Obsessions

I haven't posted in a few days because I've been very busy with the latest thing to make me happy - Breaking Bad. I just finished the whole thing the other day, and now I'm starting over from the beginning. I love it when I get an obsession going.

I went out for a meal with my family last night for my dad's birthday, which also made me happy, and I'm going to write a good review on Trip Advisor for the restaurant because they totally deserve it - the food and staff were all awesome. And giving praise where it's deserved makes me happy, too. As does thanking people for little, simple things.

Thinking about obsessions and fandoms, I think they're really important because they're a source of happiness that takes you out of real life for a while and helps you focus on things that are awesome instead of things that aren't so good.

ERMEHGERD Professor Green retweeted me!

Happy happy happy happy!!

I dunno why we get so excited when celebrities retweet us... But to hell with analysing it, Professor Green retweeted me! Though I probably should have watched this match, seems to have been one of the best matches of the world cup so far... and I took my eyes off the screen for like ten minutes and all of a sudden it went from 6 - 0 to 7- 0 for Germany. Exciting evening! :D

The Happy Google Bell

It might sound silly or girly or childish but I love inanimate objects or animals with smiley faces on them. Like immensely happy cartoons or household objects that look like they're smiling. So one of my favourite things at work is the happy Google notifications bell. If you click the little bell on the top right hand corner of Gmail, or AdWords, or other Google sites, it shows you your notifications and if you don't have any notifications there's a happy bell:

He's so happy, right? But THEN, only recently, I accidentally clicked the bell. And that made me even more excited, because when you click Mr Bell, he smiles even more and does a little wiggly dance:

Look how happy he is!! Definitely worth breaking my "one exclamation mark only" rule. And that's why at least once a day I go ahead and click the little bell of happiness, because he makes me all gooey inside.

The Happiness Project

While I was on holiday I read a book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. The author dedicated each month of a whole year to improving something specific about her life in order to make herself happier and more appreciative of her life. It's a really interesting book, and she has a blog and a website as well. The website has tools and information for anyone who wants to try anything similar, and it's a pretty inspiring and interesting book so it's not surprising that after reading it people want to give it a go themselves! On The Happiness Project website, there's ideas for goals and resolutions and changes you can aim for. I might even try doing my own happiness project, and if I do, I'll keep this blog updated with it!

Being a blank slate - find new experiences!

The other day I saw a man riding down my street on a horse. Which is pretty unusual. A nearby dog being walked with its owner also seemed to think it was pretty unusual, as he/she was barking and scampering about. As we walked by, the dog's owner said "she's never seen a horse before!"

How perplexed/excited/interested/amazed must that dog have been, to be seeing a different animal for the first time? It must be the same as what it's like for babies learning new things and meeting different stuff - being a completely blank slate!

Wouldn't it be great if we could all be like that, even as adults? To find something every so often that we've never seen before, done before or been to before? How exciting life could be if we only looked a little harder for those new and exciting experiences!

Happy birthday Shakespeare!

It's Shakespeare's 450th birthday today, or rather, it would be. So, what can we learn from Shakespeare about happiness? Well, he wrote more comedies than tragedies, and he had a lot to say about happiness - there are some quotes below - I'm not entirely sure what the first one means, so make of that one what you will:

"It is no mean happiness therefore to be seated in the mean."
- The Merchant of Venice

"Oh! how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes."
- As You Like It

"When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions."
- Hamlet

Happy Easter!

I have never seen anyone as excited about food as my partner was today about the roast dinner we had. Happy Easter and happy eating, everyone!

A full calendar

Isn't it funny how there's always something to look forward to? Easter chocolate is in the shops from New Year's Day, after easter everything's geared towards summer, then as soon as summer's over it's all about Christmas. I could just say well that's commercialism for you, but why not just say there's always something to look forward to instead?

Tuesday Treats

Tuesdays do nothing for me. It's always seemed to me that every other day of the week has something going for it - Monday is the first day of the week, so it's generally sucky (at least the thought of it is - the day itself isn't really all that bad...right?). Wednesday (aka hump day) is halfway there, Thursday is nearly there plus I go out with friends and family every Thursday evening. Friday is the last day of the week so it's awesome and I can stay up later. Saturday and Sunday mean having a lie in, so what's not to like there? Tuesday doesn't really have anything like that to define it with. So I'm starting Tuesday Treats.

And for my first Tuesday treat, I have something I've loved forever, and something I've started to love recently - Easter eggs and orange truffle Baileys.

