Day 2 - I'm In Control and Using Memories

Day 2 - Remembering what I control

Day two of my Making Happy goal has been slightly more challenging than I had anticipated with a few curve balls thrown in for good measure, but I'm pleased to say that with a bit of focus I have managed to stay on top of my game.

This morning started well, I woke up with plenty of time to get ready for a day at work, I knew it was going to be a busy one as I have just taken 3 weeks out for the Christmas break.  Normally I would feel that sinking feeling of the holidays over and reality is here again, today however I thought about the difference I could make in my job and that I am in a fortunate position to be in employment.  I decided not to focus on the abundance of emails and the endless list of tasks that would await me and instead to focus on achieving one thing at a time and acknowledging my progress.  This approach worked well and I felt on my way to a happy 1st day back at work.

After a few hours at work and catching up with people, hearing about the various ways people spent their Christmas, I received some less than positive information in the post, without going in to too much detail the news was of a financial basis and advised that my future investments were likely to pay several thousand pounds less than I had anticipated.  My initial response was of concern, followed by worry, anger and frustration.  After a few minutes my thoughts shifted to what can I do about this now? What control do I have? & Is there anything I can do to make things better?  I quickly realised that at that moment in time there was nothing I could do, the loss would have no immediate impact and the horrid feeling I was feeling was not going to change a thing.  I decided therefore to put things on hold in relation to my financial news and to think about my day again.  Now don't get me wrong, I certainly was not feeling anywhere near as happy as I did first thing this morning, however I was very pleased that I did not feel anywhere near as bad as I could have, if I had not controlled my thoughts and added a spot of logic to what I could do right now.

The day continued and I focused more and more on what I could do and eventually I stopped thinking about the bad news and was feeling good again about what I was achieving.

On my journey home, which takes around 45 minutes, I decided to think about the holiday I took to the Italian lakes in September 2014, I relived the views, the friendly people, the wines, the sunshine and the laughter I had whilst I was there.  By the time I walked through the door I was feeling pretty happy, I was feeling in control and I was in a clear mind to reread the letter I received earlier and understand the full implications.  I am as I write this sitting here with a smile on my face as I know that with another 20+ years of work in me, there is plenty I can do to invest my money and grow my finances, but the key to my smile is I remembered that at the end of my hopefully long life I won't care how much money I have in the bank, or how my investments turned out, I will look back and smile because I have an abundance of memories like the trip to Italy.

Today I made happy by staying in control, remembering what I can do and choosing to focus on something that made me feel good.

Tomorrow is another day and I will continue to make happy...  2015 is going to be a good year.

A photo of Lazise on Lake Garda taken on my trip to Italy in September 14

Day 1 - Stop, Look, Listen & Notice

Welcome to my Making Happy blog, it is a simple idea that I will post each day a short story, technique, theory etc on happiness.  I set my goal to make happiness in 2015 and I intend to share it with you.  I hope you enjoy reading my blog and I welcome your feedback.

Day 1 - Stop, Look, Listen & Notice

I am starting day 1 with the most basic of activities to create more happiness, a simple thing I call 'stopping'.  I am a busy person, as I am sure many of you are, my days are full with work and my mind is occupied with the what next, the future plans, the what else do I need to do kind of noise that I am certain a number of you will experience.  With all this going on in my brain I very often forget to stop, take a bit of time to notice my surroundings, to absorb my environment, see what sights are to be seen, hear what is to be heard and truly notice everything the world has to offer.

Today I took the simple step of stopping, I walked to my back door, I opened it, I looked around and started noticing what was outside and absorbing everything the world had to offer.  As I looked across the grass I could see the tiny frost particles glistening in the sunlight, it looked like someone had come along overnight and peppered the garden with a ton of diamond dust.  I just stood there noticing and absorbing, I could feel the smile grow on my face, and whilst the cold air chilled my checks I could feel that familiar warm sensation from within that comes when you get that little internal injection of happiness.  I carried on looking, listening and noticing, within 5 minutes I watched birds feeding, planes making patterns across the amazing blue sky, I heard dogs barking in the distance, the low volume of traffic in the far distance, a seagull fly overhead, followed by a wood pigeon.  I noticed how a gentle breeze can move so many branches on the trees, make the blades of grass dance and the temperature of the air change on my face.  I noticed how the sun created many beautiful shadows across the garden and how the shades of blue changed from east to west as my eyes scanned across the sky.  I had stopped, I was looking, listening and for a short 5 minutes I was really noticing.  Those 5 minutes filled me with happy and that was over 5 hours ago and I am still feeling the benefits of that short time now, I can honestly say that I am going to be practicing a little more of this in the future.

In my day to day life I forget to stop, look, listen and notice but today I did and I experienced so much.  

It is the simple things in life that often provide the greatest rewards, today this statement was very true.

Until next time, why don't you give stopping a try.