Happiness in Common Things

 The art of benign happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things. - Henry Ward Beecher


At the beginning of the year, I got myself a little desk calendar that has an interesting fact for every day. Today's is that racism is bad for your health. On the back of the calendar pages as you rip the previous day off are other little tidbits, which is where I go the quote above. I thought I'd share it with you because this morning in particular it seemed very fitting.
 
I think I've talked about New Year's resolutions before and how I see them as a goal for the year. A big one for me this year is to stop smoking. I know I can do it because I've done it before - one time for more than two years. Why I ever start back up, I'll never know. (Or maybe I do and I just don't want to admit it to myself.)
 
So, I'm on my third day without a smoke and I'm pretty much on edge. For those who have never had this habit, the first week of quitting is always the worst and I'm trying my best to stay calm and carry on and so forth. I've also been working on developing new routines to take the place of smoking and the cheapest one I've come up with is simply going for a walk. I've been going for short walks when the urge hits, and longer walks when I have the time just to keep my mind clear.
 
I've also been rising earlier than usual in the morning to do some work - something else I think I talked about. This morning, the plan was to rise, eat breakfast, go for a quick walk, do some personal work then get on with the work day.
 
I got sidetracked on my walk when a woman who used to work for me way back when stopped on her way to work to say hello. (She and her family lives nearby, but I've only really waved at them as we passed each other over the past five or six years.)
 
Next thing you know, we'd spent a half-hour catching up with each other and chatting about so-and-so and did you hear about who got married and grandchildren and work and on and on. It was a nice little chat but it set me back about an hour this morning.
 
On the one hand, I tend to get annoyed with myself for falling behind on the daily to-do list. However, it is a nice, crisp morning today with plenty of sunshine and almost no wind. A great day for a walk, as a matter of fact. And a great day to chat with an old friend.
 
Nothing is more common that chatting with friends and going for walks, and they both give me a small amount of joy in a complex world. So yeah, it was nice to get a little dose of happiness before the day even really started.
 
I hope you all find at least something that makes you chuckle today.
 
R

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