morphinae

I haven’t logged in to record my “happiness list” here in a long while, but I’m still making note of these things everyday. I post a lot of my joys on Facebook so I can share them with people I know. And I share others with my family when we gather for dinner and take a few minutes before we eat to talk about the things we’re grateful for.

I’m starting to notice more and more small things that make me happy. Like today, the sky was so beautiful right after it rained. The little things really do matter when you can find joy in them.

This purposeful practice has made me much more aware of any negativity I’m harboring and many times more conscious of the infinite number of things that connect with the source of happiness inside me—I just have to notice them and then I can appreciate the joy they bring.

Haven’t quite found my tribe yet but I’ve met some nice people lately that are cool to spend time with. I’ve been really busy lately and have been fortunate to spend quality time with some of my dearest (and farthest flung) friends. I’m still looking for a larger, local community that speaks to me.

Well, I’m still not great at celebrating every little holiday but I’ve let myself off the hook for that. I’ve realized that when I feel like I’m struggling and pushing too hard for something to work that something isn’t right. I need to back up and regroup.

So I dropped the idea of making gift baskets to place outside the kids’ doors. And when I did that a tradition created itself all on its own. We finished our dining room and had our first meal in there. We were all so excited to finally have a room with a big table to gather around that when we sat down to eat we instead held hands and talked about things we are grateful for.

It became a regular thing now. The kids started asking to do “Grateful” before eating and I realized how nice it is to express the things that I am thankful for everyday and to share our joys together. It sets a wonderful tone for a family meal. Now we even do this when we are at my sister’s house for dinner.