arly this week, after I picked up my usual large cup of rocket fuel, also known as a grande Americano, I found myself strolling through the aisles of Chapters where I came across a display table that I am still thinking about and has now become the inspiration for this blog.  On the table was a collection of books about happiness; how to attract it, how to increase the happiness that you do have by 10% (very specific!), how to find out if you are indeed happy, and the list goes on.  It got me thinking about happiness and how much we talk about it.  It comes up in conversation with friends, on our Instagram feeds, on television…happiness has become a cultural phenomenon! …Or maybe it has always been?

Humans want to be happy. We have dissected, theorized and analyzed it in hopes of increasing our own level of happiness.  Anyway, I’m not going to get too philosophical here, but I do want to share what I have come to believe is one of the most important skills that a personal can have.

I’m not talking about big things like travelling or going on shopping sprees, or anything else really extravagant or expensive (although these could be great long term happiness goals). I’m thinking about small things, like setting your alarm a little earlier so that you can watch the sunrise, or allowing yourself to read a little in bed before you get up and start the day, or having your favorite weekend breakfast … on a Wednesday (so wild!), or calling a friend who you haven’t talked with it a while, or putting a flower in your bathroom and noticing how it brightens up the space.  The list goes on and on, and is so unique to each person, as is the definition of what happiness actually is and how it feels.

So do you want to do an experiment with me?

Ok, first of all we have to increase our awareness of what makes us happy so that we can increase our happiness factor. It’s similar to doing a gratitude journal actually, in that it really makes us conscious of the small things in our life that contribute to our overall contentment.  So this week let’s try to check in with ourselves a few times a day to see how happy we are feeling at that given moment. Then try to think of a tiny little thing that you can do to increase your level of happiness for the next few minutes, or even hour. And repeat.

I would love to hear about your own experiments and what you’ve discovered about your own happiness.