Choosing Happiness

I was listening to the local radio station this morning when I heard a pre-recorded message about August being Happiness Happens Month. A woman spoke about how to choose to be happy. That immediately reminded me of visiting my niece in AZ eleven years ago when her children were young. I don't remember what we were talking about exactly, I just remember her saying emphatically, "I choose to be happy! Every day I make that choice." At the time I thought, "Well that's nice, even admirable, but it isn't possible to be happy just because you say you are going to be." But maybe it has been for her. When I saw her in June, she and her husband had both lost their jobs plus their car which had been stolen when they stopped for the night on the way to Iowa. Yet she was her usual cheerful, happy self.

My level of happiness has been up and down my whole life. I had regular bouts of depression followed by optimism. Once I started taking prescription antidepressants, things evened out alot for me.  Since retiring and having few demands and lots of freedom for pleasurable choices, I don't get depressed anymore, maybe a few days of feeling down, but not depressed. (I no longer take anti-depressants.) Which leads me back to the idea of choosing happiness. The radio speaker said, "Don't limit yourself to searching for pleasure. Enjoy everything and anything that makes you happy." Reading is one of my most pleasurable things to do, but what makes me feel happy is taking my little camera out into nature and taking pictures. Sharing them on my blog, Instagram and on Facebook, both my regular account and recently on the FB Iowa Nature Lovers page, extends my enjoyment.

So here are some happiness happening examples since my last blog for Happiness Happens Month:

 

Shared on FB on the last Friday of the Iowa State Fair - "When you can't go to the fair but it's okay because you have all this free cotton candy at home."

And these from a little later in the morning Friday:

That frisson when you are driving down a street you've traveled hundreds of times and notice for the first time--

-- a little bit of country in the midst of town!

There are still a few of these around town - remnants of early times when most people kept a cow, a horse and some chickens in their back yards.

I just love this little barn; I would love to see what the inside is like, but I was trespassing just to take the photos. 

The pump and a hydrant above the well on the north side of the barn.

A wild grape vine, weeds, a peony, and some gorgeous purple morning glories alongside an old garage.

The peeling paint, showing a bit of the former red color, adds to the wild abandonment feeling of the scene.

Close up of those vibrant purples hiding in the peony.

Sunday morning I just barely got up in time to catch the setting of August's full moon.

When I checked to find the time that the moon was full, I learned something new - it was a 'seasonal blue moon'. Oh, I already knew about the blue moons so named when there are two full moons in the same month, but I don't remember ever hearing about seasonal blue moons - those four seasons a year that normally have only three full moons, one for each month. This year the season of summer has four full moons from June 20 through September 22. Interestingly it is the 3rd full moon, not the 4th that is termed the full blue moon.

This morning I was up earlier so when I noticed the bright reds in the eastern sky I decided to drive out where I could get better photos of it.

By the time I got to my favorite viewing spot just outside of town, darker clouds had rolled in and the reds had already faded. Still, I did get some pretty pink clouds and a wide shot of the sky.

I drove home past Lake McKinley for some more sky shots....

....and some of the Great Blue Heron that can usually be found in and around the lake.

So even though I didn't know it was Happiness Happens Month when I set out, it was definitely a happy way to start the week.

And I wasn't searching for pleasure, I was just out there in the beautiful early morning of summertime Iowa, enjoying something that makes me happy.

💞👩💖