27 May 3 Secrets to Everyday Happiness
How to be happy from the Huffington Post
While visiting my old stomping grounds in New York City a few months ago, I remembered an important truth: We all want to be happy.
On a lunch break during a meeting I stood in line for soup in the basement of Grand Central Station. As I watched the interactions with the customers ahead of me and the woman at the cash register, I grew increasingly nervous. Eyes slanted, jaw tight, this woman behind the counter seemed to wear a perpetual scowl that intensified anytime someone hesitated while placing their order or fumbled for change in their wallet.
Flashbacks of Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” episode flooded back to me. Such pressure! Did I want the black bean, vegetable, or split pea soup? Would she let me taste them to decide? Would she hate me if I spoke slowly and calmly, rather than barking my order in a succinct and decisive command?
Then I remembered, “Hey, this woman just wants to be happy, too.”
So, instead of morphing into the mold the other barking customers had set, I chose something different.
I decided just to be myself. I smiled. I spoke slowly and remembered to breathe. I asked for samples to decide what I wanted. No doubt, I annoyed her; but I hope and trust that at some level I also relieved her because I reminded her of her own humanity.
Obviously, this encounter has stuck with me. Now that it’s been over a decade since I lived in New York City at that frantic pace, I see how much I have grown by taking time to savor and enjoy my life since then.
I’m not saying that I don’t still get lured into the hustle and bustle. That exists everywhere, not just in New York City. But I’ve found practical ways to approach my life from a less hurried, and therefore, happier, place inside of myself.
Here are some secrets that I carry with me everyday. They’re really simple and anyone can do them.
Read Sara Avant Stover’s secretst o happiness…here