While this is in no way a political post, I will say that all of the turmoil in our country over the last several months has got me thinking about happiness quite a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I have a side and I don’t have a problem talking all about it in other forums. But talking about my political frustrations does not make me happy, so I will not lay that on you here.

I generally consider myself to be a happy person, but for some folks like me, being happy takes work. Many of us get so bogged down in the day-to-day, we cannot always identify the fleeting bits of happiness as they rush by. I am at a place in my life where I want to live more intentionally every day and start bringing more of what brings me joy into my every day existence. For my first ever blog post (what???), I’ve decided to put together a list of things that make me happy. When I first sat down to make my list, I was unsure of what to write and stared at a blank page for several minutes. After I came up with a couple of items, the juices started flowing and I couldn’t stop. I realized that I find so much joy in the little things, I will have to share them in more than one post so as not to overwhelm my readers (i.e. my mother). So in no particular order, here is my list:

• Hearing my kids giggle
• The color yellow
• The smell of freshly baked anything
• Going to the beach
• Dancing (especially my own manic style of dance when I’m alone in my living room)
• Sticking my wet head out a car window for a “blow dry”
• Coloring
• Saving money
• Taking photos
• Hula hoops
• Reaching goals or overcoming obstacles I once thought impossible
• Making or at least attempting to make my own beauty and cleaning products
• Helping others
• Old people with stories to tell
• Marching to the beat of my own drum

What makes your heart scream with joy? Pick one thing and commit to working it into your busy schedule this week. Have a few days off or lacking a full-time gig these days? Awesome. You can bring more happy into your life this week. I think I’ll go dance like no one is watching while wearing yellow and waiting for my muffins to bake.