What made you even just a little bit happy today? Perhaps someone said something hilarious, or you found money in your coat pocket, or maybe you aced that test. There are so many things that can bring happiness into your life, but normally, as soon as that small amount of joy appears, it’s long gone.
It was just like any day after school when I burst through the front door to my house with a sense of bitterness and slumped onto the couch. I had just lost what used to be a very close friend of mine the night before, and as a result, I definitely underperformed in all of my classes. I was feeling and looking a little worse for wear. My mom, taking notice of my misery, calmly asked me what was wrong. I hesitated, but I managed to utter out that my day didn’t go too well, and I explained the events of the evening prior. After taking in my information, she then questioned me again, asking if anything that made me feel happy — big or small —happened. I was slightly taken aback. I had a terrible day, so, of course., nothing good happened! But then, I took a moment to ponder her words, and I understood what she was trying to tell me. I answered that I watched the sunrise for the first time in a long time, and it looked beautiful. I then said that some of my friends gave me hugs because they knew that I wasn’t doing well. I kept telling my mom, and consequently, myself, about all of these small things that made me feel happy, even if only for an instant. At that moment, I realized that while this day was undoubtedly not good, it became far better in my mind when I focused on these little things.
Today’s world is defined by the negatives; it’s rare to see the news cover a story about something positive because that simply doesn’t catch people’s attention. Our society wants to know about everything bad that happens, which subsequently creates this byproduct of a gloomy view of the world. This translates back into our personal lives. I used to see the world with a filter of pessimism, I only saw the bad parts of life. But as soon as I started to look for anything positive, it was easy to notice the nearly infinite number of things that brought any sort of pleasure to me. And as I focused my attention to the positives, I started to notice anything that normally irritates me less. This also means that I began to practice gratitude for noticing these little everyday things that I took for granted so easily before. I believe in the little things; by enjoying the little things in life, I took on a whole new view of the world and created memories that I will cherish forever.
