Simple Ways to Celebrate and Enjoy Life
Ranked #985 in Holidays & Celebrations, #11,815 overall
Celebrate Life Every Day - Create Your List of Simple Pleasures
"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate." -- Oprah Winfrey
If you don't have a list of at least twenty things you like to do, then you don't have a menu for enjoying life. You need to create a list of things that are fun for you, and you have to make a commitment to do at least one of the things on your list every day.
If your energy level is low, you might not feel like doing any of the items on your list. That is, your strategy might be to wait until your energy level is back up. However, by intentionally doing things you enjoy--even if it's something small, such as drinking a cup of freshly roasted coffee as you read the Sunday funnies, or calling a dear friend to catch-up--, you're actually building up your energy resources.
Below you'll find a list of 100s of ways to celebrate life: simple pleasures to help remind you to slow down and enjoy the moment. Use them as inspiration to create your very own list of things that bring you joy. Remember that the point isn't just to create a list; it's to go out and actually do the things on your list!
"A picnic evokes thoughts of leisure, relaxation, and enjoyment of the outdoors. It can be a still life in the open air or a boisterous frolic on the beach. Some picnics celebrate a special occasion, some offer the opportunity for friends to gather, and others provide an excuse for breaking the routine of daily life."
~DeeDee Stovel
Have Afternoon Tea or Go On a Picnic
1. Have afternoon tea "alfresco". Find a small coffee shop with tables set up outside; or pack a picnic basket-filled with iced tea, chicken salad from the deli, scones, and a warm, crusty loaf of French bread-and head out to the park.2. Take a large thermos and fill it with cold lemonade; pack some fried chicken and crispy churros coated in cinnamon in a picnic basket. Then go up to the rooftop of your building for an impromptu picnic.
3. Take out the Blue Willow porcelain set (actually, anything you have will do), stop by the bakery and get some hot-buttered crumpets and muffins, and invite your next door neighbor over for afternoon tea.
4. Make sun tea: Drop four tea bags in a quart pitcher of water; make sure the pitcher is made of glass. Place a cover on the pitcher to keep out bugs and place out in the sun--when the sun is really hot--for a couple of hours. Remove the tea bags, add ice, and serve.
5. Have a picnic indoors! Pack your basket just as if you were going out, spread your blanket out on the living room floor, and enjoy your picnic.
photo credit: Llima Picnic Basket
Picnic Time Barrel Picnic Basket, Service for 2, Hunter Green
Amazon Price: (as of 02/14/2012)
Pack your fried chicken, pasta salad, fruit, bottled water, and whatever else you're going to have for your picnic and get going. Don't forget your frisbee and something to play music with.
Go on a picnic!
Planning and then going on a picnic heightens the anticipation and enjoyment of it.
PICNIC: 125 Recipes with 29 Seasonal Menus
PICNIC: 125 Recipes with 29 Seasonal Menus
Amazon Price: $4.99 (as of 02/14/2012)
In this book you'll find great recipes for year-round picnics. This would be perfect as a gift with a wicker picnic basket filled with items needed for some of the recipes.
Make Solar Iced Tea
“Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.”
Never Allow Anyone to Rain on Your Parade
5. Go out for a walk in the Spring rain.6. Gear up in a raincoat and galoshes and stomp in puddles.
7. Catch raindrops on your tongue.
8. Get a bright red umbrella. Or better yet, make it a multi-colored umbrella.
9. Watch "Singin' in the Rain" with Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds.
10. Climb into bed when it's raining outside; listen to the sound of the rain tapping against the window pane.
11. Create a home-made water park. Pull out the plastic waterslide, set up the sprinkler, and fill the inflatable pool. As long as it's raining, you might as well get really wet!
12. Take out all those projects you've been saving for a rainy day: jigsaw puzzles, a long-forgotten sewing project, or the Gore Vidal novel you've been meaning to read for ages.
photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography Malcolm Margolin
"The next time it begins to rain... lie down on your belly, nestle your chin into the grass, and get a frog's-eye view of how raindrops fall... The sight of hundreds of blades of grass bowing down and popping back up like piano keys strikes me as one of the merriest sights in the world."