I love Easter eggs. I have recurring dreams about them. I usually dream that I'm in a shop (last time it was Claire's Accessories, which makes no sense, but then dreams never do) and it was after Easter, maybe a few days after. The shop sold loads of Easter eggs and they were all reduced since it was after the event. It's always awesome. Then I wake up and it's October or something and I'm pretty disappointed.

But aside from that, there is nothing I love more in a supermarket than when they have shelves full of Easter eggs all perfectly lined up side by side. I would insert an image here to demonstrate but I can't see one on the net that suitably shows the magnificence of rows and rows and rows of perfectly aligned boxes of chocolatey amazingness. So here's a picture of my #tuesdaytreats. Can't wait to enjoy them!

Look up at the sky

Today is Look Up At The Sky Day. I don't know why, but it us. You know, how every day is a special (sort of) day, like *insert disease here* awareness day, national poetry day, etc? Tomorrow is something to do with not wearing any shoes, which is definitely something I'd be up for!

I did look up at the sky today, mostly because it was a really nice sunny day, and when I stepped outside my front door in the evening the sun was setting, the sky was bright pink and it looked amazing. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a picture of it, but it was definitely something to be in the moment and appreciate.

How much do we need?

I was idly wondering earlier if I would be able to live off a part time salary. I didn't think particularly deeply about it - it was a fleeting thought, but it gave way to another thought - how much do we need?

I mean, if we have enough money for a home, food, a car if we don't live close enough to walk where we need to go - do we need any money after that? Do we need all the stuff we buy ourselves? If we see something we like in the shop but we don't buy it for ourselves, is our life really affected by that, or have we forgotten about it by the next day? How much do our possessions really matter, and how much "stuff" do we need to be happy? So many questions to ask ourselves!

Minions make me happy

This is what makes me happy!

Also, "Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof" is such a cool line.

Wherein I ramble about happiness and anger in music

Sometimes I worry that my favourite singers are getting too happy. Like when Professor Green got married last year, I had a fleeting panic that he was really happy and because of that he wouldn't write and perform good songs anymore. Which is a bit silly, because getting married doesn't mean that nothing is ever going to annoy, anger or upset a person ever again.

While my fears were most likely unfounded, it does make me think about how sad or angry songs seem to be the best, at least in my opinion. As someone who loves rock music, particularly of the heavy variety (my three favourite bands are Slipknot, Alkaline Trio and 30 Seconds To Mars), I much prefer songs I can relate to, and if I can't relate to them they have to be saying something meaningful at least, and if they aren't particularly meaningful they have to sound hella good for me to be interested. So if bands aren't feeling angsty, they're not going to be writing and performing angsty songs, and that's the kind of thing I love and can relate to best.

But why? It's not like I'm angsty all of the time, but this train of thought is making me think about how anger and upset in music (or books, or art) is so very relateable, but happier stuff isn't quite so much. I mean, if I'm angry then I can relate to angry music so well, and that connection feels amazing. But if I'm happy and I'm listening to something happy, I don't feel that same connection to the music, even though I can relate to it because I do feel that way.

I dunno. It just seems to me that artists do their best work when they're angsty, and I enjoy unhappy songs more than happy songs, even when I am happy. I do wonder if other people get concerned about bands getting too happy to write good stuff, but hey, nobody is happy all the time. I just find it interesting how much I love all this angry, unhappy stuff even when I'm perfectly happy!

How Bhutan Measures Happiness

We all know the saying money can't buy happiness, and I'd say for certain that happiness is more important than money. That's why I find the kingdom of Bhutan quite interesting.

Forget GNP/Gross National Product, there's something more important that the people of Bhutan measure, and that's GNH - Gross National Happiness.

Bhutan has measured GNH since 1972 to determine the quality of life of its people, and it's the only country in the world to do so.  These are the factors they look at to work out their gross national happiness:

1. Economic wellness - things like consumer debt and average income
2. Environmental wellness such as pollution, noise and traffic
3. Physical wellness - from statistics of things like severe illnesses
4. Mental wellness such as the use of anti-depressants or how many people are being treated for mental issues
5. Workplace wellness - how many people are unemployed, and the amount of work complaints
6. Social wellness - things like divorce rates, safety, crime rates and lawsuits
7. Political wellness - local democracy and foreign conflicts

I'm not sure how much of an indicator this really is as to people's individual happiness, but I think the concept is a good one, because a leader of a country should want the people of the country to be happy, and if I ran a country that would be more important to me than having loads of money. But then I'm not the queen or prime minister, which is probably a good thing! I just think if a country is happy, then that country is very rich indeed.