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“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.”
Dalai Lama XIV
Do you ever think about what makes you happy? Out of all the things in your life, what are the few things that simply put a smile on your face?
Living a simple lifestyle is important to me. It helps create more time for doing things that make me happy. It also allows me to spend time with the people I love!
What are some things that make you happy?
Here are five things that make me happy, and living a simple lifestyle gives me the ability to enjoy them more often.
Baking
Being in the kitchen brings me such happiness! I enjoy cooking when I’m in the mood for it, but I love to bake anytime. I love to try new recipes, but my favorite is my pecan pie recipe. It always comes out perfect, and it tastes so yummy (insert heart eyes).
Baking brings me a sense of peace and happiness. I love to throw in my headphones, dance around the kitchen, and add my own flare to a recipe depending on my mood.
What’s your favorite thing to bake?
Reading a Good Book
I have been a book lover for most of my life. As a little girl, I loved reading stories with my mom, and we usually spent summers at the library and reading together. It’s a memory with my mom that I love to think about.
I still enjoy reading. There’s nothing better than curling up with one of my favorite authors (James Patterson, Charlaine Harris, or Gemma Halliday) and spending an afternoon getting lost in one of their books.
Who is one of your favorite authors?
Spending Time with Family & Friends
Who doesn’t love to spend time with their family and friends? I’m sure we all have some family members we would rather not spend time with, but overall, spending time with family is something that we should cherish.
I very much enjoy my alone time, but it’s also nice to have the time to spend with my family and friends when I want to. I enjoy going out with my friends a few times a month and seeing my family when we have the time for family dinner or just swinging by to catch up.
I want to spend my time with people who make me laugh, smile, and have feel-good vibes. Being with my friends and family always brings laughs and smiles.
Writing
Writing is something I have come to love in just the last few years.
In school, I always enjoyed English class, but I never loved writing papers on the subjects that were assigned. The idea of writing was something I enjoyed, but I wanted to write about topics that were interesting to me. I didn’t want to write research papers or a paper on some book I was forced to read (I’m sure some of you will agree!).
As I have gotten older, writing has become my creative outlet. I can get lost in writing about things I enjoy talking about, and I love sharing my ideas with all of my wonderful readers!
What is your favorite creative outlet?
Spending Time in Nature
Being outdoors brings me so much happiness! Breathing in the fresh air and hearing the peaceful sounds of nature always calms my soul.
I enjoy any time outside, from working in my garden to hiking to sitting on my front porch! Just being outdoors makes me happy. My favorite thing to do is watch the birds come to the feeders I have set up and watching the little chipmunk I have in my backyard (his name is Chester).
When I first met my husband, we spent a lot of time outdoors. He took me to many fun and very beautiful places. He helped me develop the love I have for nature and being outdoors. It’s also something we enjoy doing together.
What is one of your favorite outdoor activities?
I hope you take some time this week to reflect on some of the things that make you happy in your life! Then, I hope you make time to be able to enjoy some of these things this year!
Until next time,
Catherine
Pausing to take time for oneself and not getting wrapped up in the crazy busyness that surrounds us is essential to finding happiness within.
I agree!
Things that make me happy – hanging out with my grandchildren, traveling with hubby, and a beautiful hike. Thanks for sharing.
I love those! I’m glad you spend time doing things that make you happy! 🙂
Love the quotes! I agree that happiness is something we make for ourselves. For instance these past weeks I’ve been focusing on the small moments in life that bring me joy and the positive and I’ve found it has a positive impact on my life. Thank you for sharing, it’s an interesting read.
I LOVE that you’ve been focusing on the small moments in life. These truly bring the most joy and happiness!
These are great. I do feel happy when writing. These definitely make us feel better when doing it. Thank you for sharing!
I’m glad you get to do something you enjoy 🙂
Thank you for the inspirational article! I love baking too, and I really miss reading books. I think I need to start to pay more attention to things I like to do.
You should start paying attention to things you like to do! Maybe try to start fitting in one small thing a day.
This post sounds like pure heaven! Made me happy just reading it.
I’m glad! 🙂
What I really enjoy but find increasingly difficult to find are those deep conversations about the world. I do not know if it’s part of getting lost into adulthood but explorative discussions became rare… but when they happen it makes me happy 🙂
I love these as well! They are few and far between, but I enjoy it when they happen.
This is a great list, I love to spend time in nature as well and writing is really great. This a good list – especially spending time with those you love like friends and family
Thank you!
Great post! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing a great list of activities! I am really into romance and like to read daily so might have to check out james Patterson!
I think you would like him. His romance novels are good!
‘Spending time with family and friends’ ! Very insigtful and great post. Thank you!
It’s one of my favorites! Thank you
I just read a quote” happiness is a choice”I love that!
It’s so true!!
Our lists of things that make us happy are very similar! I love reading, cooking, traveling (especially spending time in nature.. like to state or national parks!), and writing.
National and state parks are great! We enjoy visitng them as well 🙂
I love spending time with friends and family, and I love reading. But you know what my favorite thing to do right now is? I take a bath and then sip hot chocolate in bed. Ha! And it’s summer. I look forward to this ritual all day!
I love this so much! Hot chocolate is good anytime of the year 🙂
It took me a long time to learn to do what makes me and my loved ones happy. I find that the little things are what bring me joy now at this point in my life.
One of my favorite things to say to my husband is “it’s the little things” any time we find enjoyment from the small things in our lives 🙂 It really is the little things that bring the most joy!
Such great options. What makes us happy is family, friends, time in nature, alone time!
Alone time is wonderful to add to the list! 🙂