Survey Saturday: The Happiness Project

A little while ago, friend and fellow blogger Cecily from Uppercase Woman invited me to participate in The Happiness Project. I have so much to tell all of you every day without fun projects, even from great women like Cecily, that at first I was hesitent.  But then I heard about this great aspect of the project – $100 is being donated to the charity of my choice for my participation. I was sold! (And I chose the March of Dimes)

The premise of this blogging project is incredibly simple.  Ask ten bloggers to write about happiness: what it means to them, what it means in general, how the meaning of it has changed…anything they’d like to write about happiness.

So here I am, thinking about happiness probably more than I have taken the time to in a very long time.  I started to think about my definition of happiness and found the meaning merging with the definition of satisfaction.  But then I stopped. I think that it is very possible to be happy…and yet not be satisfied.  For example, am I happy living in my current home?  Yes.  But am I satisfied?  No.  I want more for myself, for my husband, for my family, for my future grandchildren should God bless me with tons of them…and I pray that He will.

So then what is happiness?  I think it is that feeling inside that must be what baking soda feels like when it meets vinegar, what the Niagra River experiences when it crashes down over the falls, what a roller coaster does when the brake releases at the top of the hill.  It is the inability to hold back a smile, the tears that flow when there’s no sadness, and whatever makes a grown woman get out of bed, tip-toe across the hall, and stand in the doorway of her child’s bedroom needing every ounce of willpower to not go in there and hug them in the middle of the night.

There are many things that make me happy.  Playing the piano until my forearms burn.  Singing in church.  Watching the fireworks explode over Cinderella’s Castle.  Watching bad reality t.v. with my husband.  But the one thing in my life that has brought me the most happiness is being a mother.  I always knew that I wanted to have children and that parenting would be joy to my life, but never did I realize the intensity of emotion that comes from loving a child.

What makes you happy, and how has it changed over time? 

For this week’s Survey Saturday we’re going to take a look at what happiness means to different people. I hope you’ll enjoy participating as much as I’ve enjoyed thinking about this post.

Results from last week’s survey:

Of the Disney movies listed, Mary Poppins was the most popular, however, with a majority vote of 44%, more people chose “other” than any of the movies listed!

More about the Happiness Blog:

Part of bringing happiness to your life is simplifying things so you can enjoy it to the fullest. What makes you happy? How has your view of happiness evolved over time? The DivaCup offers a simple, worry free, eco-solution to women worldwide every month. Not a tampon, not a pad, finally a better way! www.divacup.com. The DivaCup is donating $100 to the March of Dimes charity in the honor of blogger Amy Lupold Bair.