We’re finishing up the January group writing project on choosing happiness, and our last four entries are all stellar!
So read, comment, and keep your eyes open for the finale and the full list tomorrow!
At my sister-in-law’s house, she has a painting that says, “We tend to seek happiness when happiness is actually a choice.” (I’ve mentioned this before, but I finally found where I wrote down the quote.)
I think that happiness and fulfillment have that in common—we think we’ll find these things and voilà—we’ll be set for life. Fulfillment and happiness do seem to go hand in hand. But for both of them, it is in the end a choice. To feel happy or fulfilled, we have to choose to be, not just seek them and wait for them to be bestowed upon us.
Granted, it’s also not just as easy as deciding “Yeah, I’m going to be happy now” or “Yeah, I’m going to be fulfilled now.” It’s something that we have to recapture every day. I think it’s like a Harold B. Lee quotation about personal testimonies: “Testimony isn’t something you have today, and you are going to have always. A testimony is fragile. It is as hard to hold as a moonbeam. It is something you have to recapture every day of your life.”
So I’ve tried to recapture that happiness every day by focusing on the times and actions that do make me think I wouldn’t give this up for anything. Times like Hayden voluntarily walking into Rebecca’s room as she’s struggling to fall asleep and singing her to sleep; Rebecca craning her neck just to catch a glimpse of me; Hayden asking to snuggle with me; Rebecca’s delighted squeals.
I choose to find happiness every day in the little things, and I hope that by choosing happiness, I’m choosing fulfillment, too.
For the Choosing Happiness Group Writing Project—accepting submissions until midnight tonight!
Yet again, I must open with a birthday announcement: today Hayden is three years old! My big boy! And like his daddy, this year is his his golden birthday.
Happy birthday!
Today we only have two more entries for the GWP, both of which are wonderful:
With only seven posts submitted right now, odds are the best ever for winning that $30 Amazon certificate! The contest is officially set to end today, but I could extend the deadline. When I’ve done this before, no one actually entered in the extended time, so does anyone want some extra time?
First off, I must begin today with a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ryan. I won’t tell you how old he is, but I will say it’s his “golden birthday.” I envy anyone who can remember their (his/her, if you’re the grammar police) golden birthday, since I was two for mine.
Anyway. You’d think that choosing happiness would be easy. We all want to be happy, don’t we? And it would seem that realizing that being happy is a conscious choice and making that choice is the hardest part, wouldn’t it?
But it isn’t always. If it were, then everyone would be happy all the time, and obviously we’re not. The first five entries in the GWP highlight difficult times to be happy in and sometimes difficult decisions.
And for some variety, I’m going to add a few posts that I’ve come across that seemed to fit in with the theme:
Have you seen any posts around the blogosphere about choosing happiness?
This project has ended.
It’s been a really long time—a MamaBlogga Group Writing Project is way overdue. In honor of one of my resolutions this year, the theme for the January/February Group Writing Project is “Choosing happiness.”
As always, feel free to go in any direction that appeals to you. Even if you don’t choose to participate, you can encourage others to participate!
Why participate?
There are lots of reasons to participate! All entries that meet the guidelines will be listed and linked to here on MamaBlogga. This an opportunity for you to discover new blogs (and for others to discover yours!). Also, see how you can get the most out of the GWP.
And, of course, there is one more incentive: one lucky post author, drawn at random, will receive a $30 gift certificate to Amazon.com (to be announced Thursday, 5 February 2009).
Finally, we’d appreciate it if you linked to this post or to the guidelines/submission form on your entry post so that others can learn about the project and participate.
Previous Group Writing Projects:
To those of you who entered the August Group Writing Project: I didn’t forget you! I just . . . slept. Sorry; newborn in the house!
For some reason, it seems like most people seem to be going through one kind of transition or another right now—oh, wait, that might be because motherhood is basically eighteen years of transitions. We have a baker’s dozen of 14 great entries on all kinds of transitions, and all kinds of new normals. So read, comment and commiserate!
Now, feel free to spread the link love by copying the above list (instructions) and posting it to your own blog. Believe me—they all deserve it (and some serious “me time”).
The Winna!
Chosen at random the winner of our prize, a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate, is <drum roll>…
You learn something new every day by Lindsey
Congratulations, Lindsey, on not only winning the gift certificate (again, she was chosen at random!) but also on participating in a GWP for the first time! (I also recommend her recent posts on a quote from a book and defending motherhood!) The gift certificate will be winging its way to you soon!
Still working on your entry? Even though we’ve awarded our prize, we’ll continue to accept, read, link to and comment on submissions through next week.