Finding Your "Happy"

Welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday!  Today I'm thinking out loud about things that make me happy.  Not huge, monumental things like taking a trip to Europe.  I'm talking about the common, everyday things you can do to make each day a little happier.

As a disclaimer - I'm not going to pretend that I'm always the queen of happy.  I wish I were, but sometimes I just let things soak into my soul and I have to remind myself to turn away from those feeling.  Many of those things that put me on the sad train are things that are out of my control.  It's a hard lesson to learn that you can only control what you do and how you respond to any given circumstance.  You have no control over others.  Let go of things you cannot change.

One thing I feel strongly about is you need to identify the things that make you happy.  Does having your meals for the week planned out put a smile on your face?  Does listening to your favorite song bring you joy? When you breath in the scent from your favorite candle, does a feeling of happiness wash over you?  What if we all made a list of things that made us happy, things we could control and actually do, and did at least one of them a day.  Here are just a few things that would be on my list ~

Starting Monday mornings with a full tank of gas

Planning our meals out for the week and having the ingredients on hand

Listening to a really good podcast while I'm getting ready for work

Coming home to our bed being made

Reading a magazine

Sitting in the sunshine

Blowing bubbles

Performing a random act of kindness

Binge watching a new show

Sleeping on sheets that are freshly washed and tumbled in the dryer

Dancing to my favorite tunes

Putting on my most cozy pajamas

Notice that these are things that are totally in my control.  I can make my bed before I leave for work (but I absolutely love it when Eric does!).  I can perform a random act of kindness.  I can turn on Pandora and dance my heart out.  None of these items require a single thing from someone else.  You, and you alone, can do things that bring a feeling of happiness!!  There's a whole other list of things that make me happy that involve factors out of my control -- but that's a post for another day.  Today I'm focusing on things we can do for ourselves that make us happy.  I just think that we need to identify them and conscientiously do them on a regular basis.

What's on your list of things that make you happy?  Your list probably looks a little different than mine.  And that's perfectly fine.  What makes me happy may or not inspire you to feel the same way.  Go ahead - make your list!  Put the most craziest things you can think of on it.  No judgement here!  Now try to do at least one of those items every day.  Hope you join me on the road to being just a little bit happier each and every day!

Now it's your turn.  What are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

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