The Best Things...

The older I get, the smaller the things are that make me insanely happy. Did you ever wonder why your Grandmother treasured that crappy craft you made in the seventh grade, along with all the other crappy crafts that were just like it? Why did she hang on to each and every birthday/holiday card, even the ones just signed "Love, ___"? (enter name) I'm sure it wasn't because she thought they'd be worth something some day, or even for the fact that her grandchild made it...more so, it was probably the feeling it gave her to receive it from you. The sheer joy she felt from simply being thought of. Grandmas know to take those moments and tuck them away...(crappy crafts & cards just serve to spark the memory! ;) When we're young children, we need nothing but the true basics to make us happy....food, water, shelter & love. Then we become socialized and all of a sudden there are wants. The "keeping up with The Joneses" syndrome starts early and we place a lot of our self worth on what things we have. Mind you, nothing is wrong with wants. It just takes up a lot of space in our heads to think about them constantly! We believe that a new car, cute outfit or the latest cool cell phone can make us happy, and they CAN...for a minute anyway...ok maybe even a few months! Then the excitement wanes and we want our next "fix". Our grandparents and their counterparts have been through this cycle enough times to know it's like a copy of US Weekly...fun but flaky. So where do we find dependable, steady happiness? Prozac? Hawaii? (yes, Mahalo! ;) Seriously though, studies have shown that the defining trait of a happy person is their ability to notice, and appreciate, the small blessings that each day brings...most of which are largely taken for granted by the general population. (although most people in their golden years seem to understand the value of this) Call it corny, but look at your own experience and tell me if that doesn't ring true. Some of the best days are the days that nothing in particular happens at all...you notice the warm sun beaming through your kitchen window, or you get 5 extra minutes to sleep in. For me it is listening to my sleeping children breathe, and watching their eyelids flutter as they dream. It's having a friendly, smiling barista at the coffee shop, or hearing an old favorite song play on the radio. I stop to give a mental "thank-you" to the powers that be for my tiny but day-brightening gift. Years ago, I probably would have been too busy and frazzled to even notice these things as a big deal, but today they trump anything else going on around me. Yes, I still get frazzled (very) and I still have the mentality sometimes that a bigger house, nicer shoes or a new couch will change my life, but I know that one day I'll come to my senses and see that "the best things in life....aren't things" at all.