A scoop of Happiness

Hullo, my dear Internet companions! How are you all doing in life?

Last week some rays of sunshine suddenly made the world a bit more joyful. The wet, cold Winter was gone in a flash.

People came outside, skirts with bare legs dominated the streets, sunglasses appeared out of nowhere and everybody was happy.

So, of course, I didn't want to miss out and opened my closet with the enthusiasm of a little puppy to take my most flowerpower skirts, crazy prints and rainbow colours out to fully go all sunshiny, in February! I repeat: February! That's so unimaginable!

But I'm totally not complaining, oh dear, no no!

I ordered my sunshiny days very carefully to have the most chance to soak in as much as possible of that good old vitamin D.

And my Lord, did I feel happy!

Isn't it a bit crazy that we all start feeling better when just a little bit of sun touches our skin?

This week I even WALKED to the nearby park (something I have never done!) and just sat there for a whole hour, eyes closed and enjoying the warmth.

Eventually I even managed to read 50 pages of my book (which is also something which I never manage to do, since I never find proper time to read 50 pages in a row!). So, as you can see, my day was totally made!

Also my social life had a boost last week, spending time with good friends and having such great conversations and so much fun (that much fun I even managed to cry while laughing). I would never be able to imagine a life without laughing 'till my stomach hurts.

So, since I have been drowning in happiness last week just because of some simple rays of sunshine, I wanted to share some extra happiness with you. Some extra happiness for those days when joy seems so far away, when life just really sucks and you feel totally the opposite of happiness.

I came across some really positive vibes I just could not keep away from you guys.

1* This first 'life hack' is something I have seen people doing (mostly bloggers and influencers) to make your day/week just that little bit more joyful: A 'What I'm grateful for'-journal.

At first I did not really believe all the magic of writing down what I'm grateful for, especially because I know I am not the person who makes this into a habit. So although being a bit reluctant, I tried it: the first time writing down what I've been grateful for after one day; the second time what I've been grateful for after a week. Personally for me, the 'after a week' thing fits me better. And okay, I must say, they are right, it really worked to give me a 5 minute feeling of joy. And it's indeed so so simple, just thinking about what positive, motivational, fun things you have been doing the past day/week however small they are and writing those moments down. I even caught myself reading them again and feeling the same joy again as the moment itself.

To give you an example, I wrote down how I was grateful that I could hear the birds sing all day and that I could feel the warmth of the sunshine on my face. It's really that easy!

2* SARAH freaking POWELL! What a woman!

Okay, most of you will probably not know who she is, but believe me, she is the humanization of happiness!

I came across her Instagram quite accidentally (I don't even remember how I found her tbh) and started looking up who she was. To cut it short, she is a public speaker who advocates for more self love and celebrating yourself and that message she spreads around with so much humour she really starts to become addictive. I mostly watch her Instagram stories everyday and everytime she makes me laugh so much because she is just normal, just like you and me, trying to swim through life's obstacles and facing awkward everyday situations, which makes her so relatable.

Sarah Powell's Instagram

© Sarah Powell

3* Improv Everywhere

I came across this organisation while watching some TED Talks during my weekly 'watching TED videos as a break from studying'-moment. And damn, this was brilliant! Improv Everywhere is the idea of one New Yorker who found it unfortunate that adults don't play anymore, like children do, full of fantasy, doing unharmful games filled with free fun. So, he came with the idea of organising unexpected funny improvisational scenes across New York. From random men in boxershorts appearing on the metro to dancing parties in a shopping mall. It's all so genius and so simple. Just having the goal to make other people laugh during their busy lives, I immediatly loved this.

So go on and get inspired (and those daring: please start this in Belgium as well, we all need to laugh a bit more!).

© ImprovEverywhere

Improv Everywhere TED Talk

Improv Everywhere Youtube Channel

And if all these inspirational things above aren't enough for you, well here are some personal favourited of mine to give me a positive boost during the week:

- Little dance parties on my own on my favourite party music (extra beneficial: it burns calories as well!)

- Coming across relatable posts on Instagram: funny quotes, people having the exact same opinion as you about specific topics (having the tendency to shout 'Praise you, mate!' - 'You go, girl!' - 'YES exactly, bro!' at your phone screen)

- Wearing your absolute favourite outfit which gives you so much confidence on a sad rainy day

- Giving other people a compliment and unexpectedly receiving one in return

- Watching one of your favourite programmes/series

- Eating chocolate really slowly so you can enjoy every bit of the flavour (is this too niche?)

- ...

If you want, let me know in the comments what you do to have some tiny happiness moments in your busy week! It surely can inspire and help others!

I will end this joyful blogpost with some inspirational happiness quotes:

~ Optimist: Day-dreamer more elegantly spelled. ~ (Mark Twain)

~ It's never too late to have a happy childhood. ~ (Tom Robbins)

~ Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. ~ (Guillaume Apollinaire)

Stay happy!

Lots of love,

MJ