Today’s Catch: 6

I managed to identify | recognize | be mindful for six different happy-making things today.

1 | Take my word for it: having a day off can really go a long way toward bagging some happy. I got to wake up gradually, instead of stumbling out of bed muzzy and confused, anxious about what the day would bring.

2 | In another attempt at happiness, I helped someone today. There’s a Chinese proverb that says, “the scent of a rose will always stay on the hand of the giver.” Helping someone is said to be one of the pathways to happiness. In Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project, her “Second Splendid Truth” states that, “One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.”  

My mom needed some help with some planting, so my husband and I went over and created a new bed, and added hostas to an established bed. The flies were biting, I had sweat running down into my eyes and off my nose into the hosta holes, most certainly boosting their chances of success a millionfold. Although the circumstances of the work were less than ideal it looked pretty good when we were finished, and it made my mom really happy.

3 | Later, ran into some wildlife lols (wildlols?). Out in my backyard (which looks like it belongs in Narnia), I saw three squirrels…wait for it…squirreling around. They were jumping over each other in a fluid, flash-fast game of leap frog (leap squirrel?). One was white and the other two were gray. The coolness of it had me smiling.

When I was little, I loved squirrels, which I called “skooers.” They were regular features in our family argot: “You kids quit squirreling around,” or my parents would call my sister and I “squirrel bait.” It took me way longer than it should have to realize that they were saying we were nuts. Well played, Mom and Dad…well played.

4 | My friend’s biopsy came back NEGATOR! Suck it, cancer!

5 | Me and my cat, Wally, chillin’ on the couch with a book.

6 | I made someone laugh today who REALLY needed it.

 

P.S. Doing this at the end of the day might be one of the Best Ideas I’ve Had EVER.