"Is it so small a thing to have enjoy'd the sun, To have lived light in the spring, To have loved, to have thought, to have done?" Matthew Arnold
Let Flowers Brighten Your Day
12. Arranging beautiful flowers in a vase is a simple, exquisite pleasure.
13. Explore the seed packets in the nursery and decide which ones to plant in your walkway.
14. Create a bouquet of hydrangeas and place it in a prominent spot in your home.
15. Enjoy the fragrance of fresh-cut roses.
Yankee Candle Fresh-Cut Roses
Yankee Candle 14.5 oz. Fresh Cut Roses Jar Candle
Amazon Price: $14.50 (as of 02/14/2012)
Fill your home with the smell of roses with this Yankee candle. Yankee Candle has been a premier candle maker since 1969.
Help Others
16. Adopt a child through Christian Children's Fund or any organization that helps children in need and that you trust. Is there a better way to celebrate life than by lending a helping hand to a child?
16. Make a Donation
Celebrate life by paying it forward.
- Donate your time at a food shelter.
- Invest in a third world country entrepreneur through www.kiva.com.
- Donate blood.
- Donate clothes you no longer use to a battered women's shelter.
- Donate children's books to a hospital nearby.
- Fill a basket with everything a new-born baby needs and drop it off at a nearby hospital for a woman of low income who just gave birth.
17. Practice Random Acts of Kindness
Celebrate life by spreading kindness.
Cup of Kindness Runneth Over at Blue Springs Coffee Shop
- People paying it forward by buying coffee for the next person in line at a Kansas City Coffee Shop.
- At 8:05 a.m. on July 6, a 32-year-old mother of two pulled up to the Steamin' Bean drive-through window and did something nice for someone else.
She paid $3.50 for the 16-ounce latte ordered by the customer in the car behind her.
When that stranger learned about the act of kindness, she did the same thing for the next customer.
And so it has gone for 12 days now at the Blue Springs coffee shop.
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." Mother Theresa”
Celebrate life by being kind to others.
- When you have a particularly good meal at a restaurant, ask to see the Chef and thank them personally for the meal.
- Make sure to thank your waiter or waitress for their service.
- Mark Twain once said he could live for a month on one good compliment. Who can you compliment today?
Be Kind to Others
- Wrong Number Results in Holiday 'Miracle' for Two Californians
- Eevery now and then, getting a number wrong can make everything just right.
18. Carpe Diem - Seize the Day
"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may."
"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. The Latin term for that sentiment is carpe diem. Seize the day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." -- Mr. Keating, "Dead Poets Society"In the film "Dead Poets Society", which is set in 1959, an English teacher--John Keating (played by Robin Williams)--teaches his students at a conservative prep school to seize the day and to live life fully through his teaching of literature and poetry. Here are some words of advice from Mr. Keating on how to seize the day:
- Think for yourself.
- Constantly look at things in a different way.
- Strive to find your own voice.
- Savor words and language.
- Gather at an old Indian cave and take turns reading from Thoreau, Whitman and Shelley.
- Don't just read poetry, let it drip from your tongue like honey.
"And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."
-- Kahlil Gibran
Nurture Your Friendships
"Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold."
19. Renew a relationship with someone you've lost touch with.20. Create a collage of pictures of your loved ones, frame it, and hang it up in a visible spot in your home.
21. Give someone you love a gift "just-because". Better yet, make it a care package or a gift basket filled with their favorite things:
- flavored coffee, a great coffee mug, and the book they've been wanting to read;
- microwave popcorn and all of the "Indiana Jones" movies on DVD;
- their favorite scented bath products; and so on.
photo credit: Scarleth White Short Friendship Quotes
Feel free to grab this list of friendship quotes to place on your blog or website.
