While I was staffing the reference desk, a patron asked for help finding a book she’d just heard about.
“Do you have The Joy of Happiness?” she said.
The joy of happiness? That seems easy enough, right? Kind of obvious, really.
It turns out, she was really looking for The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and Eric Swanson (which we found), but it made me think about happiness. There are 51 related subject headings for happiness, and plenty of books that claim to show us how to attain it, but do we really need an instruction manual?
Later on that day, I stumbled across a simple, easy exercise about finding happiness in our lives. It’s called 30 Days of Happiness. Every day for 30 days, participants highlight something that makes them happy. It can start any time and include anything.
I came across it first on a blog called Liesl Made, “a simple blog for the sewing projects, photography, inspirations and other ramblings of a 20-something artist.” Her 30 Days of Happiness posts focus on things like her sewing crafts, pets, and adventures outside, and she illustrates them with lovely, colorful photos, like this one.
30 Days of Happiness: The Feather Adventure by Liesl Made
She credits another blog, Bluebirdbaby, for inspiring her with the project. Bluebirdbaby’s author is “a 20-something mama who loves to sew, read, cook, write, and live simply,” and her 30 Days posts are equally inspiring and lovely. Her reasons to smile include her family, homemade food, and long lists of daily details. Here’s an example:
30 Days of Happiness: Fairy Parties by Bluebirdbaby
It’s interesting that, two people doing the same exercise in such similar formats can come up with such different responses. Try searching for the phrase “30 days of happiness” on your favorite search engine, and see if you find some others.
And, if you want to undertake the 30 Days of Happiness challenge yourself, feel free to start right here in our comments section. Here, I’ll even kick it off.
1. Bobcats.
2. Sunflowers.
Yeah!
3. My littlest sister, who turns 14 today. Happy Birthday! (We’re allowed to give shout outs on here ,right?)
See how easy that is? Don’t you feel more inspired and appreciative already? Happy 30 Days of Happiness!
-Renée
Eleventh Stack 
What a lovely idea and post! Let’s keep it going:
4. Sunrises. There’s one every day, and no two are identical. Very uplifting!
LAV
5. Awesome writers and bloggers like y’all!
6. Libraries! ♥
7. Gentle rain falling during the night.
8. Sunsets–reflecting on one of our three rivers.
This reminds me of something I ran across recently, The Happiness Project: http://www.happiness-project.com/. For a year, a woman named Gretchen Rubin is “test-driving” all means and methods, geared towards finding happiness.
9. A good glass of red wine.
10. Harvest season, home canning, the scent of vinegar throughout the house.
11. Belly laughs.
Oooh, Sarah, thanks for the link! Lots of good stuff to pore over there…
12. Kittens!
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