What makes you happy?

How do we know when you are happy?

Do we need to be happy all the time?

I was having a few moments of sadness around my situation and when I expressed this to my Tribe they kept telling me that it is okay to have moments of sadness.

I wanted to explore this idea and so found the podcast that I linked below. Dr. Laurie Santos is an expert on human cognition and is being interviewed by Glennon Doyle for her podcast ” We Can Do Hard Things.”( S1 E58)

https://pca.st/podcast/f22f11b0-912b-0139-744a-0acc26574db2

From her research, Santos found that happy people:

• Have social connection
• Don’t focus on self-care, they do for others
• Have a mindset of gratitude and presence

How does this short list compare to yours? The above list really resonates with me when I think about what makes me happy. Here is my list. As I started to write it I realized that the list would be long!!! So just so you know this is not a finite list. This is just my brain dump in the moment.

• Walking and talking with friends an family
• morning catch up with friends and family over WhatsApp
• My morning meditation
• Yoga
• Trying new things
• Being on top of a mountain
• Remembering past events by talking with people or looking at old photos and my Mixbooks
• playing with my grandkids
• A good BM 🙂

As I was thinking about ‘my list’ I was thinking about how I know that these things make me happy. Honestly it really depends on the activity. I know because I am laughing, because I get a warm feeling in my body, because I get a sense of joy and wonder, because it feels right.

As to the question of happy all the time?

My tribe is correct. I love what Santos says, “Happiness is not Tiger but Pooh bear, a combination of negative and positive emotions.

So thank you everyone I will continue to do me, as they say, and feel all the feels!

My Update

There is not really much to say. I continue to make small gains every day. Some days feel better than others.

I keep up with all my activities. I walked 100 miles in January according to my Fitbit.

My appetite has improved but I am not gaining any muscle mass as far as I can see.

Next week is a big week with lots of appointments. The biggie being my next MRI on Thursday. I will send a brief update on that at the end of next week.

Have a great rest of your week