So, let me tell you about a little thing called the happiness jar. It makes you feel in sync with the world, instead of alone. It makes you notice all of life’s tiny pleasures. I started mine in January of last year, and basically the whole purpose of my happiness jar is to put at least one thing from every day that made me happy.
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At first the idea of a jar with little notes seemed ridiculous to me, but it slowly made me think about all of the positives in a negative day. I stumbled upon the idea when I was going through my Tumblr one day, and the jar seemed both necessary and unnecessary to my life. At the time, I was going through a dull time in my life and I desperately needed a little inspiration. So, I went to my cupboard, found a jar and simply wrote “my happiness jar” on it.
I would lie in my bed and think long and hard about anything significant that occurred in my day. However, it was difficult to find things. So, I started off small. The first time I tried, looked over my shoulder and noticed a quote by Robert Tew, “Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy.” It was on my roommate’s side of the room, and I never noticed it until that day. Ever since then, that quote has served a huge purpose in my life. It made me realize I was starting off great, after all I am the only person who can make myself feel happiness and feel sadness. The quote was just what I needed.
Later on, I started putting concert tickets in the jar and ripping out little pieces of paper from notebooks. Soon it became a ritual. I started looking forward to writing at least one thing for my jar, because I realized that bad days do occur, but in every bad day, there is always a positive aspect. I would write down one thing and it always made a big difference in my mood. One happy thought illuminated all of the bad and made me enjoy the little things.
It takes no more than a few seconds in your day to write something happy down, and I guarantee that it is worth it. It made me see how little and insignificant a negative mindset can be, and made me concentrate on the good vibes. Try it because being happy makes life just that much better. Just ask yourself and submerse yourself in your happiest setting and I promise it’s all worthwhile. Life is what you make it. Some days it is harder to think of what makes you happy, just like today for me. It happens that, I’m sitting at a coffee shop on Goodwin and Oregon staring at the wall, drinking my iced coffee and asking myself what makes me happy. Then it occurred to me, I have two great friends sitting on either side of me. We laugh at each other’s bad jokes, make fun of each other’s majors and have deep conversations that put all of our minds at ease. Its funny how something as simple as having these conversations makes my day so much better.
You are supposed to open your happiness jar at the end of every year, as a reminder to see just how happy your year was, but I do mine a little different. Instead, I open mine up at the end of every month. I keep my happiness jar because it makes me realize just how precious life is. It may be full of many obstacles but my happiness jar reminds me just how little all of the big stuff really is, it reminds me of the little pleasures in life that I live for. It may be difficult to do when you just received a bad score on an exam, but ask yourself, is it worth it to dwell on things that have already happened? Instead think about the good. A smile looks better on and it feels amazing. Do yourself a favor and feel that amazement. Life is a gift, treat it that way.