Selfless Acts With Consistency

It is my personal understanding that this feeling of happiness can only derive from the self-satisfaction of self-less acts like having helped others, shared a kind word, made a child smile, cuddling your pet or the simple act of letting the person behind you with less items at the grocery store pay first. What I do know is, that this act of kindness and giving has to be a consistent behavior to become a social habit that becomes ingrained.

So here is what what helps trigger my own happy thoughts when I am not feeling so happy.

--The act of writing the names of those I know, love or are sick and writing them in my

personal book of good intent and sending them kindness and well wishes in my

thoughts while visualizing their smiling faces. That makes me happy.

--Re-reading all the notes my children would leave me or notes from my former students, so when I don’t feel like myself or work is tiresome, all those kinds words in

written form remind me specifically of what I have done well so far and how much I am loved and appreciated.

--Making my mother, family and friends laugh and giggle for no particular reason other than it makes me happy to see them happy. That is my all-time favorite thing to do.

These simple things I've shared have helped change my own personal perspective on my life, my work and the fact that all those words of kindness, gratitude or helping hand doesn't have anything to do with my level of education, money in the bank, my ethnicity, or the car I drive or neighborhood... It all just has to do with me and how I make them feel and how they make me feel.

This is an important reminder to myself that at my death bed, I hope to be remembered for the laughter shared, kindness given and received, generosity and the time spent direct, live and in the present! Having said that, I hope that I was contagious!