I found out, yesterday afternoon, that my friend at Creative Barbwire has kindly passed on the Happiness 101 Award to my blog. (Can’t help but love the camaraderie that exists in this blogging world!)
To accept this award, I have to list ten things that make me happy and then pass on the award to five other friends.
Counting one’s blessings — isn’t that a lovely way to begin the week? Thank you, Barb!
I listed some things, in my post Inner Happiness, a few days ago that may make people happy. Even though there was an item (or two) in it that was mine, I was aiming at a more generic list – one that included things that might make adults and children happy in general.
Here are some basic things, in no particular order, that make me happy:
1. Admiring Gardens: Spring season makes me inordinately happy – just the mention of it brings a smile to my face. All that rich, luminous green everywhere, the abundance of oxygen – who can resist all that? I love walking in my neighborhood, admiring the beginnings of beautiful gardens. In fact, I was working on a list of why spring makes me happy just a few days ago; I’m still hoping to post that list here later on, so I’ll stop waxing poetic about this favorite season of mine here.
2. People I love: Nothing beats spending time with your loved ones – family and friends. Add a good movie and good food to that company and my happiness is complete!
3. Laughter: Picture a crying baby smiling through his tears when you kiss him – this makes me tear up in turn, every single time. Similarly, the rich, uninhibited laughter of children (whether mine, or just the distant cacophony of children at play in the neighborhood park) never fails to lift my spirits.
4. The Library: The ultimate library experience for me is finding a new book by my favorite author unexpectedly.
5. Anticipation: What adds more thrill for me to: traveling to a new place, a visit from my family, or going to a much awaited movie? The anticipation that precedes each of these occasions.
6. My To-Visit List: I have an ever-growing list of places, in the world, which I would love to visit one day. Most of them got there from reading books, blogs, or listening to people reminisce about their vacations. Just thinking about my possible travels makes me light-headed with happiness.
7. Penning My Thoughts: A sure-fire way to drive away blues? For me, it is sitting down and being able to put into words all the ideas that are clamoring for attention inside my head.
8. Communing with Nature: I love sitting out in the backyard early in the morning, before anyone else in the house is awake, with a cup of steaming coffee in my hands.
9. A Clean Cupboard: Love the feeling of accomplishment that I get after putting some elbow grease into thinning out the contents of an overflowing cupboard.
10. The Sky: Looking up at the sky, night or day, and contemplating the endless possibilities of the space around us is one of my favorite pastimes.
I’m such a visual person that I thought this award should have its own picture. So, there it is, at the top of this page.
I made it from a photo I took inside an atrium filled with butterflies on one of my travels with my family. This picture invariably brings back good memories, and, hence, a sense of peace to me.
Now, here are the five friends to whom I’d like to pass this award. Each of them makes me happy with their company (virtual and/or real), and their writing makes my own blogging experience that much richer.
Can’t wait to find out what makes each of you happy!
- Jai Joshi at Tulsi Tree
- Josie at High Heels and Slippers
- Heather at The Sunset Won’t
- Cuban at A Cuban in London
- Shalini at Of Travels and Travails
What makes you, my reader, happy? Would love it if you’d share your own list with the rest of us here!
wow. I should have added some kind of picture to the award too, but I was taken by surprise! How about a cloudy (but beautiful) sky? I have plenty of skies pictures by now… maybe I’ll add it to my post! ;-)
Thank you for your list!
Barb
Any picture of the sky works, Barb (see #10 in my list ;)). Pictures are good, aren’t they? They tend to perk up any post!
indeed! After a few seconds of indecision, I added one to my Happiness 101 post! ;-) I’ll use more in future posts (if I don’t forget, haha)! :-D
Sitting in the patio with a steaming mug of java and a wonderful book in the quiet hours of the morning. For me that is happiness and bliss all rolled into one!!
RK, sounds like the perfect getaway (even if it’s only a few feet away from the main house). Don’t forget to invite me over the next time you brew a pot of coffee ;-).
I am honored! Thanks for the award. I agree finding a new book by a favorite author always makes me happy!
Hey, that’s such a nice list and concept. Thanks for including me….will make a list and post it soon.
You’re welcome, Shalini. For some reason, wordpress relegated your comment to spam and I just found out. Look forward to your list — I have a feeling that it’ll include some beautiful pictures :).
congratulations on recieving such an award and thanks so much for passing it on to me!
Happiness 101, that’s such a cool idea. Now I’ll have to mull over that list and narrow it down to the ten things that make me the most happy. Otherwise the list will go on and on.
Jai
Such a lovely “happy list” Hema!
I agree with you, there is no feeling like being inside of a library and finding an amazing book unexpectedly that you can’t wait to read.
I’ll have to make a “happy places” list and add the library there :)
You’re welcome, Heather. You already had your own happiness list going — this award was a natural progression :).
Thanks, Jai. I know what you mean by having a hard time thinking of the 10 things that make you happiest. The minute I thought I was done with the list, 10 more things popped up that should have been in it :).
Thanks, Lua. You have a great list yourself — loved the first in yours: “Istanbul”. How many people can claim that they live in a place that makes them that happy?
Love the new header. Things that make me happy are:
1. Reading
2. A beautiful day
3. The wind in my hair
4. Thunderstorms: I love sitting on my couch with a mug of hot cocoa while it’s lightning outside, with my cat in my lap
Love your list, Kathy. I love wind in my hair, too, but not thunderstorms so much :). Thanks for sharing! And the new header is a photo from another memorable trip with my family.
Thanks for this award. Although I declared long ago that my blog would be award-free I will make an exception because I have been under stress lately (work) and yet I’ve had some very happy moments indeed. So, to me, it’s a way to celebrate. I will post my answers this coming Sunday.
Thanks.
Greetings from London.