signals of happiness

July 06, 2016

bushy green passiflora with no weeds and woodchips on garden floor

Digging in the dirt, pulling weeds, planting flowers… these things make me feel at peace. There are some activities in my life that I have discovered are symptoms of happiness. My garden blooms, I write, I do the dishes in the morning, and I take longer walks with my dog.

I don’t know that they actually make me happy. I don’t particularly like to write, it’s a way of thinking through things and connecting with other people in quiet, unexpected ways. Writing makes me just a little uncomfortable, but it helps somehow to send these thoughts outside of my head.

I can’t say I always love gardening. It’s kind of boring, but more interesting than meditation and with some similar positive effects. I like how I feel afterwards, and it makes me happy every time I walk by and see colorful splashes of color and so many shades of green.

These small acts of taking care of myself and being present in my surroundings are indicators. I try to notice when they stop, when the weeds grow wild, when I don’t take time to write and the coffee cups pile up in the sink. Today I noticed that I was gardening and it wasn’t even necessary, and I’ve been taking longer walks in the morning. I still struggle and have doubts and there’s all sorts of awful in the world, but when we go out there to face the world, I think we all need a couple of leading indicators of happiness.