HAPPY, HAPPY ME

Fittingly, as I walked, the song Beautiful Day by U2 was on my iPod.

I’ve just interviewed author/motivational speaker Janette Philp (Live Laugh Love) and I’m still smiling. Why? Because her mood was infectious and proof that a genuine smile and positive attitude goes a long way. “I’m fabulous,” she said, when I asked her how she was. And she sounded fabulous. Cheerful, upbeat… the kind of person whose energy zaps you into action, be it a smile or a laugh. Unless you’re Scrooge or someone who hides when happy people come your way. I’d rather be zapped with a smile than toxic negativity any day.

We’re not all blessed with sanguine personalities like Janette – I’m more on the phlegmatic, melancholy side – but I know that inside me lurks that happy little me, the family chatterbox. The one who got an award for “always smiling, even during maths” (seriously). The one who was later described as “the most shy person I know, but the sweetest”. Awww… My friends know that I’m not that shy. My family knows I can be quite silly. I feel like responsibility and circumstances have over time dulled that part of me…and I don’t want it to disappear. So far, putting on Do Re Mi never fails to bring out my fun side.

I agree with what Janette told me today: it’s a matter of choosing to look at life differently, to look for possibilities and opportunities, to think before acting and to smile, just because you can. Because life is short.

I can choose to listen to others’ points of view – I might learn something. It’s not always easy to do this because if you’re like me, you’re battling entrenched thought patterns, sleep deprivation and one of life’s biggest enemies – busy-ness. Anyone else have a problem with catastrophic thinking, “shoulds”, approval addiction and so on?  Even if I fail (and I do, often), it’s still a goal I’m actively working towards (the active part means I get a kick up the bum a lot).

I call gerberas “Happy Flowers” – this one is in my garden.

I dropped the kids off at school today and took myself for a walk before starting the rest of the day. Found some exercise equipment, plugged in my earphones and put some time into me…before I use the rest of my time for others. I can’t always do that, but today I seized the moment. Just like a toddler…look at the flowers … look at that fallen log…

I may have looked funny squatting down with my phone to snap a picture of a log, but who cares. It made me happy. I wanted to spend a few moments just looking at flowers, birds, plants and reflections in the creek, smelling the fresh air, listening to the buzzing dragonflies and trickling water, and just enjoying being here and now. It was great!

As I close this, a childhood song is in my head: When someone smiles at me, I feel like smiling too. When someone else is feeling happy, I feel happy too. Happy, happy me. Happy, happy you…