Do What Makes You Happy!

People do a lot of things that don't really make them feel happy inside. Maybe its pressure from others to do this or not do that.  Perhaps,  they haven't really thought about the things they do and why they do them, in terms of whether those things make them feel happy or not. Today I'll start you thinking about how to bring more happiness to your life, just by doing more of the things that make you happy.

Of course, not everything that we do in life will make us happy. Some things are required things that we need to do, that we don't enjoy. Things like housework, cooking, painting, etc, may not make you happy. You may even dread having to do them. To others, these activities may indeed make them happy. It all depends on you and also on the past memories that are associated with those activities for you.

For me, cooking is associated with memories of my mother and me when I was growing up and during my adult years. She and I would be in the kitchen and we'd cook together, even when I was just a few years old. When I was about 9 years old, she trusted me to cook entire meals on my own. It made me so happy to see the smile on her face when she watched me and ate my cooking.

She and I cooked together for many years, until her passing. I credit my mother again - this time for giving me excellent cooking skills. She was very encouraging of me in whatever I did, so I believe in being encouraging of others as well. It is with encouragement that we all grow as individuals.

Today, cooking makes me think of her. It makes me feel relaxed to be creating something. It also makes me happy to see the content faces on people when they eat my food. All around, cooking brings me joy. That's why I do it any chance I get. That's why I'll be sharing my cooking with you, in future posts,  whether its through photos of my creations, recipes that I am assembling or articles about cooking. 

From an early age, my sibling and I were taken out to eat to restaurants. We had so much fun for many years, trying new restaurants, frequenting our favorite restaurants and enjoying great conversations with the wait staff and fellow patrons. I really have so many memories of those times. To this day, I love to go out to eat, whether its new restaurants or our regulars. Trying new foods, for me, is fun and exciting, so eating out at restaurants makes me happy as well.

As you can see, I have great memories of cooking and eating out. Naturally, those things make me happy today, so I do them whenever I can. I also enjoy traveling, photography, meeting new people, having dinner parties, working outside, and other physical activities. I have many things that make me happy, partially because of my positive associations with them.

So to summarize, it's important to find those things that bring you happiness and then try to do them as often as possible. Remember, we can't possibly do every single thing that makes us happy due to time and money constraints or other reasons. What you can do, though,  is find some of the things that bring you the most happiness and allow yourself to experience them a bit more often. You'll find that you are re-energized and better enabled to handle the things you don't particularly like doing.