HAPPY2

Well I have just completed the 100 Happy Days Challenge.  This is an initiative of the Random Acts of Kindness (#RAK) Foundation.  It has been great fun.  It really has been great fun.

We are reminded that, "We live in times when super-busy schedules have become something to boast about. While the speed of life increases, there is less and less time to enjoy the moment that you are in.  The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it is the base for the bridge towards long-term happiness of any human being.  We need to be reminded to take joy and take pleasure from the small things.  And in doing so, we may discover that these things are not so small after all.  These are in fact the big things."

So, "The idea is simple.  The idea is to every day submit a picture of what made you happy!"

A snap-shot, of a moment, that captures; that truly captures the 'happy'.

You are reminded that "It is important to remember that the #100happyday challenge is for you - not for anyone else".  It is not a happiness competition or a showing off contest.  If you try to please / make others jealous via your pictures - you lose without even starting.  Same goes for cheating."  It is important to remember that happiness is not a competition.  Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.

This reminds me of the quote by Henry David Thoreau, (the American author, poet, philosopher, historian, and leading various other things) which was on a card sent to me by a dear friend, “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder...”

Visitwww.100happydays.com/foundationfor more information. 

Apparently, "71% of people tried to complete this challenge, but failed quoting lack of time as the main reason". These people simply did not have time to be happy.  How can you not have time to be happy?  Surely you are doing something wrong if you can't find the time; make the time, to be happy.  

So, you take a photo of something that has made you happy.  "It can be anything from a meet-up with a friend to a very tasty cake in the nearby coffee place, from a feeling of being at home after a hard day to a favor you did to a stranger."  Your favourite beer; or favourite fabric softner on special offer at the SuperMarket.  A cuddle with the cat, or watching your favourite TV Show or a piece of music played on the radio; a photo that captures and represents that moment.

I have enjoyed it.  I have really enjoyed it.  I have enjoyed the discipline and challenge of taking a daily photo.  I do already want to do it again.  I am sure that at some point I will do it again.

100 HAPPY DAYS

Everyone gets grumpy now and then, everyone sulks.  Everyone gets irritable, ill-tempered and grouchy.  Everyone gets in a bad mood, gets snappy, unpleasant and cross.  Everyone experiences an unhappy mood. Everyone gets sad.  Feels lonely.  Feels miserable.  Feels gloomy.  I simply can't be the only one?  I know that I am not; I know that I am not the only one and I know that I am not alone.  I know that when I am in pain I don't want to communicate. I want to grab my cat and lock myself away. I find it difficult to sustain interaction when I am in pain. This isn't necessarily the best way to cope. I'm sorry.

So, I have just signed up for #100HappyDays. This is an initiative of the Random Acts of Kindness (#RAK) Foundation.  What a fantastic idea. Let's give this a go. Let's be HAPPY.  A number of my friends have signed up for this with me, so we can encourage each other and share the happy.

"We live in times when super-busy schedules have become something to boast about. While the speed of life increases, there is less and less time to enjoy the moment that you are in. The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it is the base for the bridge towards long-term happiness of any human being. we need to be reminded to take joy and take pleasure from the small things. And in doing so, we may discover that these things are not so small after all.  These are in fact the big things."

 
Apparently, "71% of people tried to complete this challenge, but failed quoting lack of time as the main reason". These people simply did not have time to be happy. Do you have time to be happy? Are you prepared to make time to be happy?

"The idea is simple.  The idea is to every day submit a picture of what made you happy!"

"It can be anything from a meet-up with a friend to a very tasty cake in the nearby coffee place, from a feeling of being at home after a hard day to a favor you did to a stranger."  Your favourite beer or favourite fabric softner on special offer at the SuperMarket.  A cuddle with the cat, or watching your favourite TV Show or a piece of music played on the radio and a photo that captures that moment. A snap-shot of a moment that captures; that truly captures the happy.

 
"It is important to remember that the #100happyday challenge is for you - not for anyone else. It is not a happiness competition or a showing off contest. If you try to please / make others jealous via your pictures - you lose without even starting. Same goes for cheating."  It is important to remember that happiness is not a competition.  Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy  This reminds me of the quote by Henry David Thoreau, (theAmerican author, poet, philosopher, historian, and leading various other things) which was on a card sent to me by a dear friend, “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder...”

People successfully completing the challenge claimed to:

 - Start noticing what makes them happy every day;

 - Be in a better mood every day;

 - Start receiving more compliments from other people;

 - Realize how lucky they are to have the life they have;

 - Become more optimistic;

 - Fall in love during the challenge.

