Happiness Is...(part 2)

I've been doing a lot of writing lately in the old school style - in an actual notebook. Spiral bound. With a real ink pen and everything. And there's just something I still love about notebooks and paper. Don't get my wrong, I L...O...V...E my MacBook, yes I do, but I can't give up my love for paper. Especially when I'm flying on planes, because it's such a hassle to get the computer out and power it up with such little space. And then you have to power down for the landing, and it's all just so silly.


On a related tangent, I still haven't decided how I feel about ebooks. I know they are the future, I know that people love them and their marketshare is growing dramatically, but they just feel sort of fake to me. It's like a book isn't a book unless I can turn down the pages and put it on a bookshelf when I'm done. I am sure that I will convert eventually but for right now I'm still clinging passionately to the 1500 books in my library (Mad Dog claims that he actually counted all my books and I'll take his word for it).


So anyway, as I was writing in my old school notebook, I was capturing all the ideas I have for this blog and a soon-to-come expanded website. And I'm starting to brainstorm about several recurring series I'd like to organize here in the blog. One of the benefits of being new to blogging means I can totally experiment with different concepts and ideas and hopefully people will give me feedback.


One idea that I keep circling back to is related to a previous post from early January, "Happiness Is." I'm drawn to the simplicity of this concept - basic list making - because I think that happiness is both personal and straightforward. Even though a book search on "Happiness" at Amazon shows 20,820 results, and even though I have a masters degree in what some people call happiness research, I fundamentally believe that we don't need to complicate what makes us happy. I think that if we pay close attention to our lives, and we listen carefully to the individual moments that make up our days, we discover what makes us happy. I happen to believe we could all benefit from paying better attention to what makes us happy. I don't think we always need to search for happiness, as much as we need to remember it, and open up to it, and make room for it. In other words, listen more and chase less.


So I'd like to start a recurring series of "happiness lists" - from myself and other people. Yes I realize that other people publishing online have already taken different twists on this concept, and I'd encourage you to read them also - because there are just so many awesome websites out there today! Here's 3 of my personal favorites that you might enjoy:


The Happiness Project
1000 Awesome Things
ThxThxThx


With all that being said, here's my next Happiness list. Please feel free to add to the list in the comments, or share your feedback. I'm listening.


Happiness Is...


...Running a bath and getting the water temperature exactly right.
...Waking up in the morning, without an alarm clock, and feeling perfectly rested and alert.
...Finishing a round of golf in the late afternoon, when the shadows are long and the sun turns the mountains dark red.
...The first day of feeling healthy after two three weeks of being sick.
...Waiting for my luggage at baggage claim, and my suitcase is the first one out of the chute.
...Coming home after work to find that someone else cleaned my house.
...When I sit down on the couch and Charly comes over to give me a huge dog hug.
...When Mad Dog gives me flowers for absolutely no special occasion at all.
...Having an impromptu breakfast in Boston with a friend I hadn't seen in 9 months.
...Being in Boston during a terrible snowstorm, and on the day I'm supposed to fly home, my flight is the only flight NOT cancelled.
...Watching our amazing communities in Tucson pull together to support each other after such a senseless tragedy.
...Having a 9 hour work meeting end after 7 hours.
...Watching the sun set over the Tucson mountains, from the airplane as I'm flying home.


What's on your happiness list?