"A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails." Donna Roberts1 point
"Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends." Virginia Woolf0 points
"It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter." Marlene Dietrich0 points
"Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend." Plautus0 points
"A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world." Leo Buscaglia0 points
"A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out." Grace Pulpit0 points
23. Read Cartoons
Calvin & Hobbes
Read Calvin and Hobbes Online
- Calvin and Hobbes Online
- Some of the best comic strips from Calvin and Hobbes.
Latest Five Posts on My Blog
Fetching RSS feed... please stand by“There are no little things. Little things are the hinges of the universe." - Fannie Fern”
It's All About the Little Things
25. Blow bubbles.26. Whistle.
27. Sing in the shower.
28. Watch the sunset.
29. Watch the sunrise.
30. Wear audacious underwear. Nobody has to know.
31. Stop and really listen to a street musician.
32. Listen to Jazz.
33. Write your partner a love letter.
34. Make a recording of your loved ones' laughter.
35. Go to a pet shop and "ooh" and "aah" at the puppies and kittens.
36. Simmer apple cider, cinnamon, and cloves in water on your stove.
37. Go out for a walk and take your camera along; take photographs of interesting faces.
38. Listen to your favorite "Beatles" songs.
39. Search your local newspaper for the next gallery opening near your home and attend.
40. Get yourself a big book of sudokus or crossword puzzles and sit back for an afternoon of fun mind stimulation.
photo credit: nathalielaure - Ed Hayes
41. Follow SARK's Advice
When she was 10 years old, SARK--Susan Kennedy--announced to her mother that she was supposed to be "a beacon of hope to the world and write books."At the age of 55, SARK has written 16 books, in which she combines bright, scribbled pictures and handwritten pages.
Here are some of her suggestions on how to read her books:
"In a shaft of sunlight, beside a bowl of oranges, barefoot.
In the bathtub with many candles and slices of mango.
In white cotton pyjamas, under a comforter with a cat sleeping in a circle."
And here's some more of her advice:
- Wear bright togas and meet in a drumming circle.
- Make more mistakes... you learn quicker.
- Swing as high as you can on a swingset, by moonlight.
- Practice radical self-acceptance.
- Keep toys in the bathtub.
- Extend an invitation to a friend to watch movies and eat poptarts.
photo credit: Piez Some of Sark's Whimsical Books
How to Be An Artist
How To Be An Artist Art Print Poster By Sark, 14.75 " x 22.5 "
Amazon Price: (as of 02/14/2012)
Here's part of what it says:
Stay loose. Learn to watch snails. Plan impossible gardens. Invite someone dangerous to tea. Make little signs that say Yes! and post them all over your house. Make friends with freedom & uncertainty. Look forward to dreams.
Succulent Creativity - SARK & Jill Badonsky
Indulge Your Taste Buds
42. Get a delicious, gooey brownie and savor every morsel.43. Learn to bake peach cobbler.
44. Eat berries fresh from the farmers' market.
45. Get a big, juicy watermelon and savor it out on the porch.
46. Make Crepes. Fill the crepe with nutella (a hazelnut spread with a chocolaty taste) and strawberry jam, and coat it with melted chocolate. Add nuts.
47. Serve yourself some peanut butter on toast with sliced banana and honey drizzled over it.
48. Get some pancakes with maple syrup and whipped cream.
49. Enjoy your favorite beverage:
- Steaming hot cocoa with tiny marshmallows.
- Freshly roasted coffee.
- Green tea with honey.
- Bailey's cup of coffee, topped off with whipped cream.
photo credit: Matt McGee 50. Make Dessert
Instead of purchasing sweet indulgences, apply cooking therapy and make Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey desserts yourself.
Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth
Amazon Price: $10.54 (as of 02/14/2012)
These are just some of the fabulous desserts you'll learn to make with this cook book:
Chocolate Caramel-Pecan Souffl Cake
Cinnamon-Donut Bread Pudding
Double-Crumble Hot Apple Pies
Giant Coconut Cream Puffs
51. Join a Session of a Laughter Yoga Club
52. Read Jim Henson's "It's Not Easy Being Green - And Other Things To Consider"
Wisdom from It's Not Easy Being Green and Other Things to Consider (Mini Book)
Amazon Price: $1.95 (as of 02/14/2012)
During his lifetime, Jim Henson encouraged all adults to remain childlike. He credited his childlike-quality for much of his amazing creativity. Here's how his friends remember him:
"[Jim Henson] changed our lives. He changed the world. And we'll continue his work, because that's how inspiration operates. People die, but inspiration lives and grows. Inspired by his gentleness, we'll fill the world with gentleness. Inspired by his vision, we'll fill the world with vision. Inspired by his chicken imitation, we'll fill the world with laughter."
Before you watch Miss Piggy getting fired in the YouTube video below, take some advice from Kermit the Frog (after all, he has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame):
"Here's some simple advice: Always be yourself. Never take yourself too seriously. And beware of advice from experts, pigs and members of Parliament."
-- Eustace Budgell
More Ways to Share Simple Pleasures With Others
54. Buy all of the necessary ingredients for making tamales, invite a group of friends over, and make tamales in an assembly-like style. Open a bottle of wine for drinking as you cook. At the end of the evening everyone goes home with a pile of fresh tamales.55. Grab a good friend and go for a drive, with the windows down, and the car radio playing your favorite songs.
56. Give your spouse or significant other a little journal that is only to be used for writing love notes to each other.
57. Invite your friends over for a night of board games, cards, and charades.
photo credit: Felix Francis Books to Help You Enjoy Simple Pleasures
58. Follow Erma Bombeck's Advice
Erma Bombeck--author of "If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?" and "A Marriage Made in Heaven: Or Too Tired for an Affair", among many other hilarious, bestselling books--wrote about the things she would have done differently if she had her life to live over again, after she found out she was dying of cancer. Some of the things she included were the following:- I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
- I would have eaten the popcorn in the "good" living room.
- I would have worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
- I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
- I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
photo credit: Gaetan Lee Erma Bombeck's Bestselling Books Are Always Good For A Laugh
“To all fans of the whole world and all its sights and sounds.”
Boom De Ya Da! The World is Just Awesome!
59. Create Your Very Own Boom De Ya Da! Video
60. Fly a kite.
"He was in love with life as an ant on a summer blade of grass." ~~ Ben Hecht
Outdoor Summer Fun
61. Go for a bike ride.62. Go for a hike in the woods.
63. Run through your garden sprinkler.
64. Pitch a tent in your back yard and hangout under the stars. Roast marshmallows and tell ghost stories.
65. Count fireflies at dusk.
66. Ride a carousel or a Ferris Wheel.
67. Go sunbathing: lie down on a beach towel reading the latest trashy novel.
68. Go to the beach and walk barefoot in the sand, feeling the sand between your toes.
69. Go to a baseball game.
70. Go to the park and play frisbee. Let your dog tag along.
71. Watch a movie at a drive-in movie theatre. Make sure to get lots of buttered popcorn and chocolate-covered raisins.
(Flying Kites:
photo credit: ronnie44052).(Beach photo:
photo credit: Fr Antunes) Lyrics to "Summertime"
Fish are jumping and the cotton is high
Your daddy's rich and your mama's good-looking
Hush, little baby don't you cry
One of these mornings you're gonna rise up singing
you spread your wings and take to the sky
But until that morning there is nothing can harm you
With your daddy and mommy standing by
They are standing by, I know, don't cry
Celebrate Summer
Sun-Drenched Days & Starlit Nights
Celebrate Summer
Amazon Price: $14.97 (as of 02/14/2012)
Enjoy the long, lazy season of picnics by the river, old-fashioned ice cream socials, seaside vacations, parades, flags, fireworks and burgers hot off the grill in Celebrate Summer. Filled with warm weather recipes, plus lots of easy decorating ideas and tips for outdoor entertaining to make your summer the best it can be!
