Hi, i thought I’d share one of my “happiness acquisition strategies”- aka haqs, and that is to intentionally make happy or positive memories.
At first it might seem odd because it’s not something we normally do; usually we simply think back on happy memories. In this strategy you purposely take a moment thats negative or neutral and find something about that situation, place, time, folks, or whatever and make it happy. In other words, reframe it, in that moment.
For me, its more powerful to do that in the moment, not as you’re thinking back. You can reframe old memories but the point is being happy now.
Two quick examples.
Ive been seriously ill for about 3 weeks now and this past sunday I had some significant shortness of breath. So my husband and I went to the ER. Obviously, I was feeling utterly awful.
It was pretty busy and the staff were working hard. Thats when i decided to focus on funny. I started with self-deprecating comments. Soon my husband joined in and we had everyone laughing & saying how funny we are.
I still felt awful, but my memory of the visit isn’t about that, its about laughs.
This morning I walked downstairs and found a torch shining on my wall.
Minecraft of course.
It’s in my livingroom where there’s chaos everywhere. Plushies, hot wheels, pokemon, transformers, Lego, super heroes, and more. I was exasperated. But then I thought about it differently.
Over time the toys will be put in bins. And at some point my 10yo will stop pulling them out, just as our 25yo did. For a couple of years between them, we had a clean floor.
BTW, Lego-free rugs are amazing.
We only have a few more years of this stage, and honestly, we want to shovel up at least half of the toys right now.
But I have to laugh at it all. My quirky boys, our cute neurotic dog, the chaos, and everything else.
I don’t mind the strange torch. It makes me smile.
Plus I know that come Christmas, I’m totally hanging a wreath on it.
#teamjoy
