Happiness Is...

If you happen to have stumbled onto the Internet lately, you might have noticed how many people are blogging/writing/publishing about the subject of happiness. There are hundreds or thousands of books/consultants/researchers/webcasts/videos out there circulating on the web. There are numerous debates about the nuances between happiness and life satisfaction and engagement and flourishing and well being.

The research can be useful and it can be absolutely overwhelming.

Which I why I think sometimes it helps to start at the personal level.

In my previous posting I mentioned that writing prompts are a very useful tool for opening up our thinking, for generating possibilities and thinking creatively. There are 2 great books I’d recommend if you want to learn more about writing prompts. Accidental Genius, by Mark Levy, and Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. Since they have written so eloquently about this subject, I won’t repeat their insights here. I will just summarize Mark Levy’s advice that you make your writing prompts short and open ended. I will offer a few of my favorite writing prompts, which can really spark some creative thinking:

- I’d love to learn about….
- If I wasn’t afraid, I would…
- If I didn’t have to work, I would…
- If I was guaranteed success, I would….

These are all great prompts, because you can come up with many many different answers to these – there is no one best answer. The more answers you can come up with the better. And one answer might lead to another and another.  A really good way to use these is to take one prompt and write about it for a specific time period – say 10 minutes or so. Another alternative is to come up with a high quantity of different answers – say 25 answers to 1 writing prompt. There are multiple ways to use writing prompts, but the most important criteria is that you write fast  - without thinking - and you don’t censor yourself.

Perhaps my favorite writing prompt is this one:  Happiness is…

This is just so simple and personal. I wrote about this on the plane last weekend. Planes are great places for thinking and writing, because of the lack of distractions. Here are some of my answers:

Happiness is:

…Coming home to Charly and his tail wagging after work.
...Coming home after a long trip and realizing exactly how much I love my life I’m coming home to.
…A hot shower with good water pressure.
…A hot shower after a great workout.
…A hot stone massage.
…The finish line after a long race.
…Laughing with Mad Dog at one of our insider jokes.
…Making up new nicknames for each other with Mad Dog.
…Finding the perfect Christmas present for my best friend.
…Welcome home kisses in the airport.
...Snuggling on the couch with both Charly and Mad Dog.
...Playing frisbee with Charly on the soccer field and watching his ears flop as he runs.
…Scoring par on the golf course.
…Finding golf shorts that fit right and are on sale.
....Doing pullups without any assistance.
…Running with Charly at sunset.
…Running with Charly at sunrise.

These are just a few examples. By writing fast and furious about this topic can you really uncover what brings you joy, what makes you smile, and what makes you happy. 

So try this now – pick up a pen, or open a new document and write out at least 25 answers to this writing prompt: Happiness is…

Since you probably noticed that several of my answers are about Charly, here is a link to my favorite photos of Charly from 2010. I hope these make you smile.

As I continue posting on this blog, I plan to include a new category of posts that I will label “Happiness Is.” Because as we all know from the happiness research, whatever we give attention to in lives will expand. I for one would like to increase the attention I give to happiness in my life.