72. Make Hawaiian Punch
Use Scents to Delight Your Senses
73. Take your favorite essential oil and rub it on the light bulbs in your bedroom. When you turn the light on the heat will diffuse the scent throughout the room.74. Light scented candles.
75. Create this aromatherapy spray to freshen up your laundry:
4 drops lavender essential oil
2 drops peppermint essential oil
2 drops tea tree essential oil
2 cups of water
Combine all of the ingredients in a spray bottle and spray on freshly laundered clothes and linens.
photo credit: Limbo Poet 76. Celebrate the Scent of Lavender
“I was always a lover of soft-winged things." Victor Hugo”
For the Birds (or Butterflies)
77. Place a birdbath in a safe spot in your garden and you'll soon have birds dipping and splashing in the water. They're readily available in home improvement stores and online, but you can also make your own using clay or terra cotta plant pots.78. Buy a bird feeder-or even better, build one-and hang it in a place where you can see it often.
79. Create a butterfly garden in your yard by choosing butterfly-friendly plants.
80. Hunt for bird nests. When you find one, don't touch it, just look.
(Bird in feeder:
photo credit: kennymatic)(Hummingbird:
photo credit: eyesplash Mikul). Create Your Very own Leaf-Shaped Birdbath
81. Go out and look for hummingbirds.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
(Grasshopper photo is courtesy of williamcho.)
Celebrate Summer!
Be a Kid Again
82. Play a game you loved as a child: play with marbles or jacks; jump rope; play hopscotch; draw with colored chalk on the sidewalk; get some Play-Doh; or go to a park and climb on the swings.83. Eat your favorite cereal from when you were a child: Fruit Loops, Lucky Charms, Honey Nut Cheerios, Cap'n Crunch, etc.
84. Go for a walk and come back with at least one "treasure" you find along the way.
85. Build a fort out of cardboard boxes and camp out in your living room.
86. Learn to do the Hula-Hoop.
87. Get a yo-yo. Learn the "Walk-the-Dog" trick and the "Drop in the Bucket" trick.
88. Hang a dart board and start practicing your aim.
89. Create a prank kit. Make sure it contains all of the following: magic ink, a hand buzzer, a snake in a can, a whoopee cushion, a squirt gun, and a dribble glass.
photo credit: POSITiv "Smile! If you can't lift the corners, let the middle sag." -- Unknown
90. Read Poetry
The Country - Billy Collins
I wondered about youwhen you told me never to leave
a box of wooden, strike-anywhere matches
lying around the house because the mice
might get into them and start a fire.
But your face was absolutely straight
when you twisted the lid down on the round tin
where the matches, you said, are always stowed.
Who could sleep that night?
Who could whisk away the thought
of the one unlikely mouse
padding along a cold water pipe
behind the floral wallpaper
gripping a single wooden match
between the needles of his teeth?
Who could not see him rounding a corner,
the blue tip scratching against a rough-hewn beam,
the sudden flare, and the creature
for one bright, shining moment
suddenly thrust ahead of his time-
now a fire-starter, now a torch-bearer
in a forgotten ritual, little brown druid
illuminating some ancient night.
Who could fail to notice,
lit up in the blazing insulation,
the tiny looks of wonderment on the faces
of his fellow mice, one-time inhabitants
of what once was your house in the country?
-Billy Collins
photo credit: Tigerlily1978 “It was one of those perfect English autumn days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.”
Celebrate Autumn
91. Witness the leaves turning brilliant colors -notice the golds, russets, and browns.92. Jump into a pile of freshly-raked leaves.
