Things to Be Happy About
2023 12 06 | journal
| I can't remember when I started keeping this list - maybe about a decade ago? It migrated to a notebook that started falling apart, then to a much nicer notebook that hasn't fallen apart yet. It's grow by leaps over the years, as I've added things to it as they came to me - things and people and lyrics and happenings and quotations and all manner of what brings a person joy. There's only one rule: no negatives. Nothing can be phrased in terms of something unpleasant. If it can't be said nicely, it doesn't go in the book. |
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- a good cup of tea
- anticipation
- knowing that you are heard
- weekends
- the patterns made on walls and pavement by the shadows of leaves in the sun
- road trips
- a good night's sleep
- the company of friends
- Lego
- real maple syrup on your pancakes
- finishing things up
- starting new things
- clean windows
- warm sand
- October skies
- tulips
- good lighting
- hope
- marathons of your favourite TV shows
- the patterns on a turtle's shell
- finger painting
- floating in water
- labyrinths and mazes
- puzzles
- taking pictures
- ragtime
- postcards
- boxer shorts
- corn chips
- imaginary friends
- crunchy peanut butter
- clean hair
- being able to touch the people you like
- crop circles
- reading to people
- being read to
- the smell of fresh lemons
- the little pop when you bite into fresh peas
- walking barefoot in the grass
- cream cheese
- the silence of the world just after a nighttime snowfall
- pine cones
- spaghetti and meat sauce
- the vibrations of instruments with strings
- smooth beach pebbles and glass
- big floppy hats
- home
- lightning flashes
- clean hands
- the sound of tires on wet streets
- a shoulder to lay your head on
- "And it's only the giving that makes you what you are" - Jethro Tull
- lime green
- getting tipsy with good friends
- petting a cat
- a comfortable pair of jeans
- walking the city late at night
- being trusted
- colourful band aids
- jazz and blues at 3 a.m.
- odd earrings
- Ma
- coloured glass
- truths
- gogo boots
- the shade of a large tree
- swimming pools at night lit only by floating candles
- the sound of a bouncing basketball
- the crack of a bat against a baseball
- wrapping presents
- the small of onions cooking
- a farmer's market
- playing with clay
- climbing trees
- deserts and other desolate places
- squishing the filling out of a doughnut
- clean teeth
- standing in the shower thinking
- borscht
- freshly made bed
- a single flower as a gift
- phyllotaxis
- the freakiness of the dreams you have during naps or a fever
- silver jewellery
- having someone to take care of you when you need tending
- singing along
- the weight of a string of pearls
- going through the Tai Chi set
- Cary Grant's delivery in "North by Northwest"
- travelling by train
- yellow highlighters
- notebooks to write in
- book lights
- Stompin' Tom
- listening to baseball on the radio
- old train stations
- the grey silence of dawn before the birds sing
- puns
- joie de vivre
- bald heads
- making mixed tapes/CDs for people
- Moody Blues at night or morning
- gladiolus
- walking barefoot through a downpour
- whistling tunes
- faffing about
- sitting in the park
- noble acts
- dancing with abandon
- the way music echoes around a foggy dawn
- a juicy, sweet navel orange
- feeling so unfettered that you are young again
- whispering
- coffee with lots of cream and sugar
- being foolish
- peppermint-flavoured candy
- mushrooms
- "I swear I can hear the sea." - James
- spending silences together
- melted cheese
- looking at things reflected in water
- kodo drumming
- St. Alban's Cathedral
- cheering for the home team
- the laughter when I realised, after being told about it, that you really can hear the trains when watching Mariners games
- dictionaries
- construction paper
- text messages for no reason
- leaf-scuffing
- the Belfast accent
- kitchen parties
- "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp"
- the old plaza area between the Art Gallery and Hamilton Place
- wearing hats
- being philosophical
- when my feet touch Cape Breton soil
- the meditative contentment of Gregorian chant
- getting your passport stamped
- subways
- being able to see myself in my grandmother's face
- the smell of springtime
- making summat out of nowt
- when you can attach someone to a piece of music that is important to you
- books
- limericks
- the surprise upon realising that someone really does understand it
- Spirogaphs
- playing word games
- old Bond films
- fans on a hot summer day
- cultural festivals
- knowing the chemicals that cause the colours of fireworks, and not having that knowledge dampen the prettiness
- the microfibre cloths I clean my glasses with
- green tea cologne
- interconnectedness
- blowing bubbles
- smoke rings
- campfire cooking
- collage
- little things
- grand gestures
- standing in defense of another
- sitting on rooftops
- clothing that doesn't need ironing
- when shared mundanities are not dull
- sporks
- burnt marshmallows
- rare steak
- ziggurats and pyramids
- the relentless yet sustaining nature of the sea
- celebrating birthdays
- that I was so overwhelmed when I saw the " ode to Joy" performed live for the first time, that I cried from start to end
- curling into a comfy position, closing one's eyes, and listening to someone talk
- dollar stores and junk shops
- shared joy
- finding the Lemonade Ladies at the park
- happy face stickers
- the right turn of phrase
- Key Lime pie
- my lightbulb shaped lamp
- the smell of the ocean
- a snuggly comforter
- "As you wish."
- watching raindrops tickling down window glass
- falling into the deep, soft snow
- nephelococcugia
- music of fiddle, penny whistle, and drum
- mixing paints on a palette
- decency
- the pliability of the English language
- visiting your first school after 30 years
- comfortable habits
- when you realise the signifance you have in the lives of others and are humbled by it
- the humourous results of badly translated Kung Fu film dialogue
- mathematical constructs
- strange loops
- that things can still touch me and I can still be undone
- the unexpected shapes one finds in rocks when they are viewed from certain angles
- "In love, fear, hate and tears, sit down next to me." - James
- buttons