On the topic of happy

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Image by Lisa Congdon

The last two mornings I’ve woken in the crappiest of moods. Poor Lacey has woken to me getting my cranky on, and it ain’t pretty. I’m usually pretty easy going, or at least I like to think so, but not these last two mornings.

I was stressed with money things, I’m sick of juggling a thousand balls and never having time to rest, I’m so tired of not getting any sleep, you know… just stuff. If you’ve ever started the day in a bad mood, you know that it just continues usually. It can snowball and snowball, until it’s a freaking huge avalanche. I could list all the little things that made me cranky {and I started too but deleted them because pathetic}, but you’d probably just roll your eyes and tell me they’re first world problems… but I’ve already told myself that a gazillion times.

I learnt in my early twenties that for me, happiness is a choice. It’s a choice I can make every day. There are always going to be stresses. It’s how life rolls, but I have to be grateful. When I’ve got the cranks I don’t see how good things really are. It’s like living with blinkers on you just fly by and miss the good stuff.

I was sitting in the car after swimming lessons, where I’d kinda let my bad mood marinate and I checked my emails. There was one from Sarah sharing a video that her friends had made. I couldn’t help but smile, and realise that life is good but I’d let a bad mood take over. Today I’m choosing to be happy, or at least freaking happy than I have been these last few days. Sorry everyone in my life.

This video is taken not far from my home by the guys at Rest Your Eyes Production. How cool is it that we live in a place that when you ask people to dance like no one is watching, they do it? That’s pretty cool.

Today is International Happiness Day. I’m gonna get my good mood on.

What mood are you in today? Have you got your happy on?

19 thoughts on “On the topic of happy”

  1. That was great, thank you for sharing it – just what I needed. Happy International Happiness Day from my family to your family across the miles. 🙂 Jude.x

  2. I’m standing on the same soap box today on my blog too! I LOVE that video, it really made me smile! I’ve totes got my happy pants on today. I agree with you, my happiness is my choice, and today (and most other days) I choose to be happy because it’s good for my health.

  3. You know I wrote about this on Monday and had no idea that Happiness day was coming up! I totally agree that happiness is choice and when I get stressed about money, my business, my writing I just think: I have enough money for rent, I have wonderful parents I could move in with at the drop of a hat if the shit REALLY hit the fan, I have the man of dreams (which is HUGE! I do not take for granted the fact that I have a person to share my life with who is kind, fun, funny, intelligent and supports me.), I have great peope in my life and I’m really healthy. Like super healthy. I don’t even have so much as a dicky knee or bad neck. So if I can’t afford a few dinners out for a month… that’s one of the best problems I can have as far as I’m concerned. http://www.smaggle.com/2014/03/17/7-things-happy-people-do/

  4. Feeling very zen today. I can acknowledge the shitty feelings I have (tired, stressed, tired, sore back, resentful, tired lol) but like you I am choosing to focus on the happy and the good. I’m grateful to be alive today!

    And all your problems may be “first world problems” but thats okay because we live in a first world country so list away! 😉

  5. I too have been worrying about money lately. This is the time of year when Xmas credit cards come home to roost and we also get a series of large bills like the car insurance and rego, house insurance etc. It’s a little trying.

    Apparently it’s international happiness day today (2nd annual). I have to admit to being one of those who has no trouble waking up in the morning, but I do have trouble being cheery first thing. ABC News Breakfast has been playing this song (above) this morning and it’s just IMPOSSIBLE to be cranky on hearing it. There’s a version that was taken with a bunch of kids in America and they are adorable. I’m starting to wonder if we should be forced to listen to something cheery and upbeat (Hey Ya!) every day to help put us on the right track for the day.

  6. The naked bike riding is great– I would love to see that! But you would think that would really hurt their tenders!

  7. It’s true — happiness IS a choice. I like to go with the phrase “Act the way you want to feel,” and it works for me…most of the time. So if I act happy, even if I’m not…eventually I really do feel happy. Right now, I’m in a neutral mood…which feels alright.

  8. That is the best, sure to bring a smile 🙂 I so get how a bad morning can be hard to recover from. I usually have to head out for a drive, or get outdoors to change it.

  9. I don’t think happiness is always a choice. I mean, on any normal day, yeah, you can choose to be happy, not let little things bother you. But when you’re experiencing something really horrible in your life, it’s not always possible to choose to be happy. I’m just having a really rough day (miscarrying yet again…on the due date of the last baby I lost) and it’s international happiness day and I’m just not feeling it.

  10. I pick up my old worn out copy of Law of Attraction (the easy to read
    version). Then, I sit down with a coffee flicking and reading through its
    pages. I always find something in this magic book that helps to rid me of ”
    my blues head space,” and re-sets me on the positive road again ,and again and
    again lol

  11. That video is fantastic! And it just reminded me to download the song for my 4-year-old daughter. I am not sure if she has heard it, but she will love it.
    I have had so much on my plate lately happy has been a bit hard some days, and trying to keep from getting frustrated with the little miss because other people aren’t listening to what I am asking. Maybe I will need to listen to Happy again later too!

  12. it is so, so hard to change that mood around once it takes a grip. I find it especially hard with hormones added to the mix of every day life stress and taking over more and more of my life each month as I get older – god, I remember the days, pre-children when I didn’t even know what PMT was! I have found that taking Agnus Castus tablets along with Vit B, Vit D and some St John’s Wort thrown in for good measure is really making the grey days are a lot easier to get through and it helps me work on making ‘happiness’ the better choice.
    And if that doesn’t work, throw on Elbow’s ‘One Day’ song really, really loud!

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