How to Be Happy Like Tigger

There is so much written about how to be happier. You have to admit, this is such a first-world problem. People who are fleeing or coping with war, who can’t find enough to eat every day, or who are suffering from disease aren’t so obsessed with this idea of increasing happiness from pretty happy to really happy, are they? You can see that this whole happiness movement kind of annoys me.

I almost lost my eyes in my head from rolling them so hard when I heard we are supposed to look at each of our chatchkies and determine if it brings us joy. If not, get rid of it. Really? Is this how we should spend our time? “Flower vase from I’m not sure where, do you bring me joy?” And proceed like that with each and everything you have? Ai yai yai. I say, if you can’t slam your closet door shut because it’s too full, just get big garbage bags and throw out whatever you can in 15 minutes, then shut the door and move on with your life.

Well, I am by nature a Tigger but I am well aware there are plenty of Eeyores around. (You are a Winnie the Pooh fan, are you not?) As evidence of my Tiggerishness, I submit that I love summer. Who cares that it’s hot. There are blueberries, strawberries, grapes, and peaches. Sometimes, and I do think this is like Tigger, I eat so much summer fruit that I feel rather sick. But anyway, summer lets you just run outside whenever you want, no need to brace yourself against the cold and spend time putting on sweaters and coats and scarves and hats and boots. No, just run outside. Yay!

But even a Tigger like me gets down in the mouth. Lately it’s been quite often because of events in our country and around the world. I find myself quoting the pessimistic words of William Wordsworth: “The world is too much with us…”

I could easily turn myself into an Eeyore. However I firmly believe there is really one great step to happiness.

That step is to do something, just one thing, each day to make someone else smile. I try hard to remember to do this.

Send a text or an email or even an old fashioned snail mail note. Buy someone an unexpected little gift. Pay it forward; help a stranger; say good morning to someone who is homeless. Certainly doing volunteer work will make you much happier, but there are simple things you can do too. Practice random acts of kindness.

Just do one thing every day to make someone else smile. Let me know if you are a Tigger now or when you are joining us Tigger People. How did you make someone else smile today? 

©2016 Margery Leveen Sher

The Noticer’s Guide to Living and Laughing…..Change Your Life Without Changing Your Routine is now available on Amazon, Nook, and iTunes.  Read the reviews and purchase here. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZTM73U

MARGERY IS AVAILABLE TO KEYNOTE YOUR MEETING OR CONFERENCE with a motivational talk filled with both startling wisdom and humongous laughs:

“Notice What You See and Be a Hero at Work”