Happiness and Simplifying Your Life

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?  ~Albert Camus

The holidays are here, Halloween is already gone, Thanksgiving is upon us, Christmas and New Years within the blink of an eye.  The next two months will be a whirlwind for most of us of engagements, parties, obligatory visits to family and friends, shopping for presents and the preparing of meals and dishes.  We’ll drive and fly and ride in sleighs to grandmother’s house.  We’ll get rained out, snowed out, stuck in ditches and airports.  We’ll get tired and cranky and hugged and loved and we’ll be stressed and worn out before it’s all over.  There is no better time of year to talk about two things, one staying above the depression that some people suffer and simplifying our lives.

First, the holidays are really hard on some of us, for me Thanksgiving is wonderful but Christmas takes a toll on me, there is no other time of year that I feel as depressed, bleak and alone as Christmas regardless of whether I’m home alone or surrounded by people I love.  We all have these times and I’ve done a post on this before entitled Happiness, Exercise and Holiday Depression. 

Second, a lot of what brings us trouble this time of year is the complicated nature of our lives during the holiday season.  No one has ever said, I’m not feeling particularly good about things so I’m going to add a bunch of complications to my life.  Simplifying our lives is always a way to bring about more happiness.  So how do you simplify your life, typically in little ways, no one has ever created a simple life in one full-press effort, so you start small.  In case you’re not sure where to start here’s a list of 72 ideas to simplify your life, take a look, give it a shot and have a happy day, a happy Thanksgiving and happy holidays my friends.

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Happiness and the Benefits of Gratitude

Fear is Killing Your Happiness

Happiness is a Choice

Writing Away the Darkness