#BEDJ 5 Happiness hit her like a bullet in the B-A-A-A-CK

A sidenote from yesterday: A girl who was sitting infront of me on the bus looked super familiar, and after some intense facebook searching, I can confirm I knew her because I've listened to her music before.   How whack is that? Out of all the things to recognize someone for, their fricking bandcamp. I should have said hello, but meh. Something I thought I would share on the blog.

I've been thinking a lot lately about happiness and what it means to be happy. Some do things in order to bring themselves happiness, while others do things for other people to make them feel happy.  Either way, we all have motivation to make ourselves - or others - happy.  But how exactly do we do that?

For me, I am a personal lover of the small gestures. Even the really simple act of  when strangers smile at me gives me warmth.. But for other people they need the grand gestures, which I always seem to (personally) hate. For example, I hate when people buy me an expensive gift on occasions like christmas or birthdays, mostly out of the fact I can't afford to reciprocate, and secondly because I always feel as if the money doesn't validate the style of our friendship.

With most of my friends we are pretty relaxed and understanding. If one can't do something, or doesn't want to do something, we accept it. We don't need to constantly spend money in order to have a fun time when hanging out. And with gifts, it should be the same. I don't want someone to feel as if they have to spend lots of money in order to give me happiness - or feel is is they have to do something, when they can't. I also think it's pretty lame how money can be a signpost which says 'You owe me one' in a relationship. My mum constantly brings up the fact we went on holiday when we are younger, and seems to think that's the reason why we had a good childhood. I did have a good childhood, and I am very appreciative of the fact we got to cool things and have cool things, but man, that's not what was at the root of it. I was happy - and it was good - because of stories, and imagination, and loads of new experiences, and because of  the existence of dogs (still am happy about dogs being in the world). Not that materialistic things don't make me happy. Because they make everyone happy.  Marathoning  TV and eating a ridiculous amount of unhealthy food makes me extremely happy.

My other tips on maintaining happiness (or at least how I do it are as following:

1. Set a timer for half an hour.  Get a piece of paper and scribble down whatever is making you feel down or sad or confused. After the half an hour, throw away the paper - and know that now the feelings are out, they can't bother you anymore.
2. If you are feeling lonely, ring an old friend for a chat. I find that can really cure lonely spells because it reminds you that you can still have awesome conversations and the loneliness isn't your own fault.
3. Listen to Chumbawamba. Instant happiness guaranteed.

Music for the blogpost

I Like Giants - Kimya Dawson

Famous Last Words - My Chemical Romance

Don't Stop Believing - Journey

Heard Em Say - Kanye West