Ready Set Done – #100 Happy Days

I first wrote this on 28 May 2014……..  am re-blogging this here today.

Today I have a small story to tell……so here goes….. 

 A self-confessed  internet junkie, I was randomly browsing when I came across this site which challenged us to be happy for 100 days at a stretch. It also came with a statutory warning  that as many as 71% of the people who took up this challenge failed to complete it, citing lack of time. Life  is stressful at times and at that moment in time, I was going through a period of self doubts and apprehensions.  As I explored the site, I felt that it was worthwhile giving it a try,  I had nothing to lose but my apprehensions and anxieties!  The exercise required me to post a picture everyday, for 100 days in a row,  about something that had made me happy that day… sounded simple and yet 71% had been  unable to do it..Was I up to it? I decided to give it a try. 

I started the challenge on 19 Feb 2014 and today, I posted a pic of my 100th happy day in succession on Facebook, which I had chosen as my platform for my album! Am feeling happy of course, but more than that, I have learnt a wonderful lesson that all of us can learn… or  maybe  we actually need to learn. U can find me on facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/arunam1

All of us lead extra busy lives. There is no doubt. A myriad of roles to play , a legion of “to-do” lists, a surfeit of responsibilities. Amidst all this,  we do not have  the time to see the happy moments in our own lives,  let alone have time to  “stand and stare”.  Had I also lost the ability to find something good in my life?  To appreciate the beauty of certain moments in my life?  Was that preventing me from becoming a happier and more contented person? I decided to find out. 

And today am I  happy I did that!!!   I captured on camera, at least one moment in each day that brought me happiness. As  I started doing it, I began finding more than that one moment I needed on certain days. I started finding enough to make a small grid of pictures on some days. Simple pleasures of life from cooking, to reading, to beauty of nature, to time spent with loved ones, time spent with my self, with my pets, my kids , to a word of thanks from a patient who would probably never touch my life again.  All of these moments made it to my own little album of happy moments. I also fund a little group of friends who looked fwd to my posts and added to my happiness by their own wonderful thoughts and comments. 

Today as I look back I find a little more confidence in the belief that “this too will pass”. A lot of cliches are no longer  mere cliches. I have learned that all days may not be good but there is definitely some good in everyday. One has to just make an effort to look for the light in one’s life – it may be  under the bushel sometimes,  sometimes bright and lighting up your life… but  its there ……always there.

Once we look for happiness and more importantly, learn to look for it , we find it. Just condition your mind to look for it everyday…if possible even more often. .And as the reasons for being happy increase, your reasons for worrying and having self doubts look less daunting, and at least, less important. Life has its challenges, it has to be lived. One can never wish ones problems away. But finding these little gems of happiness along life’s  way makes them that much easier to  overcome, solve or even to just endure. 

It makes a smile easier to give and  a tear easier to  hold back. 

Oprah Winfrey famously said..happiness is there for the taking -and making. So go ahead folks make and take happiness. 

Have a happy day, every day………make it 10….100….1000…….. have a lifetime of happy days…….

Feel the joy……. It worked for me .. I hope it does for you, too.

Thank you http://100happydays.com !

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