Spreading Happiness

The lovely Karen Walrond of c h o o k o o l o n k s posted this question on her blog today: 

"what's making you happy, right here, right now?"

Her question grew out of a recent Harvard study she heard about on the radio, which showed that happiness is contagious.  According to the study, if you are happy, your friends living nearby are 25% more likely to be happy as well, and your neighbors have a 30% higher chance of being happy!

That makes sense to me.  I mean, we're all attracted to people who are vibrant and happy, or have other qualities that make us feel good -- people who are soulful, generous, kind, or have a wicked sense of humor -- precisely because they make us feel good.  That's why I read Karen's blog everyday.  Her photos and accompanying notes are filled with love and grace and happiness and just plain ole goodness (if that's not a word, it should be).  And that little bit of goodness stays with me, if not for the entire day, at least for a nice part of it.  On top of that, because she's a dedicated daily blogger, I look forward to an extra chunk of goodness every morning when I go online.  I mean, if that's not contagious happiness, I don't know what is!

So, to answer Karen's question, what's making me happy at this very moment is a giant mug of spicy orange herb tea with sweet honey to ease my stuffy head and soothe my scratchy throat, and the 10 minutes with my door closed to post this message.  (Not exactly ecstatic happiness, but you gotta appreciate each moment for what it offers!) 

What's been making me happy more generally lately has been the great home life the Rockstar and I have been building.  Its made us really happy to work on our physical house, updating all the things a house built in 1928 needs updated, decorating with love, and simplifying our possessions (well, that's sort of an ongoing process).  We've also been working happily on our spiritual or emotional house.  That means pursuing our passions and hobbies, and making sure we always have alone time to spend with each other.  For me in particular, happiness has been cooking up a storm and sharing meals with friends and family.  Nothing feels more homey and satisfying to me at the moment than having a good group of people around a table, feeding them a (hopefully) delicious meal, and sharing stories and laughs.  I'm REALLY looking forward to sharing some meals with my two wonderful brothers and my equally wonderful sister-in-law over the holidays, since we only get to see them a few times a year!  I can't wait to give them all huge hugs and to get the catching-up going... its going to be a great time. 

So what's making you happy right here, right now?

Comments

[shanzie]

it makes me happy that i got a shout-out in this post! whoo hooo! the thought of enjoying your awesome cooking is making me pretty stinkin' happy. and i'm happy to have that some motivation to work out... gotta burn some calories for all the eating and drinking thats ahead :)

[Kate]

I am happy that I live close enough to work to not have to deal with too much bad traffic in today's "snow event" (apparently it's not big enough to be called a "snow storm" by the local meteorologists). Regardless, one or two flakes of snow on the ground are enough to make everyone drive like nuts, so my brief drive puts a smile on my face right now. Oh, and I'm also happy to know someone who lives very far away from me and who I've never met, but I consider a good friend. :)

[Marie]

Aw, thank you, Kate and Shanzie!