Things That Make Me Happy
Went over my first list on the Simple White Rabbit Guide to Inner Simplicity: The Things That Make Me Happy.
Things That Make Me Happy
1. writing
2. morning walk with my wife while talking
3. wrestling, cuddling, and kissing with my
children before bedtime
4. reading a good book
5. sharing my thoughts through this blog
6. seeing my wife and children smile
7. playing non-competitive basketball with
friends
8. playing the guitar and leading worship at
church
9. studying the Bible with our young people at
church
10.
dining out with my wife, children, and sometimes with family and friends
11.
having a simple breakfast at home with my wife and children
12.
speaking in front of people and inspiring them
13.
watching and listening to the rain
14.
watching and listening to the ocean
15.
early morning quiet
16.
meditating
Not as complete as there are a lot more
specific things that make me enjoy my day. But this is close.
What I Feel I Have Enough Of
What I Feel I Have Enough Of
Of the items in the list, the following are
I'm most satisfied with:
1. playing the guitar and
leading worship at church
2. studying the Bible with our young people at
church
3. speaking in front of
people and inspiring them
4. meditating
I devote my time to these things and have come
to love and enjoy every hour and every minute of doing them.
They are like signals or sign posts that tell
me my day is coming to a purposeful and satisfying end.
Things I Have Now That I Would Like
to Have More Of
These
are the ones I can’t get enough of:
1. writing
2. wrestling, cuddling, and kissing with my
children before bedtime
3. sharing my thoughts through this blog
4. seeing my wife and children smile
5. having a simple breakfast at home with my
wife and children
Although
I do them regularly, (some daily, others twice or thrice or throughout the day)
I still can’t seem to get enough. These are my simple pleasures, ones that make
me feel most alive.
Things I Wish to Have More Of But
Can’t Find More Time
These
give me happiness, but I rarely find the time to do:
1. morning walk with my wife while talking
2. reading a good book
3. playing non-competitive basketball with
friends
4. dining out with my wife, children, and
sometimes with family and friends
5. watching and listening to the rain
6. watching and listening to the ocean
7. early morning quiet
Spending
extra time in social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ makes me sleep late
these past few nights.
I’ve
been interacting with fellow bloggers from all over the world and most of them
are from the other side of the globe – meaning if it’s midnight here in the Philippines
The
results are great however, with blogs like The Simple White Rabbit and The Project 333 driving traffic here.
But
the flipside is I couldn’t wake up as early as before.
Thus,
numbers 1, 2, and 7 take a hit. Yet it still is a beautiful trade off getting
to know new friends.
Our family try to stay away from number 4 on purpose to discipline ourselves financially.
Though we still do it on very special occasions.
Before,
I usually do number 3 every Sunday afternoon with the youth group at church.
But ever since the group talked about and agreed on prioritizing spending time
with family every Sunday afternoons, we now only do it once or twice a month.
For
number 5, it’s only starting to rain again in the Philippines
As
for number 6, we (my wife, kids, and I) use to go to the beach every early morning
just watching the ocean. Since my daughter started schooling, we never did it again.
More Than Paring Down Possessions
Sorry
if it seemed like I gave all the justifications in the world concerning my
third list.
To
clarify, I still want to do them regularly and they still bring out so much joy
in me.
But
as Christy King said in her post, “One reason you’re becoming a minimalist is so
you’ll have more time in the future to do the things you enjoy…”
Yes,
I definitely agree. Minimalism isn’t just about paring down possessions, but also
about choosing which activities to involve in that add more value to your life.
My attention was caught by what she said next, “Also, after you’ve made some progress in
downshifting your life, you’re likely to find that your priorities change. You
may find that you’re no longer interested in some of the things on your list.”
Just
days after writing down my list, and now I feel like re-prioritizing things
again.
That’s
what’s great about these kinds of self-examinations, our most important rise
up. As what my mom always say, our cream rise to the top.
Thank
you again, Ms. Christy King, for this inspiration.
On
to the next post…