93. Go for a walk and take in the clean, crisp autumn air.
94. Buy roasted chestnuts from a street vendor.
95. Wear a funky hat. Chase it when the wind blows it off your head.
96. Enjoy the sound of leaves crinkling and crackling underneath your shoes.
97. Visit a pumpkin patch and pick the biggest pumpkins you can find to turn into jack-o-lanterns.
98. Visit an apple orchard.
99. Get a fresh bag of Brach's candy corn.
(The quote above is by P.D. James.)
photo credit: Nicholas_T Celebrate Autumn
Autumn in the Country
Autumn in the Country Cookbook (Gooseberry Patch)
Amazon Price: $10.14 (as of 02/14/2012)
Inspired by harvest hayrides, pumpkin picking and small-town festivals, Gooseberry Patch's cookbook, Autumn in the Country, celebrates the very best fall has to offer. It's filled with more than 250 delicious recipes and over 225 tips and ideas.
Tastes of Autumn
"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."
-- Albert Camus
Autumn Coffee Mug
Beautiful Fall/Autumn Pumpkin Shape Coffee Mug/Cup Accented With Fall Leaf Design Wonderful Thanksgiving Decor
Amazon Price: (as of 02/14/2012)
Yankee Candle - Harvest
22OZ HARVEST YANKEE CANDLE
Amazon Price: $20.95 (as of 02/14/2012)
A cozy blend of warm sweetness and crisp spices.
More Lenses That Will Help You Celebrate Life
100. Follow Nadine Stair's Advice
At the age of 85 Nadine Stair was asked what she would do differently if she had her life to live over again.
Here's part of her answer:- I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.
- I would eat more ice cream.
- I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.
- I would ride more merry-go-rounds.
- I would pick more daisies
photo credit: audreyjm529 "Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success."
-- Louisa May Alcott
14,000 Things to Be Happy About
A celebration of almost everything that's ever made us smile.
14,000 Things to be Happy About.: Revised and Updated edition
Amazon Price: $3.99 (as of 02/14/2012)
- new babies
- a well-crafted chair
- having a sense of your own space
- a real person answering the phone
- peninsulas
- leaves snuggled around the foundations of old country houses
The Book of Awesome
Snow Days, Bakery Air, Finding Money in Your Pocket, and Other Simple, Brilliant Things
The Book of Awesome: Snow Days, Bakery Air, Finding Money in Your Pocket, and Other Simple, Brilliant Things
Amazon Price: $12.25 (as of 02/14/2012)
In this adaptation of his blog www.1000awesomethings.com, Neil Pasricha celebrates the simple pleasures of everyday living. This book lists 14,001 things to be happy about. Things like "That one really good pen that never gets lost;" "The sound of ice cubes cracking in a drink;" "Licking the batter off the beaters of a cake mixer;" "The smell and sound of a campfire;" and "That friendly nod between strangers out doing the same thing."
1000 Awesome Things
- 1000 Awesome Things
- 1000 Awesome Things is just a time-ticking countdown of 1000 awesome things.
“Snowflakes are kisses from heaven." (Author Unknown)”
Celebrate Life When It's Snowing Out
101. Make snow angels.102. Go out for a walk on the first fall of snow.
103. Build a snowman or snowlady, and be sure to accessorize with pine cones, small rocks, twigs, and anything else you can think of.
104. Build igloos and use them as headquarters for snowball fights with your friends.
105. Sit by the window and watch it snow.
106. Get into snowball fights: chase your friends around, snowball in hand.
107. Curl up in a comfortable chair by the fire while it's snowing outside, reading a good book or magazine.
108. Go sledding.
photo credit: melinda%u2665josie -- William Sharp
Pamper Yourself
109. Do something that gives you a sense of luxury. You can get a leather notebook to jot down your thoughts, or a beautiful fountain pen. Start collecting fanciful note cards so that you have them on hand when you want to send a hand-written "thank you".110. Drink champagne for no reason at all. Or better yet . . . mimosas.
111. Find a shampoo and conditioner that smell like water melon.
112. Visit antique stores and flea markets until you find the perfect brass knocker for your front door, one that makes you smile every time you're about to enter your home.
113. Buy the softest terry cloth robe you can find and put it in the dryer just before taking a shower, so that it's nice and warm when you get out of the shower and put it on.
