Sometimes I really have to laugh at myself and where my thoughts bring me.  Today as I was folding the laundry, I was turning some undergarments inside out and began to look for where the “tag” was.  I then noticed the stamped marking that has now replaced the old fashioned piece of material that used to stand in its place.  Remember those?  They were annoying and itchy and most of the time, people would cut them off.  I realized how grateful I was that I no longer had to deal with those pesky tags and thought “That makes me happy”!

From that simple thought, came another about a friend of mine who blogs over at TheHappinessTrick.  Jean Marie and I became friends when we worked together for a national non-profit.  We shared a love for those we served, for sarcasm, and our families. After a few years, both Jean Marie and I moved to different positions within the same company, where we connected once again – this time through staff training.  At the time I was teaching the WordPress platform to our staff and how it would integrate into our current system.  Jean Marie, with a savvy technical background herself, took the course and stashed it away with the other multiple skills our staff needed to perform their daily tasks.  Who knew that Jean Marie and I both shared a love of writing, as we both used this new platform for our personal projects.

Jean Marie had taken the challenge of blogging for an entire year.  She was challenged to find something to be happy about every single day of the year.  She’s coming to the end of her 365 day challenge and in a few of her posts she’s questioned whether or not she should continue.

Why do we do this? Why do we write?  Isn’t it to make our mark somewhere or on someone?  Isn’t it a way to stop for a moment and ponder a thought that perhaps we hadn’t before?  To bring our own unique outlook to situations? Who knew that my random thought of tag-less undergarments would lead to me thinking – gee, this is something to be happy about.  It’s small and insignificant, but for this very moment in time – it made me happy.  I thought to myself, Jean Marie would love this!

Continue to write Jean Marie – if not for yourself, for those who find that you make an impact on their day – their life.  The small, insignificant things in our day matter.  They are the daily stones that, when piled up, can be what lifts us up or knocks us down.  How we choose to view them makes all the difference in the world.

Today I am happy for tag-less undergarments and for friendships that teach me to be happy every day.