I take happiness very seriously. Yours and mine.

You’ve heard me preach before, life is short. It is imperative we do not take that for granted. I want us both to make the most of every single day we are given and give ourselves permission to spend a few moments focused on what makes us happy.

In the busy-ness of your life, how much time do you carve out for fun?

Two years ago I had to create a goal to bring delight back into my life. I’ll say it again. I had to consciously make happiness a goal. What the heck?

I had become stagnant; I was just going through the motions. It was almost as if I had forgotten what made me happy. For some reason, I was slipping away from one of the things that I could ALWAYS count on to bring me joy.

Surfing.

I had stopped surfing with any kind of regularity. I had let the day-to-day details of life bog me down and keep me away from doing something I love.

Why? Why did I have to make it a goal to do something that makes me happy? Why wasn’t my happiness always on the front burner? Why did I need to schedule in joy? Well, that’s a topic for another post, but the bottom line is, I did.

So I, along with a friend, made a year-long commitment to our joy; our stoke. We made a commitment to surf (at a minimum) every Wednesday for a year, no matter the conditions. There could be huge waves or it could be flat as a lake; there could be sunshine, rain, or gale force winds. Whatever the conditions, every Wednesday we HAD to surf.

We called it Wahine Wednesdays.

I needed to make a weekly appointment with my stoke, or for you non-surfers, with my delight. I needed to consciously decide to do something that made me smile.

And guess what? That ended up being a pretty freakin’ fun year!

Funny how making joy a priority changes your perspective. It brightens your world and helps you live in a constant state of gratitude. When you are looking to the little things in life to bring happiness, you realize all there is to be grateful for.

[Tweet “When you notice the little things in life that make you happy, you realize all there is to be grateful for.”]

And guess what else? I wasn’t the only one who had fun that year. Everyone who came along on the Wahine Wednesday journey was stoked! Even people who didn’t surf, who just followed my journey on the blog, were stoked. Seems I wasn’t the only one who needed to be reconnected with their joy.

[Tweet “Making joy a priority brightens your world and helps you live in a constant state of gratitude.”]

Sadly, I am starting to feeling myself slide back into that complacency. I have been letting my days become filled with things that are far from the ocean; things that bring me nowhere near the joy I feel with surfing.

I started wondering, how many of you need a little nudge? A little reminder? How many of you also need permission to make fun and joy a priority?

[Tweet “This is your little reminder to make fun a priority in your life”]

Your joy doesn’t have to come from saltwater.  It can be from whatever makes your soul sing. Whatever turns your crank. Whatever floats your boat.

Try to do something everyday . . . a big thing or a small thing . . . that brings you delight!  Anything that makes you happy.

We can’t be happy all the time. Circumstances in life just don’t allow it.  But, we can make joy a priority. We can be more mindful of ways to bring delight into our lives.

Sometimes we take our joy; our stoke, for granted. We think we’ll always be healthy or we’ll always have resources or we’ll always be able.

Well, we won’t.

It’s time to start a movement. A stoke movement.

I want to honor my joy. I want you to honor your joy.

I want everyone to honor their joy.

You will be amazed at what a change this can make in your life.

Salty Kisses,

Karen

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