The Happy Book

Sometime's I think that there are pools of wisdom within the human soul that actually degrade as we get older. The simplicity and directness with which most children aproach their lives seems wiser than the way of many adults. And there are certainly bits of wisdom that I had a much stronger connection with in days of yore than I do now. Fortunately, I have wonderful people that have made the journey with me, who the universe thrusts forward when i get all turned around, to remind me of important things I've forgotten. My good friend Leah turns out to be a fellow blogger. This week she published a post about The Happy Book. In the midst of a pretty funky depression I realized that the universe was handing me the key to relief in the form of a little synchronicity.

Let me explain. The Happy Book started as a blank book and some teenage wisdom. I came to believe that as long as you looked for the trying, depressing, difficult things in your life that you would find them, and that they would only serve to make you unhappy; therefore, I felt as if it was important to keep some sort of record of the things that made me happy. That way, whenever I felt down I could turn to this record for help. In a little black journal I began to draw, write, and doodle a functional list of things that made me happy. It was fun! As I filled more and more pages of the book, it began to be a favorite read for my friends. Soon they began to fill pages of their own happy thoughts inside my book. The book went everywhere I did. I traveled for many years with an array of Crayola Markers (one of the things that made me happy.) At any moment my friends and I could be found observing or recording the things that made us all happy. It may seem like a trite gesture to some, but it truly helped me through some difficult times.

I hadn't even thought about The Happy Book in a long time until just the other day. I was driving to work and thought that I should try and remember all the things that make me happy. I wondered if I even knew where The Happy Book was. Then when I got home I read Leah's post declaring that she was starting her own Happy Book this Friday, I realized that it was time to turn back to the pages of this tattered, torn book of joy. I sat down tonight and wandered through it page by page. Every page is filled with places, people, moments, and memories that made me smile. I'm not sure when I quit keeping up with the book, or when I lost sight of the importance of recording my joy. Thank heavens, that Leah was able to remind me. This week I will make time to begin The Happy Book II- Return To Happiness.

Tonight, I'm typing a few entries to get me started:
The sound of a crowd of children being entertained.
Decoding a really good section of a James Merril poem.
The way Jazmine (my dog) hugs my neck and presses her neck to my lips for kisses.
The way Puck (my other dog) whines to express almost every emotion. He's such a weenie!
My plants.
My orchid in bloom.
Random voicemails that contain the most beautiful poetry ever written, and knowing my friends wrote it.
The exchange of knowledge between a teacher and a student.
The thought of L'il Jess's smile and the big impression she made on my life.
A clean kitchen.
A mountain sky with more stars than you can even imagine.
The Happy Book.

Thank you Leah for reminding me!