Simple Happiness

The Simple Life
By Sheryl Simons


“The happier you are with the simple things, the easier it is to be happy.”

Happiness. How do you define it? This time of year, we all think about being happy and making others happy. The bad rap of “selfishness” that has been given to us Americans, may be true, but I’m not really sure we have thought long and hard about what really makes us happy. Someone recently said, “Christmas is a funny time of year, it’s somebody named Jesus birthday, but we buy gifts for everyone else, and we eat candy out of old socks that we hang on the wall.” It’s all in how we look at things, isn’t it?
Happiness is like that. We buy what we think will make us happy, big houses, big shiny vehicles, but then the bills come rolling in and we pay bitterly to squeeze out pennies together to pay for the big shiny items, that soon lose their “new” smell. We begin to resent that monthly payment. And we should. But then money is tight, and we are soon caught in the cycle of spend, slave, spend, slave. We have spent until we are locked in jobs we don’t love, paying money we barely have. And, now we are fighting each other, the person we love the most, about which bills to pay!
The Oprah show recently reported that most Americans are 3 payments from being homeless. I’m not surprised. I know someone who lost their home because they kept buying new vehicles, refinanced their home to pay all the interest they owed, and ended up not being able to sell the home.
The bank tells us we can safely take out a loan for one third our income. Then we buy furniture, and we need a vehicle, of course. Pretty soon we are struggling to keep our heads above water, but then someone gets sick, or there is a lay-off where unemployment only pays a portion of our income, or maybe we get fired and can’t get unemployment at all. How do we pay the bills now? And so we put our cars and houses up for sale, but we owe more than they are worth now. Tough place to be in.
What if we’d bought a house we could afford in the first place? What if we left a much bigger margin between our paychecks and our bills? We might then consider getting a job we love, or as another simple-living advocate says, aim to work 20 to 30 hours a week, instead of two people working full time in a family. Find ways to save money instead of spend. Buy a good used car, and save money for repairs.
Most of us find that happiness is not in “new”, but in life. It’s in rolling on the floor with the grandkids, making cookies, building sand castles and watching the waves cover them and wash them away. Joy is in a good belly laugh at a clean joke, a tear at a thought provoking movie on a rainy afternoon, or a walk along the path in the woods that only animals use.
I find it amazing that we buy gadgets for our kids that take them away from us, rather than bring us together. We buy games that put them in their own lands, rather than games that we all play together (and are much cheaper). Why? Is it because we are really too busy and want to keep them out of our hair? Just because the other kids have playland XX, doesn’t mean your kids have to. They will survive childhood. Encourage them to go outside and play, make things with wood, build forts, rather than sit and stare at an electronic screen for hours on end. Lead by example. Don’t just buy everything. Need a bird feeder? Build one. Need a cake? Bake one. Need cookies for a school party? Do it together. Happiness is in the here and now, take it for all it’s worth, it doesn’t last forever.

* * *



I used to buy lunch meat and maybe not use it all in time, but now I buy several kinds and put them in small bags, just enough for a sandwich. Stored in a plastic container in the freezer, I can grab just enough for a day or two. If I make my sandwich or salad with frozen meat, it thaws by lunchtime, and I don’t even need to refrigerate my lunch. I can have more variety this way, as well. It’s also a great idea to have a cupboard just for lunch. Keep bread, sandwich bags, snacks, cookies, and fruit, so it’s easy to throw a lunch together .

* * *
Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young. ~~ A.W. Pinero"You must feel love within, before you can share it." ~~ Denis Waitley"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." ~~ Mother Teresa

Simple Cracker Dips

If you have cream cheese, you have a great dip. You can open the cream cheese on a plate. Cover with a topping. Jalapeno jelly, strawberry jelly, (or any kind) salsa, cocktail sauce and diced shrimp or crab meat, or chopped ham, onions, and cheddar cheese. No need for mixing, and serve with crackers or veggies.


Keeping it Simple,
Sheryl

Please share recipes, questions, comments and simple living ideas that work for you. Email: thesimple_life@yahoo.com Join the online newsletter to print recipes and look up previous columns: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thesimple_life/