happiness

The art of happiness

| Ester

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This morning I was snoozing a little on the couch, watching my dog next to me chewing her bone. I got so much joy and happiness out of those blissful five minutes that it gave me serenity and acceptance of the fact that I was actually tired.

Over the past year, I have been discovering that for me, happiness is about being home, drinking my coffee, reading, petting my dog and extracting joy from small things.

To me, it’s not the things I buy, not the travels I make, although I sometimes convince myself it is.

So here’s an hommage to all the common little things that make me happy and feeling blessed beyond words.

Coffee

Decaf or caf, always a comforting companion to my morning, with lots of hot milk!

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Kiara, my chihuahua

Just watching her sit, lie, chew, wash herself or lose herself in enthusiasm over our daily reunions makes my heart feel lifted.

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Enjoying lovely food

Nothing beats lovingly made food: my husband’s lasagne or apple pie, a beautiful warm handmade croissant with jam, homemade cinnamon raisin cake or enjoying the juicy goodness of freshly sliced citrus fruits.

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A smile a day keeps the doctor away

Try it: smile and greet your bus driver, mailman or other people you meet. Listen, pay attention, send a birthday card. When I give small things to people it always brightens my day.

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Nature

Leaves, flowers, stone or shell,

The turning of seasons, touch, hear, see or smell.

Be still and make sure to enjoy them as well.

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Reading

British poetry about birds, a biographic novel about Vaslav Nijinsky, an inspiring blog post about writing, they can be a touch of inspiration for my day. Especially when enjoyed in my favorite comfy Ikea Poang chair with a cup of hot brew.

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What are some of the common things that make you happy?

Share them with me if you like via the comments below

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love and peace,
Ester
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Zen bathing ‘lush-iousness’

| Ester

The mountain has been moved!! Cause we have!
Now living in a wonderful spacious home, I get so inspired to live my new uncluttered, simple, happy and grateful life.
I know material things don’t make me happy, but it’s the seeming absence of them that makes me so.
The next weeks I will take you through the ‘zenifying‘ process (if I may use or abuse that term respectfully) of my home sweet home.

The first tip I want to share with you is how I went from being an exhausted house-mover, box-unpacker, mess-organiser to a content, mindful, rested and reasonably sane individual.
Here are the 2 key ingredients:

#1
After hitting my toe against a box, being grumpy to my dear hubbie and being crazy with exhaustion, I ran a tub full of water, stepped in, popped a Lush Bath Ballistic in it and bathed (what a luxury to even have a tub at all!!)
I even did some breathing meditation…
But!… It was no ordinary bath ball! It was the Big Blue:
Read with me and shiver with pleasure and ‘zen-ness’.

Lemon, lavender and seaweed for clear thoughts. Have you ever hankered for a minimalist space with plain walls, wooden floors, no mess, no clutter and no distractions? Escape into a world of pure, uncluttered thought by dropping a Big Blue into the bath. Lemon and lavender oils help to clear your mind, complete with skin-softening seaweed and sea salt to help you float away in your own warm, blue ocean of inspiration. (Lush)

Aaaahhh, only reading these promises beforehand made my sorry mind calmer already.

#2
Sleep

Do try this at home and tell me what you think of it!
Do you have any more ‘zen’ bathing tips?

Drop me a line in the comment section or tweet me.

Create your own happiness project

| Ester

People, I have such an exciting book I want to tell you about!

It’s called: the Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin.

The author decided she’d turn becoming a happier person into a practical project: a Happiness Project.
For one year she tried out all kinds of resolutions to become happier, like: keeping a one-sentence journal, reading Aristotle, having more fun, reading kidlit, starting a blog, keeping a gratitude journal, behaving more kindly, cleaning out her closets, fighting right and singing in the morning.

She focused on one area per month e.g. fun, energy, marriage, parenthood, money.
At the end of the year she wrote the account of her journey and shared what she’d learned.

It is an immensely inspiring book and I encourage you all to go pick up a copy of it at

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061583251?ie=UTF8&tag=thehappproj-20&linkCode=as2

or if you’re English or Dutch you can order via http://www.amazon.co.uk/Happiness-Project-Morning-Aristotle-Generally/dp/0061583251/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262888882&sr=1-1

If you’re in a motivational slump, stuck in a rut, need some encouragement and ideas to generally have more fun and need some information for the pursuit of more happiness in your life, it’ll bring you great joy reading it, or listening to it as an audiobook as I’m doing (you can purchase it through the Itunes store).
Along with the book she created a blog and a free happiness toolbox.

Now what can I use the happiness toolbox for?

  • To create y our own resolutions chart to check off every day. You can check mine at http://www.happinessprojecttoolbox.com/toolbox/user/E5ter.html?type=RESOLUTION You can post your chart either privately or publicly. If you go public like I did, you’ll also be able to inspire others.
  • To create an inspiration board by assembling inspirational quotes and pics
  • To create a one sentence journal about e.g. gratitude, your baby’s first year or your progress on your resolutions.

I wish you a very happy day and let me know if you’re going to start your own Happiness Project.

Here’s the link to Gretchen’s blog:

http://www.happiness-project.com/