The story of the happiness jar, as written by Elizabeth Gilbert
my HAPPINESS JAR. This is a practice I started years ago. Every day (well, almost every day) I write down the happiest moment of that day on a small piece of oaoer, and I fold it up and put it in this big jar.
And that is the whole entire practice.
Then later (days, months or years later) when I am feeling blue, I sometimes reach into the jar and pull out a memory (one that would otherwise have been long forgotten) and I can remember one of the simplest and best random moments of my life.
They are very seldom glamorous moments, or dramatic moments, or moments of great accomplishment. They are almost always nearly invisible moments when suddenly I just felt in my bones the very best aspects of my humanity — gratitude, peace, hope, contentment. For instance, on the day that I went on the Oprah Winfrey Show — which was one of the greatest days of my life — my happiest moment of the day was not when I met Oprah (though it was the most dazzling and amazing moment of the day.). The happiest moment of that day was sitting in my hotel room in Chicago, two hours before I went to the studio, watching my mother lovingly iron the satin sash of the dress I was going to wear on the show that afternoon — feeling like a child again, being taken care of by my sweet mom.
So it's like that. Happiness comes in the sideways moments, the humble moments. And every single day, no matter how great or horrible, has one happiest moment (or at least one "least horrible" moment — some of my happy moments, for instances, have been times when a friend comforted me during a spell of grief.) It's worth it to record these moments, because they are fleeting and precious beyond measure. And someday, reading them over, they will make you happy all over again.
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I've been doing this since January 1st and love that it serves as a point of reflection for me. I have to either hold on to the happiest thing that happened to me when I woke up at 8am and write it down before bed time or sit in my bed at 11pm and remember the events that took place over the day.
It's been really great. I haven't pulled any memory out of the jar yet...maybe because it's so soon that I remember everything I've put in it so far. But I'm looking forward to reflecting a few months ago on what delighted me in January.
I encourage you to take this up as a spiritual practice. You can create a happiness jar too or a blessing jar. One friend of mine wants to make an accomplishment jar to remind herself when she feels self defeated of the amazing things she is actually capable of doing. So you can call your jar whatever you want, but there is something therapeutic about capturing these moments.
This is what my jar looks like:
The best is yet to come,
~Adwoa
my HAPPINESS JAR. This is a practice I started years ago. Every day (well, almost every day) I write down the happiest moment of that day on a small piece of oaoer, and I fold it up and put it in this big jar.
And that is the whole entire practice.
Then later (days, months or years later) when I am feeling blue, I sometimes reach into the jar and pull out a memory (one that would otherwise have been long forgotten) and I can remember one of the simplest and best random moments of my life.
They are very seldom glamorous moments, or dramatic moments, or moments of great accomplishment. They are almost always nearly invisible moments when suddenly I just felt in my bones the very best aspects of my humanity — gratitude, peace, hope, contentment. For instance, on the day that I went on the Oprah Winfrey Show — which was one of the greatest days of my life — my happiest moment of the day was not when I met Oprah (though it was the most dazzling and amazing moment of the day.). The happiest moment of that day was sitting in my hotel room in Chicago, two hours before I went to the studio, watching my mother lovingly iron the satin sash of the dress I was going to wear on the show that afternoon — feeling like a child again, being taken care of by my sweet mom.
So it's like that. Happiness comes in the sideways moments, the humble moments. And every single day, no matter how great or horrible, has one happiest moment (or at least one "least horrible" moment — some of my happy moments, for instances, have been times when a friend comforted me during a spell of grief.) It's worth it to record these moments, because they are fleeting and precious beyond measure. And someday, reading them over, they will make you happy all over again.
--------
I've been doing this since January 1st and love that it serves as a point of reflection for me. I have to either hold on to the happiest thing that happened to me when I woke up at 8am and write it down before bed time or sit in my bed at 11pm and remember the events that took place over the day.
It's been really great. I haven't pulled any memory out of the jar yet...maybe because it's so soon that I remember everything I've put in it so far. But I'm looking forward to reflecting a few months ago on what delighted me in January.
I encourage you to take this up as a spiritual practice. You can create a happiness jar too or a blessing jar. One friend of mine wants to make an accomplishment jar to remind herself when she feels self defeated of the amazing things she is actually capable of doing. So you can call your jar whatever you want, but there is something therapeutic about capturing these moments.
This is what my jar looks like:
The best is yet to come,
~Adwoa
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