114. Get a hot rock massage.
photo credit: Velo Steve 115. Make Mojitos
"Scatter joy!" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Celebrate the Holidays
116. Watch all of your favorite Christmas movies: "The Santa Clause" with Tim Allen; "Miracle on 34th Street" with Maureen O'Hara; "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with Jim Carey . . .117. Take in the smell of Christmas: fresh pine, apples and cinnamon, gingerbread . . .
118. Sit in the dark with the Christmas tree lights on, just watching the tree.
119. Listen to Christmas carols. Better yet: go Christmas caroling.
120. Get dressed up for Halloween.
121. Watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".
122. Gorge on Cadbury Easter eggs and Yellow Marshmallow Peeps during Easter.
photo credit: riptheskull Celebrate Your Best Christmas Ever
- Have a Gooseberry Patch Christmas
- Gooseberry Patch creates beautiful, festive books filled with recipes and how-to's to help you create a wonderful Christmas holiday for your family. With over 100 titles and more than 7 million cookbooks sold, the Gooseberry Patch brand is synonomous with quality and value.
- 28 Glorious Christmas Traditions
- Here are 28 glorious Christmas traditions to get your Holidays off to a great start.
- Fun, Whimsical Gift Ideas for Creative People
- I'm sure there are plenty of creative people in your life, so if you're wondering what to get them for Christmas, here you will find some fun and whimsical suggestions.
- Five Ways to Keep Your Spirits Up During the Holidays
- Although the holidays are lauded as being the most wonderful time of the year, for many people this season brings with it feelings of sadness and anxiety. Whatever you may be celebrating in the next few weeks-Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, New Years' Eve, and so on-being happy this holiday season is a choice you can make, and there are steps you can take to help you bring more joy to your holidays.
123. Have a Norman Rockwell Christmas
Yankee Candle Christmas Wreath
Yankee Candle Large 22-Ounce Jar Candle, Christmas Wreath
Amazon Price: $23.99 (as of 02/14/2012)
Experience the scent of Fresh-cut boughs and branches of pine, balsam, and hollyberry every time you light this candle.
124. Watch the 10 Greatest American Movies of all Time
1. CITIZEN KANE
2. CASABLANCA
3. THE GODFATHER
4. GONE WITH THE WIND
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ
7. THE GRADUATE
8. ON THE WATERFRONT
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
(Ranked by the American Film Institute)
Greatest Movies of All Time
The First Five
The Greatest Movies of All Time
The Next Five
125. Wear Purple
WARNING
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens . . .
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
126. Smile!
If you think you can't, just lift up the corners and let the middle sag. :-)
You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too."
~Author Unknown
127. Read Happiness Quotes
Have a list of happiness quotes handy for when your spirit needs to be uplifted.
Here's one on my blog: 65 Happiness Quotes.
"You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled."
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon
128. Celebrate Life by Counting Your Blessings
Throw open the windows and yell out at the top of your lungs: "thank you"!
Gratitude Journals
If the only prayer you ever say in your life is "thank you", that would be enough.
Gratitude Quotes
129. Create Your Life List.
Here's My Bucket List :-)
- My Bucket List
- Everyone should have a bucket list. To quote the movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freedman, it's a list of things to do before you "kick the bucket".
“Slow down, you move too fast.”
59th Street Bridge Song - Simon and Garfunkel
Life, I love you, all is groovy.
Happiness Recipe
" I have a little recipe that isn't hard to make
But you must always start as soon as you awake.
Take a great big mixing bowl and fill it with a smile
Mix half a cup of sunshine with good deeds to last a while.
Add a pinch of work and play, a pinch of thoughtfulness and care
But don't bake it in the oven, just spread it around everywhere."
-- Author Unknown
If you'd like to purchase the poster above on Zazzle, just click on the image, or click here: How To Be Happy Poster.
