alaska Chick Blog of Pioneer Outfitters (yes, it’s Amber-Lee Dibble) is my co-moderator should bring a smile right off.

What think? Join me in our collective pursuit of happiness, would you? All writers and stories welcome. You will smile; that’s the goal.

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Filed Under: Happy Friday Series Tagged With: 12Most.com, being happy, happiness, happiness jars, happy, Peg Fitzpatrick

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