I know sometimes life can get you down and sometimes you dwell on unhappy thoughts - but you need to stop that. Being unhappy can make you sick and not much fun to be around. And who really enjoys being unhappy -- don't we want to be happy? Don't we want to laugh and enjoy life?
I discovered that I naturally practice one of the ways of re-creating happiness. I was reading chapter 10 in 10 Mindful Minutes, and Goldie suggests "memory building". According to Goldie, "each time we look at them [photos], we experience the happiness we first knew."
One of the first things I did when I bought my MAC was to upload as many vacation photos as I could. My screen saver rotates through my photos when I'm inactive. I love reliving the happiness as each photo pops up. It also strengthens my memory since I have to recall when, where, what and who in the one second the photo was taken and to do this quickly before the next photo pops up. My vacations are if they took place just minutes ago.
I love to travel and I find I am happiest when I'm off enjoying life without a thought of work in my mind and only a schedule guideline to dictate my day. By capturing my happiness in a photo, I ensure that I will remember it forever and can re-create it whenever I want to.
I haven't skied for years (not since I discovered Europe as my go-to place), but one of my happiest vacations took place at The Canyons, UT. It was a family trip plus one (Josh brought a friend) and our boys were grown. One reason this vacation was a happy one, was I saw my sons happy. They really enjoyed snowboarding and I was pretty impressed at how good they were. On one run I remember Zack passing me at the speed of light!
(The photo was taken at the base of one of the mountains at the end of the day. Zack, me, Jimmy, Josh, and Matt (Josh's friend).
Let me know how you re-create happiness. I'll have several more posts on this topic in the coming days.
Be happy and pass it around!
I like this post! I actually had a conversation with someone about the importance of photographs and when they asked me "Why do I need a photograph, I have the memory?" This would have been the perfect answer to have had on hand!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that I spend much time re-creating happiness, but I have had to work hard to break cycles of downness. For me, I have 2 main fixes. 1) I change my scenery, even if it's as simple as getting up off the couch and sitting on the patio for a little bit, just breaking my mindset allows me to re focus. 2) Exercise. I like to get up and move. A run, tennis, walking the dog. Any of these activities make me feel phsycially better and give me such a great sense of accomplishment that I can usually harness to overcome any negativity.