Monday Inspirations - Happiness

Happy Monday everyone! This is officially the FIRST Monday of the year!


First thought of the year: How do you measure happiness?

This past weekend I got to thinking about what makes ME happy and as a few scattered thoughts came and went, I started to jot them down. I then went looking through piles of old post-its with notes of things I wanted/needed/must-have's. This pile is an accumulation of probably 5 years since I was with my previous employer (I've always had the habit of jotting on post-its) I grabbed my new notebook and jotted down all the things that I STILL wanted (i.e. buy a house, buy an investment property, make more time to socialize, give some serious thoughts into getting my master's, travel). Then I read a few that I found I had actually wanted back then and achieved like buy a DSLR camera, a new MAC, a new car, an office chair, a long list of books, many items on my amazon wishlist. Then came a thought: Did any of these newly acquired items make me truly happy? And surprisingly, the answer was a NO. The one thing I NEEDED but didn't account for was having more TIME. Time to learn to use my camera, to read, to go on road trips with my new car, etc, etc.

Isn't it ironic that when we create a list of wants and needs, we often overlook the very basics such as wanting a bike but not wanting that weird knee pain that comes and goes. Wanting to travel but also wanting a travel companion to share this experiences with. Wanting time for personal growth and exploring more of the things that makes YOU happy. As a person. As a whole.

This year I'd like to MAKE THE TIME to incorporate more of the things that can make me HAPPY. Perhaps take a cooking class, or a foreign language, or actually MAKE the time for a book club...

What are some of the things that would make YOU happy?