11 Random Happy Things for a Gray, Late-Winter Day

Random Happy Things:  The First Ten I Came Up With Today

1.  Only 8% of what we worry about ever happens.  (from Pick the Brain)

2.  Neil Pasricha (1000 Awesome Things) went from a personal trough to a prize-winning blogger and best-selling author in less than two years.  The Toronto Star called him the "guru of small joys."

3.  Brain plasticity--Apparently you can teach an old dog lots and lots of new tricks.

4.  The interactive website Things to be Happy About, authored by Dr. Barbara Ann Kipfer, who wrote the book 14,000 Things to be Happy About.

5.  All the many things meditation is supposed to be good for, including learning to focus, hypertension, depression, ingrown toenails (just kidding on that one. . . I think), . . .

6.  This, making the rounds on Facebook:

 












7.  Finding this:

8. This lovely piece in the Huffington Post from two days ago:  "Groundhog Day:  Halfway Through Winter," by "urban shaman, eco-ceremonialist, ritual expert and consultant" Donna Henes. 

9.  Minimally invasive (laparoscopic) coronary bypass surgery, in case my arteries go the way of my parents' one day.

10.  Janine Jansen's recording of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D, and the late Irish poet John O'Donohue's remarks, in conversation with On Being's Krista Tippet, on hearing it played live (about halfway through the interview)

11.  Sunsets everyday.  I once wrote a poem about a friend's husband, who "attended sunsets like gallery openings."  She divorced him anyway.  But still. . .