Tag Archives: happiness

health, life well lived

Life Well Lived: Resources for increasing and sustaining happiness

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Its time for another Life Well Lived Getting Happy panel!

Happy This week’s question is: What are your favorite resources for increasing and sustaining happiness?

For once, the LWL question made me stumble a bit.

My knee-jerk answer is to list the things that never fail to make me happy. Faith. Family. Friends. A great conversation. Photography. Writing. Music. My cats. Eating. A good cup of coffee. Reading. Sleeping. Great fitting blue jeans. Anything Texas A&M University. Sunshine. Rain. Etc.

I could list off things that make me happy for hours on end. I’m a naturally happy person in general, and its so often the little things that make me happy. But that is where this trips me up… these things make me happy, sure. But these things can also sometimes frustrate me.  Then it hit me…

My favorite resource for happiness is myself.

A story to illustrate my point: Just last weekend, when I went to pick my husband up from the bus, I walked out the door making a conscious decision to be in a good mood when I got there.

I almost always end up picking him up after only getting 3 hours of sleep, and 9 times out of 10 I deal with a fellow driver that leaves my blood boiling. (And of course, due to lack of sleep, my already short fuse with drivers who don’t drive defensively is a lot a shorter than normal.) My husband is just used to me picking him up in a terrible mood. It’s almost a running joke that he wonders how ticked off I’ll be when I pick him up. But that day I went, “I am happy he is home. He needs to see THAT, not a ticked off wife mad at the world.”

You know what happened? I picked my husband up with a smile that was genuine and I caught him off guard. I made the conscious decision to be happy. I can’t help the fact that I don’t get enough sleep before I pick him up. I can’t help that other drivers just don’t pay attention to what is going on around them. But I CAN help how I respond. THAT is one thing I CAN control.

It’s not about having a cup of coffee. It’s not about if the sun is shining or not. It’s about my approach to life — to any given situation or moment in time. I am my own favorite resource for happiness.

What about you? What is your favorite resource for creating and increasing happiness?

Join me here and and in the comments over at the Main Post on BlogHer.com.

life well lived

Life Well Lived: Child Happiness

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Its time for another Life Well Lived Getting Happy panel!

This time, we want to hear more from our readers. How do you teach the children in your life happiness? Please share your best tools and tips in the comments below.

073: Peek-A-Boo
I made a little friend on a flight.

A friend recently posted a picture on her Facebook wall that contained a quote:

“Children are happy because they don’t have a file in their minds called “All the Things That Could Go Wrong.” ― Marianne Williamson

I think that pretty much says it all. While we want to teach children right from wrong, and I am firm believer we need to realize our actions have consequences, there is no reason to squash a child’s joy based on the fears we hold ourselves.

When my nephew was born, suddenly the world took a whole new feel. Suddenly I was seeing wonder and joy in things I had been taking for granted. He was teaching ME happiness!

I, personally, think that the best way to reach children happiness is by learning it from them, and then emulating it back at them. When they laugh at a puppy being silly, laugh with them. See the beauty and wonder in Christmas lights instead of fussing about how much work it takes to put them up. Sit down and color with them.

Children need discipline and structure in their lives. But they also need the opportunity to just be kids… and maybe parents need that opportunity right with them.

What are your thoughts? Leave your thoughts here and join me in the discussion on the main page for this topic on BlogHer. Also, don’t miss your chance to win a Kindle Fire in the Life Well Lived Sweepstakes!