Happiness Is A Choice

What’s Good Going On With You?

 

Little things delight me: a walk in nature,  an unexpected snowfall, a good book, fresh flowers, a tasty meal, happiness is a choice…

 

We live here! This still amazes and delights me! My husband and I took our border collie Hope on this stunning, Saturday morning,  walk in the mountains. Most people are happy to visit but don’t want to live here and that’s what makes this place so special. If everyone lived here we’d be just another town with all the ‘conveniences’ and noise and congestion of everywhere.

 

I’ve been going through a difficult time for a long while now – no doubt will again, such is life – but today I feel so carefree, lighthearted – as if on vacation.

This is a sad story that’s hard to put down. This novel is fiction that reads like real life – a reminder that life can change in an instant.

 

 

 

 

This was yesterday evening’s dinner – so delicious! We get Hello Fresh sometimes – the ingredients are delivered to our door and my husband happily cooks.

 

This evening’s dinner looks delicious! I believe we have two new favorites in these meals. It’s so much fun to have something different for dinner and for us, dine at home. We are happy watching a movie as we dine, eating in our sunroom while listening to music or an interesting podcast or eating on our deck overlooking the river and Crystal Peak.

 

 

Purple tulips from my husband – just because – he knew I’d like them!

 

We enjoyed the recent spring snowfall…

 

 

Mother Nature make stunning snow art…

 

So fun to see animal prints in the untouched snow…

 

The blue and white day was just magical…made me feel so happy!

 

 

 

 

I’m reading The Untethered Soul by Michael A Singer. Here’s a radical thought: he says happiness is a choice. Of course it’s easy to be happy when things are going well but stuff is going to happen. The purpose of your life is to enjoy and learn from your experiences. We were born and we are going to die. During the time in between we get to choose if we are going to be happy. You can be happy just to be alive. I’m working on it. How about you?

“The most precious gift we can give one another is letting them know they matter.”  Julie A R Stephens
julie@handsbestrong.com

Living in the Mountains

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4 thoughts on “Happiness Is A Choice”

    1. Thanks Fred – so glad you enjoyed it. Bruce and I never get tired of our nature trail or take it for granted. It means everything to us to be able to just walk out our garden gate and have this treasure.

  1. Some interesting research I read about in Susan Cain’s book Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, is that people whose favorite songs are happy listen to them about 175 times on average. But those who favor ‘bittersweet’ songs (like Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”) listen almost 800 times. Wow! Big difference! The researchers reported a “deeper connection” to the music than those whose favorites made them happy. They told the researchers that they “associated sad songs with profound beauty, deep connection, transcendence, nostalgia, and common humanity–the so-called sublime emotions.” That kind of blew me away. I didn’t feel so apologetic for my sadness which I cart around a lot. It’s not that I’m against happiness. I just don’t want to force feed myself it, and that’s how I feel about positive thinking. It hurts to have your heart broken, but you really need to feel that brokenness for as long as you need to and not ignore it or push it aside. My mother always used to say, “Be strong. Just don’t think about the bad things.” And then I heard the Psychologist Susan Cain say on a TED Talk that my mother’s advice is a “dead person’s goal.. . . Only dead people never get stressed, never get broken hearts, never experience the disappointment that comes with failure.” Cain does have a point! I think a person is really strong when she faces the suffering head-on and then lets it go when she’s ready. Perhaps the bottom line is that it can be really hard to be alive.(!)

    1. Yes Phyllis – I understand. I can get enough podcast and information on being happy. It’s often a daily struggle. It is ok that I am not there every day. It’s not healthy to stay in the garden eating worms but some days going there for a visit is the thing I need to do. Happiness feels more foreign to me than sadness and I have to be careful not to slide into a dark hole. Hugs – julie

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