Hello, Happy

After hoarding my vacation days this year, I giddily took today off. It was shaping up to be a perfect lazy day as I alternated between napping, reading, repeatedly playing the same song over and over (sorry, Upstairs Neighbor!), and wondering why I was getting such a kick out of the morning sunshine tumbling through my curtains. Honestly, it was perfectly, relentlessly relaxing--so relentless that panic set in. Why am I wasting an entire day by doing nothing? Frantic, I called up A in hopes of convincing a friend to Do Something Productive with me on my day off.

Poor A had a tough time reminding me that I'm the one who always laments that do-nothing days are rare enough to be considered an endangered species. I acquiesced. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had a faint recollection of this oft-repeated complaint. And yet I couldn't help but fret some more. Then I realized the problem wasn't how much I really did luxuriate in do-nothing days but in the difficulty of quantifying them afterwards to everyone else. To me it was that deer-in-the-headlights moment that overtook me after summer vacation and I'd cracked out the Crayolas to draw just one picture that captures two months of Adventures. Except instead of Adventures, all I could think about was the time I begged out of jumping into the day camp's grimy swimming pool and snuck off to find a bit of quiet and finish The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

All of which got A and I thinking about all the small things that made us happy but seemed insignificant in the Grand Scheme of Things. Brilliant A let me in on a little secret: she'd recently read that it took 21 days to form a habit and so for 21 days she was going to actively think positively to trick her brain into being even more grateful and happy than it already was.

Would I like to join her on this endeavor? Of course!

Then the brain cogs started spinning even more furiously: what would happen if we made a point to acknowledge at least one thing that made us happy for an entire year? If 21 days could start a habit, what would 365 days do? So for every day from Thanksgiving 2010 to Thanksgiving 2011, we'll share with you our Simple Happy moments. Of course, we'd also love to hear about your Simple Happy moments at simplehappythisyear@gmail.com.

Though it isn't Thanksgiving yet, here's a preview of our Simple Happy year to come: this video cracks me up no matter how many times I watch it. I'll admit it--I'm just as uncoordinated as that pup so I love watching him try.