Sometimes I Don't Know....

Sometimes I don't really know if I'm happy.

The days go by.  I'm busy with work and other stuff that comes up in my life.  I don't feel unhappy.  Can't really say I'm happy either.

I'm listening to this podcast series called "The Happiness Lab."  This podcast is by a Yale psychology professor, Laurie Santos, who developed a course called "The Science of Well Being."   The course was wildly popular and oversubscribed.

I'm just listening to the first part of the series right now.  The focus is on what makes people happy.  Some things are no surprise.  There's also discussion of things that detract from happiness.  A few years ago I made a list of things that make me happy.  Some of them:

• Having a few friends to do things with makes me happy.  
• My bf made me happy.
• Travel made me happy
• Traveling with my bf made me happier
• I met a few really nice people when I was traveling.  I felt like they really liked me.  That made me happy.
• Cooking new dishes
• My bf and I sometimes copied (or at least tried to) restaurant dishes we really liked.  

Notice the common thread.  Some social contact is included in most of them.  Notice what's not on there......working, spending money.  The pandemic hasn't helped being able to meet new people.

The point here is to know what you're looking for.  Just going through life on autopilot and not really knowing what you're looking for probably won't result in happiness.  Unless it happens by accident.