May 7, 2020 - 237 - "Hit or Miss"

Desperate for a Hit

    When the new name of this site 'hit' me, it just felt right. 

    I put the idea on the back burner for a while and let it simmer.  Time went by, and I liked it more and more, but I still couldn't really say why.

     Eventually, I started making graphics and favicons and all that stuff.  (Which spells 'commitment' in my book 'cause I sure don't want to do them again.)

     Still, I couldn't really articulate why I liked the name so much.

     Then this morning, it 'hit' me. 

My Drug of Choice

    Here's the thing:  Over the past few years, I've developed an addiction.

     I have to feed it every day.

     My drug of choice has become happiness.  It's gotten so severe that I'm almost always on the lookout for my next fix.
 

The Hits Just Keep Coming

    There are a million hits a day of something a whole lot less than 'happy.'

    Watch the news for ten minutes, and you've already taken a lot of jabs and hooks.  There's a constant influx of anxiety and depression-inducing information.  They scour the world for any kind of bad news they can find, and then they hype it up with loud and scared-sounding voices, and nerve-rattling music.

    Most of it you're ready for.  You've taken a firm stance, and you know how to take it on the chin and move on.  

    Then comes a sucker punch or two out of nowhere, and you find yourself on the mat wondering what the heck hit you.

    There you are in a heap thinking:  "What just happened?  Only moments ago, I felt fine."

Seems Like Avoiding The Pain is For Wimps

 
      I fear we're at a place where we believe that happiness is for people who just aren't paying enough attention.  It's like we think that feeling happy is for the uninformed. If you really understood how bad things are, logically, you'd be freaking out.  

    Personally, I think choosing to look for good stuff takes a will of steel.  

    I'm not kidding:  It's hard work.  Just looking away from a pop-up ad can be challenging.

     Keeping your eye out for the good stuff, in a vast ocean of bad, requires us to develop a laser focus.  Every scrolling headline and talking head is trying hard to grab our attention.

Happy

     For a while, I played this online game on a website called Mind Habits.  It pops up pictures of people, and you are supposed to click on the person who is smiling.  It's supposed to train the mind to see the positive more often and more quickly.

     Smiles are contagious. You can't play long before you're smiling too.   I started noticing in real life that I was picking the smiling people out of a row of passengers.  (And, believe me, it makes a difference in your day if you're focusing on the smilers or the frowners.) 

Happy All Over the Place

     The mindset sort of bled over into looking for anything that gave me that feeling.

     Animals and babies are an excellent source of this feeling. They just ooze happiness and love.  I spent more time interacting with the babies and pets my flights.

    Driving around, I'd notice a dog with its head out the window of a car, the wind making ripples across the skin of its face.  The tongue flopping around, and an ear-to-ear, panting doggie smile of contentment...  That just shoots out arrows of happiness straight to your heart.

    At home Ella napping in a round ball of purring contentment was an obvious place for a quick fix of happiness.

    Happy.  Happy.  Happy.  It was everywhere.

    And the more I look for them, the more I see them, even amid all this pandemic craziness.

Some of My Recent Daily Hits of Happy:

     -Hearing our granddaughter's toddler-squeals and peels of laughter as she ate, played, and took her bath last night (via Zoom)

     -That fabulous favicon hanging out in the row of tabs at the top of the screen

     -Seeing the face of my beloved Sfuzzi-girl in a photo.  She is now dashing around doggie heaven chasing squirrels, but still manages to be in our hearts and lives in a daily way

     -Cynthia Stroo's happy, and uplifting art and message, kindly sent to our door on a dark day.

   If you've had some #dailyhitsofhappy recently, please comment or email them.  ("A joy shared is multiplied.")

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"Happiness is a direction, not a place."

-Sydney J. Harris

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"There is some kind of a sweet innocence in being human-in not having to be just happy or just sad-in the nature of being able to be both broken and whole, at the same time."

-C. JoyBell C.

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