Be Happy, Already!

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Last night, I was doing some really deep reading (Us Weekly) 

and found this quote: 

"I was just born happy." - Jennifer Garner 

(accompanied by a photo of her - and several other celebs- playing on the slides in a playgrounds. Stars... They're just like us.)

Looking at the picture above, I'm pretty sure skippin' granny is one of those people too. You know the type - happy is just their default setting. Sure, they may get upset or sad about something, but their general mood when they wake up and go to bed is, well, happy!

I'm not one of those people. I've known this. I would say, overall, I'm a happy person but my moods are far from constant. I can waffle from high to low and back again in the blink of an over-packed schedule or a free fro-yo. It's something I don't like about myself, honestly. I wish I could be that person who was just born happy - and stayed that way. But acknowledging that happiness takes a bit more work is part of my personal journey of being well-balanced, grown-up person.

So yeah, I have to make myself work out (yoga's been a great new discovery), eat healthy, see people I love and make limits (some nights, it's just fine to simply sit) in order to be happy. That's just the way it is.

Most of all, I have to let go of the guilt of not being that cheery, sweet-natured person I imagine as the ideal. Yes, I can be cranky. Yes, I can get stressed and overwhelmed. Yes, I might take that out on myself or others. But adding guilt into the mix really doesn't do any good. 

It's all about preventative measures - once the storm rolls in, you're only option is to ride it out and work on bringing the sun out again.

What work do you do to be happy?

PS Looking for some interesting reading on the subject? Beth Lisick's Helping Me Help Myself is a hilarious true story of a year spent testing out all the most-heralded self-help trends. They don't all work, but it goes to show there's no harm in working on happiness. Thrive is a neat geographical study by Dan Buettner that examines the happiest places on earth - and no, Disneyland didn't make the cut.