Even when the challenge is over the collected 100 happy moments can always remind you about the beauty of your life. I think that that is something worth finding the time to do.

Visitwww.100happydays.com/foundationfor more information.

ICE-CREAM

During the 20th Century there was a change, a huge change, an important change.  There was an increase in the availability of ice-cream.  As technology advanced and cheap refrigeration became common, ice-cream became more available, more affordable and more popular.

A good friend of mine, someone that I have now known for quite a long time, recently commented: "There are two things in life I just couldn't do without - good friends and ice-cream."

Yes, that about sums it up.  I know a couple of weeks ago in my HAPPY BLOG I posted the photo that explained that 'Happiness is regular sex and potatoes' and a photo that comments that you 'can't buy happiness but you can buy tea, and that is kind of the same thing'... and yes, there are probably other things too that do constitute happiness or that do contribute towards happiness or that make you happy.  Of course there are, in an ideal world.  But actually; 'good friends and ice-cream', yep, they are probably the two things in life, the two really important things.  Well they are a good starting point, a very good starting point anyway.  For me, I'm really not sure how I'd cope for very long without tea and probably chocolate too - so that is the three main food groups Tea, Ice-Cream, Chocolate.  But for the moment I shall concentrate my thoughts on friends and ice-cream.

Ice-Cream has kind of got 'all fancy' in recent times.  You can buy tubs of really quite exotic flavored ice-cream.  Baskin-Robbins is one of the largest chains and suppliers of 'luxury' ice-cream.  It was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins and the company is known for its '31 flavors' slogan, with the idea that a customer could have a different flavor every day of any month.  The company now boasts that it has developed over 1000 varieties.  Blimey.  And then there is Ben & Jerry's which began in 1978 and of course Haagan Daaz which started in 1921.  All providers of quality indulgent ice-creams of the more extravagant type.


So I thought, now is probably a good time to expand my ice-cream knowledge and sample a few of the wide range of different decadent flavors available.  And indulge - All in the name of research.  And as I am researching ice-cream, I thought best to research it with good friends.  I didn't even have to ask them twice, that is how good friends they are, we juggled the diaries, husbands and children (their husbands and children) a bit, and it was all sorted.  That sort of friendship really is invaluable, it really means a great deal.  That my friends are prepared to support me.

These are my 'Book Group' friends.  We were a 'Cinema Group' but we didn't go to the Cinema.  So, we decided we would change and be a 'Book Group', but to be honest we don't read that many books either.  We read Wine Labels!   We are just a group.  A group of friends.   We might not be a very good group, but we are enthusiastic, and enthusiasm counts for a great deal I think.  We were up for the research challenge.

The ice-cream flavours we had to consider were:

• Haagan Daaz: Praline and Cream
• Ben & Jerry's: Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Greek Style Frozen Yoghurt
• Sainsbury's: Salted Peanut and Caramel
• Sainsbury's: Chocolate Brownie
• Sainsbury's: Cookie Dough

The evening also involved:

• Bailey's Coffee
• 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' DVD
• Terry's Chocolate Orange
• Wine
• Chatting
• Laughing
• Planning Future Meetings

Our conclusions:

We had a jolly lovely evening.

So, all that is left for me to say, is: 'Thank You Ladies'.  Thank You Elise, Vicky, Donna and Lynsay.  What WONDERFUL friends I have.  It has to be acknowledged that right from the outset their commitment to the cause really was admirable.  I think that some future research meetings will absolutely need to be arranged and held.  I really do definitely think we have demonstrated the determination and the commitment, and that we can resolve some of the other important pressing issues of our age.  Such as:

Wine: Red, White or Rose?

Men: Benedict CUMBERBATCH, Tom HIDDLESTONE or Hugh JACKMAN?

But, I think we have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that 'good friends and ice-cream' really are two of the things, two of the things that really do count in life. 

HAPPY

Thursday was 'International Day of Happiness'.  I met the girls for lunch on Thursday, two really lovely girls, and for that moment, sat eating, chatting, laughing, gossiping - I was happy.  I am lucky.  Very lucky.  To have such fabulous friends, who accept me for who I am.  Who love me 'just as I am'.

This made me think.  I had already been thinking about this.  I had been thinking about this quite a lot actually.  What is happy?  When is the last time that I felt happy?  Am I happy?  So, when is the last time that you felt happy?  Are you happy?  What makes us happy?

"Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so?"  This was the thinking of John Stuart MILL (the English Philosopher and Political Economist) who wrote about ideas such as Utilitarianism, Liberty, and Freedom of Speech.  In even asking the question 'are we happy' and analysing the answer, are we questioning our own happiness, and therefore reducing the probability that we actually are happy?  Do I deserve to be happy?  I do ask myself that.  I question that.  I question whether I deserve to be happy?  I question that all of the time.  This probably isn't healthy.  Everyone deserves to be happy.  Don't they?  To find their 'own kind of happy'.  I'm sure that happiness, what it is to be happy, means different things to different people.

And I mean 'Happy'.  Really 'Happy'. As opposed to 'Content'.  As opposed to 'Satisfied'.  As opposed to 'Pleased'. I mean HAPPY.

I think for me, happiness doesn't mean wealth and material possessions or fame or fortune.  For me happiness means loving and being loved.  They say that you can't buy happiness.  This I think is probably true.  I think that it probably true for me, for my kind of happiness.  They say that 'you can't buy happiness, but you can buy tea and that is kind of the same thing'.  There is certainly some truth in that too I think.

So what is it that makes me happy? Perhaps it is true that it is the simple pleasures in life that make us happy, that make me happy.  Bring us the most pleasure and the most happiness.  For me, it is probably a combination of the following things that make me happy. I've drawn up a little list:

♥ Time spent with friends

♥ Laughing / ♥ Talking / ♥ Sharing ideas

♥ Tea / ♥ Chocolate / ♥ Ice-Cream - i.e. the three major food groups

♥ Music

♥ A Good Book

♥ Sunshine

♥ Feeling Warm

♥ Good Health

♥ Benedict CUMBERBATCH

I think that happiness is probably linked to kindness and also linked to well-being; I think that there is probably an inextricable link between the three (Kindness, Happiness, Well-Being) (see my KINDNESS BLOG post from a few weeks ago).

I have MS.  So for me 'Good Health' is always going to be a struggle, so I shall try and concentrate on the other things on my list.  There is also probably a lot of truth in the statement that: "Nobody really cares if you are miserable, so you might as well be happy."  So, find what it is that makes you happy, and don't think too hard or too long about it; but find what it is or find who it is that make you happy, truly makes you happy, and do more of that.

KINDNESS

Kindness is a behaviour which expresses a concern for others, for their well-being and their happiness and which aims to promote the well-being and happiness of others through words and actions.

It doesn't have to take long and it doesn't have to cost much to engage in an act of kindness, to be kind.  Why don't more people do it?  And do it more often? 

Bob KERREY said that, "Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change."  He could be right.  Stephen FRY suggested that "The more in the World you encounter kindness... the better the World always is.   And all the big words - Virtue, Justice, Truth - are dwarfed by the greatness of kindness."

World Kindness Day is held on 13 November.  Random acts of kindness or 'RAK' now has its own week.  This year RAK Week will be held from 10-16.02.14 (next week).  During RAK Week, you are encouraged to go above and beyond to make others feel special.  Everyone likes to be made to feel special, don't they? There are a hundred tiny ways that you can make someone feel valued and appreciated.  A thousand little acts that can make someone feel thought about and cared for.  A million tiny ways that you can make someone feel loved.

Why not try any or all of the following:

♥ Call someone

♥ Send a card or a letter

♥ Visit someone

♥ Take someone to the movies

♥ Make them a cup of tea

♥ Bake them a cake

♥ Give someone a complement (but mean it)

♥ Make someone laugh

♥ Give someone a hug

♥ Smile at someone

Perhaps we should all try to be a little kinder.  To make time to demonstrate kindness.  And be kind to everyone, even to those people who don't deserve it, or who deserve it the least, as it could be true that they are the people who need it most.

I am very lucky.  I am the recipient of much kindness.  There are days when I don't know what I have possibly done to deserve such warmth and generosity and affection from my family and especially from my friends.  But I certainly am grateful for it.  There are days when I am aware that I am taking far more than I am giving; when those two little words 'Thank You' do not even begin to express the level of gratitude that I feel towards those people who show concern, who make me feel cared for, and happy and loved.

I know that not everyone is as fortunate as I am; I have people who are prepared to put my needs and feelings as their priority.  Who are prepared to be kind to me.  I am hugely thankful for this.  But it is important not just to promote the well-being and happiness of others, but to be a bit kinder to yourself, promote your own well being and your own happiness.  Yes, be a bit kinder to yourself.  So, take a hug, find what it is that makes you happy, truly makes you happy, and do more of that.