I have found that if you look for joy and laughter as you travel about your world, you are likely to find it.  I look for those things because they make me happy. I think sometimes we forget the power we have over the state of our happiness – we frame our own experiences in the world; hence, the old adage rings true – happiness is a frame of mind.

Granted, not all days can be sunshine, rainbows and lollipops (as my friend Alex would say); some days are bound to be Eeyore days where doom and gloom seem to be the order of the day.  Yet, most days you can choose what you are going to look for and how you respond to your world.  Over the years I have found that leaning toward happiness has the effect of not only enhancing my own happiness but also tends to ripple out into others’ lives, and vice versa (in that I find interacting with others who are happy in turn enhances my happiness).  Most days I find it to be an easy recipe for a more enjoyable life.

So I look for joy and laughter and it keeps me on the happy side of life.  I never know what little thing will provide a smile or a laugh.  Often it is related to children at stores – I never stop getting a kick out of the things young children ask their parents or their parents’ responses.   I also respond positively to laughter and joy in others when I am around it – it is, as has been said, contagious.  I additionally find moments of happiness in my observations of the world and my own odd sense of humor.

Case in point – the below “Fashion Citation” pad that was on clearance (imagine that) at Pier One when Cheyenne and I went there a couple of weeks ago.  I laughed out loud in the store and I had to buy it so I could share it on my blog.  I often speak of fashion crimes (as a repentant violator) and I admit that my laughter in the store was as much about understanding being a perpetrator as it was about recognizing the violations as they were laid out. 

The pad is designed so that you can deliver citations as needed to offenders.  Personally, I would never actually issue such a citation – that would not strike me as funny; but, pondering the reality of these violations, being a repentant violator (it’s a daily struggle to not re-offend) and recognizing that I am not alone in my view that there is probably a place in this world for fashion police does give me a good hearty giggle.  Simple things amuse simple minds they say.  At any rate, I thought it to be well-worth the couple of dollars I invested and will keep it around for the occasional Eeyore day to remind me that happiness is in the framing…and of course to keep at the forefront of my mind to avoid ill-advised spandex. 😉 

Day seven hundred and forty-six of the new forty – obla di obla da

Ms. C