Secrets to happiness

I think I have it narrowed down to why I am so much happier now than I was 2 years ago...

What got me thinking was my incredibly low credit card bill (well low for us...half of what it typically runs). We pay our balance off every month so I have always just figured a budget based on the typical bill and it is NEVER less but very often more. We use the credit card for everything, earning points for gift cards and typically we earn several hundred dollars a year in gift cards (no annual fee, no interest for them...citibank must hate us!). This month it was almost exclusively food, gas and the cell phone bill...no extras...no eating out, no Lowe's (had earned a gift card and did use that), a wee bit at JCP but that was it...

And guess what?!?!? This was one of my happiest months ever....so money does NOT buy happiness and possibly not spending money does--because I was really happy to see that bill!

What were we doing instead of spending money? We were enjoying time together...which brings me to one of the reasons I believe I am happier.

We used to do a lot...every weekend going somewhere...just for the sake of going somewhere...the mall, a restaurant, whatever...and back in PA that meant a lot of time spent traveling to said place, because we weren't near ANYTHING! Always on the go...and when we weren't out...we were watching TV.

We used to watch A LOT of TV. We ---gasp--- don't have a TV in our bedroom anymore! CAN YOU IMAGINE?!?!? Since we moved to CA, we watch a lot less TV. And since we cancelled cable (now we are using HuluPlus and Amazon Prime) we watch even less. What do we do with all of that time???
Well, it is probably pretty obvious what we do in the bedroom...(sorry if tmi!) but I truly believe a more active sex life can really ramp up the happiness factor in your life!

If you are a facebook friend, you probably have noticed a lot of posts about watching for falling stars...and I don't even post every time we do it (the stars...we are past the sex talk! GEESH!)

We also spend a lot of time outside an hour before sunset, just sitting and relaxing while the parrots are in the grapefruit tree. And we try to get in the pool, nearly every afternoon, when Dave gets home from work. Just to lounge on floaties or float around holding hands or hugging.

So we have been spending A LOT of time outside....in the sun, in the shade, under the stars..whatever! Relaxing...relaxing in nature is so underrated. It is really amazing to just lay on a lounge chair staring into space...seeing the infinite number of stars and realizing how insignificant "problems" are. How meaningless possessions are. Money can't buy that feeling. That beauty. That peace.

They say doing something you love will bring you happiness. I can't speak to that...I won't say I "love" what am I doing...but I can say I do not hate it, I don't feel it is sucking the life out of me, like being a pharmacist did. So I can be satisfied with liking what I do, even if it would be a stretch to say I love it.

Yes, there are tough days, when the hormones make me crazy...or sad or paranoid or bitchy but overall when I stop and just sit...I am content, I am happy and where I want to be.

So to sum it up....I believe I am happier due to focusing less on material things (including TV shows) and more on the beauty of life, including nature and the tmi.

It probably doesn't hurt that we eat healthier and exercise together. Because feeling good physically, both inwardly and about your appearance, definitely makes you feel better mentally.

And if you say you don't have time to do so much relaxing and exercising...think about what you ARE doing...if you found out you had a month to live..would the things you do now be as important to you or would you make time to take care of your health for that last month and to relax for that last month?

Fun fact: I don't clean everything in my house every week...it gets cleaned when I feel like cleaning it....and no one has come to arrest me or fine me or tell me what a horrible person that makes me...and if they did I wold probably tell them to suck it...because my happiness is that important to me.

I am glad I have made these discoveries at the half way point in my life (hopefully!) because I am looking forward to many years of living this way. It would have been nice to figure it out sooner, but dwelling on things you can't change is a surefire killer of happiness.