Are you looking?

Good days and happiness are everywhere around you.  They are not, however, going to spring out of a cake when you most need them to (most of the time).

Good days and happiness need to be coaxed out sometimes.  They need to be hunted like some wascally wabbit.

So, ask yourself, "How am I looking for happiness?"
Ask yourself, "Where am I looking for happiness?"

I'm not going to tell you that making or having a good day is inside you.  It won't always be there.  Further, it may not be with your family or with your friends either.

Your happiness may be in some random act of a stranger or it may be on a walk in the park.  It may be on a billboard or on a web page.

But if you aren't looking for happiness I guarantee that you will not find it.

If you are trying to lose weight and you are looking in the all-you-can eat buffet and not at the gym . . you are not going to lose the weight.
If you are looking to cut back on drinking, the beer aisle at the grocery isn't going to be the place to be.

Look for happiness if you want to be happy.

Look for good days to have good days.

Special needs

Last week, a very special girl got a very special gift from some very special ladies.  Take a moment and go read her story and then come back here.  I'll wait.

Emily Gras: Muses Shows True Carnival Spirit To Bullied Girl

Back?  Good.

Parents of special needs children are amazing people.  The amount of love and energy they expend is awe inspiring.  I can only hope that I could do what they do; day in and day out.

The thing though, is that we all have special needs.  We all have our special needs and we all know someone that have theirs.

Today is a good day for thinking about your own needs are and letting someone know.  Giving them enough knowledge to lift you up when you need it.
Even more though, today is a good day for finding out the special need of someone you know, or even a "consequential stranger" like the cashier or teacher,and fill that need.

For extra karma, or blessings or what-have-you, find a friend that has a real special needs child and find some way to do a kindness. Everyone wins again.  Make today a special day.

Virginia Saussy/ Muses

“Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour.” 
― Walt Whitman

Light

Don't live in darkness.
Choose to see the light.
Choose to BE the light.
Make today a good day.

New things

New things make me happy.

Sharpening a pencil for the first time.
Cleaning a counter off before cooking.
Shoveling snow that has not been tracked through.
Mornings.
First days of work (for me or others).
New notebooks.
A new operating system on my computer.
A box of crayons and a coloring book that has not been colored in.
A hardback book, fresh from the book-store.
Babies.
Packages on my doorstep (and even envelopes in my mail box).

New things can be wonderful and they can remind us that every day is new and that we only have so much time with the day before it's old. . and gone.

Take some time to look at the new around you.  Really pay attention to everything that's available.  It will become easier over time and it will make your days better.  It will make today a good day.

Rituals help.

Finding things that make you happy isn't always easy. And when being happy is hard for you, it's even harder to spread the joy around to other people and help make today a good day for them.

Rituals can make the process easier. 

Find something that makes a day better and do it everyday. Your ritual can be something you do, or something your eat, or something you think.  It just has to be yours, it has to be repeatable, and it has to make you happy.

If you don't have a happy ritual yet make one today.  Pick something you are going to do and do it with a purpose; do it with the goal of making today better. If you have coffee in the morning or walk the dog, that could be your happiness ritual.

Nike had the right idea, "just do it".  Doing it on purpose makes it better.  It makes today better.  It helps make today a good day. 

 Photo via Plinkk via Flickr Creative Commons

Don't delay the happy.

Some things are worth waiting for;  although true love is all I can think of right now . . and even then, "mostly true love" can usually get you through the night and might become true love.

Being happy though? You should do that right away.  You should take what you have in your life right now and be happy about it.  It doesn't have to be AMAZING happy either.  It can be small happys.

The important thing is not to create an attitude of "something in the future is going to make me happy."  That future may never come or that thing you need to be happy may never happen.  Perhaps it won't live up to your expectations.

Find something today, right now, that you can be happy about.  Think nearer term and make that happiness happen.

Make today a good day . . starting now.