#choosehappy

(I figured out how to post on the new blog site!  Thanks to Cindy T. whose emails and patience made me a #happyblogger! ) 

How do you find your happiness?  I don’t mean when you are truly, truly sad, and need to really just feel sadness.    Because sometimes sad is just where it’s at, and thank God for friends and family and home and church and those who can love you through it, right?  Right.  Seriously, right? 

I mean on those days when you (okay, I’m talking about me) feel grumpy or negative.  When a bad day is just a bad day and you can’t get out of it and you know (okay, me again) it might be reflecting onto those around you.  And the people around me are likely my husband, my kiddos, and my best friends.

Do you actively seek it, like you would look for a lost set of keys?   “Where DID I put my happiness, darn it?  I had it this morning, but I can’t find it anywhere.”   

Do you Google it?  And if you do, what do you Google?  One result under the search for “happiness” leads you to "The Happiness Project," a website founded by Gretchen Rubin.  Flush with ideas, projects, books, calendars, and quotes, even the website has a distinctly happy feel.  It’s all bright yellow and light blue (my fave) and friendly and welcoming. . . here it is: 

www.happiness-project.com/

I loved it when I stumbled upon it.  And make no mistake about it.  I now receive happiness quotes in my inbox, and follow Gretchen on Facebook and Twitter.  I’m no fool-- if happiness falls into my lap, who am I to ignore it?

For the record, I’m a generally happy person.  Nearly every day, almost all the time.   But every now and then, a problem occurs, or a worry gets into my head or my heart that will drag me down and make me gloomy.  I can get into a mood, lose sleep and carry these funky moods around for days at a time.  I’m going to bet that happens to most people every now and again.  I’m just saying.

#moms

#carrystress

#needamassage

[Sidenote:  My kids just LOVE (#sarcasm) it when I use hashtags.  Especially when I actually say the word “hashtag” like, “Can you go clean your room, please, or I’m going to hashtag throwawayallyourclothes.”]

Weirdly, that whole paragraph brought me a lot of happiness. #unexpectedhappinesssurprise

Still, sometimes funky feelings work their way into the heart and aren’t easily dislodged.  I do find that I try to move them out by reading things like lovely websites and uplifting quotes.  Not to think that I will find the answer in an inspirational essay, but perhaps that happier things will fill up the space in my brain.

And I pray when I’m glum.  A lot.  But I never exactly know what to pray for, so I usually ask that God lift the burden of these worries and that He will give me strength to deal with my problems correctly.

#talkwithGodinmyhead

#thatisprayer

I sleep so much better after those chats.  And I wake feeling better.  But it’s not until later in the day, or sometimes days later, that I realize “Hey! I think God helped me with this.”  I’m never meaning to be ungrateful or unobservant.  I think, in the moment, I’m seriously overtired, and then I’m always so happy to see God at work in my life.  

Happy.  Happy to see God at work in my life.  #obvious

Maybe it’s not a matter of having to seek happiness when I’m down, it’s a matter of choosing what’s already there.  

And as I write this, I look up from my keyboard and see this on my desk.

So it’s been there all along.  The candle.  The message.  The happiness.

#duh

#anditsmellsgreat

#Godisfunny

Check out that website I found- you will like it.  And if you get into a bad mood (and again, I mean me) just remember, you’re never too far from the happiness that’s been there all along.