Cherish the little things...

...something I try very hard to do.

New Years Eve, 2014: I spent the evening with friends and, as we chatted about the previous twelve months and our hopes for the next twelve, we found that happiness was the one thing we all wanted to have more of, whether it was in work, relationships, personal achievements- whatever our priorities were. 

This got me thinking. I make a point of practising positive thoughts and counting my blessings and, the previous year, I'd taken part in the #100happydays challenge (which I thoroughly enjoyed, despite being very ill at one point). But what if I could have 365 happy days? Could I find something to be happy about every single day?

It was interesting. Like most people, I have good days and bad days; days so wonderful I want to remember them forever and days so awful I want to stay under the duvet and never leave the house again. Sometimes it felt like the world was filled with happy; other times, happy was pushed aside by busy, or tired, or stressed. If I didn't keep on top of the happy, it went away. Being happy, I reasoned, was like being an athlete or a musician. I needed to train for it. Every. Single. Day. 

The next day, I went out and bought three diaries: one for each of my friends, and one for myself. I set them the challenge- could they find joy in every day? It didn't need to be anything huge- although sometimes it is- but they had to find one thing every day that made them feel happy.

Six months on, my diary has an entry for every single day but one- the day Terry Pratchett died. (I tried, but the hole he left sucked all the happiness that day.) I pushed myself to continue, though, and I haven't missed a day since. I like reading back over them and remembering.

My entries are in a sort of code- phrases that probably only make sense to me and the people I shared the moment with. It's a way of keeping these special moments private but I want to share them anyway. I wonder if anyone reading them will recognise the reference, and if it made them happy too? I hope so.

Here are some of the things that have made me happy:

a near-miss with karaoke

Roo getting stuck in the car

snoozing on a warm bus on the way back from football

my first band t-shirt in too many years

the Cask

"Good"

starlings

the kindness of strangers

playing in the snow

Mo Chickens

doing something kind for someone who didn't deserve it

climbing a fence in heels

Mary cakes

Bill's toy car

doggy dancing to Uptown Funk with Alfie

epic walkies

The Hat

"special" bowling

Ali breaking a fence

pizza with Bill

a Roman banquet

the last few miles to Fontygary

Pirate Bay

the scent of jasmine

a game of horseshoes

mucho ale and touchy-feeley good vibes

arm wrestling John for the last pint

dancing to Paul Weller

butterflies in my tummy

poker night

buttered crumpets

manly jobs

Ryan the parrot

having my hair stroked

a broomstick

"Oh"

"my woman"

Spanish penguins

If I asked you to tell me one thing that made you happy today, could you? 

Why don't you share in the comments- or maybe you'll decide to keep a happy diary too.