My Happy Walk

I love to walk!  It doesn’t matter where or when or the temperature outside – I just love to walk.  It makes me happy.  I do gratitude walks almost every day and I start out by proclaiming, out loud, all the things I am grateful for.  When someone approaches, I zip it for a bit so as the neighbors don’t think I’m crazy; but for the most part – I don’t care.  I talk to the flowers, my friends in heaven (whom I believe are actually walking with me), and thank God or the Universe for everything big and small that I have.

So…on my walk today this is what I saw on the front porch of a neighbor.

I just had to take a picture.  I was walking after my heated yoga class (where I am the oldest student by at least 20 years) and we had just finished with Happy Baby pose.   Here was my “Happy Baby.”  How could you not smile when you saw this?  It made me want to go introduce myself to the people living in the house.  If their front porch was this fun – imagine the occupants and the rest of the house!

My favorite place to walk is at the beach.  Just like the waves are part of the vast ocean,  I believe we are a tiny part of God – whomever you believe him or her or it or them to be.  And that makes me happy.

And…that got me thinking about happiness.  Abraham Lincoln said, “Folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”  I heard that as a small child and it made sense to me then, and it still does.

Recently I read a great book that I highly recommend, called Happy for No Reason – 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out by Marci Shimoff.  It was one of those books that had more highlighted sections than my hair!

In Marci’s book, she has a quote that introduces chapter 8 by William Barclay, the twentieth-century Scottish theologian.  “There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.”  The chapter title is “The Roof – Live a Life Inspired by Purpose.”  She says that your purpose is the roof of your Home for Happiness.  When you don’t have a sense of purpose, it’s like having a leaky roof; it can rain unhappiness over every other aspect of your life.

Rain made me think of London and reminded me about the YouTube I watched a couple years ago and still remember.  It makes me giggle to think about it and yet, it was quite profound.  It’s a TEDx talk by the British author, Robert Holden, called The Tea Meditation.

Robert is known for his Happiness Project and he claims “happiness in knowing what you want.”  I think you’ll “get a kick” out of the video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDpoyA1XTys

This “be happy” coaster was a  treasured gift from my dear friend Diane.   Go have a cup of tea and let it be my gift to you!

So what makes you happy for no reason?  Please share your comments.  Thank you!