130. Laugh Until You Cry
131. Create a Comfort Drawer
In the book "Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy" Sarah Ban Breathnach recommends creating a comfort drawer to "stockpile small indulgences" for "those nights when you feel as if you'd like to pull the covers over your head and never come out." It should include items to pamper yourself, however you view pampering.You can line your drawer with scented flowered paper, or you can even use a basket or trunk instead of a drawer and tuck in some scented satches. Some of the things you can include in you comfort drawer are the following:
- A beloved book; or a brand new book by one of your favorite authors.
- Rosewater hand lotion by Crabtree & Evelyn
- A scrapbook of special mementos
- Vanilla-scented candles
- Herbal tea or specialty coffee >li>Swiss chocolates
- A CD with soft, meditation music
- Some luxurious lavender scented bubble bath
- A soft nightgown
- A small bottle of Kahlua
- Your favorite movies on DVD
- A book of favorite poems and/or quotes
- Old letters tied together with a ribbon
Image taken from here.
Crabtree & Evelyn Rosewater
132. Collect Funny Things Your Kids Say
Or your nephews and nieces, or the kids next door. Any kid will do.
Kids Say the Darndest Things!
Amazon Price: $7.97 (as of 02/14/2012)
This famous collection of children 's wisdom and witticisms is now back in print in a facsimile edition to entertain a whole new generation.
“Dear God: On Halloween I'm going to wear a devil's costume. Is that all right with you?”
More Funny Things Kids Say
New Family Traditions
The Book of New Family Traditions: How to Create Great Rituals for Holidays & Everydays
Amazon Price: $47.58 (as of 02/14/2012)
Overcoat Day. Welcome Summer Party. Monthly Pizza Blast. Bus Stop Party. These are just some of the enjoyable and inventive new traditions you 'll find in The Book of New Family Traditions.
Change the World
Follow Me on Twitter
- Marelisa
- aka Marelisa
- 5,323 followers
- 3,529 following
-
- RT @HarryTucker: RT @GreatestQuotes: "The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it." - W.M. Lewis
-
- RT @peterbaksa: How Does Our Consciousness Change the Structure of the Brain and Then Our Life? http://t.co/duMBKeTU via @HuffingtonPost
-
- RT @MindFortune: "Wise words often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away." Compton MacKensie, Sr
-
- Just learned that u can download the Kindle reader software unto ur PC from the Amazon site, so u don't need a Kindle to read Kindle books.
-
- Life Is Like a Game of Chutes and Ladders: Keep Playing the Game http://t.co/WmVjx2Z3
Your turn: how do you celebrate life?
Everyone is welcome to leave a message, including non-squidoo members.
-
Reply
-
flycatcher
Jan 4, 2012 @ 12:28 pm | delete
- What a lovely happy kind of lens - a real bright spot in a dark winter's day. Thank you!
-
-
Reply
-
Tolovaj
Dec 28, 2011 @ 12:43 pm | delete
- Last few years I learnt to celebrate life with little pleasures... Older I am, more I notice how fast time flies and how important little things are. Thanks for your list. It is astonishing!
-
-
Reply
-
DebMartin
Dec 24, 2011 @ 12:27 pm | delete
- Beautiful lens! I celebrate life most often by going on an adventure in the wilds. It can be several days in the wilderness, just me and my canoe or as simple finding a creek and following it, up stream or down stream, it doesn't matter.
-
-
Reply
-
moonlitta
Dec 18, 2011 @ 3:02 am | delete
- I'm surprised at how many can the ways be for a man to fell blessed!
-
-
Reply
-
crstnblue
Nov 3, 2011 @ 4:56 pm | delete
- Wonderful lens - content/ ideas, photos, quotes... - perfect to make your day!
-
-
Reply
-
pepys
Sep 5, 2011 @ 11:56 pm | delete
- By making at least one person laugh each day.
-
-
Reply
-
howel
Sep 5, 2011 @ 7:30 pm | delete
- Imagine if everyone just practiced simple random acts of kindness. Your lens brings a burst of fresh air.
-
-
Reply
-
gonzalezdenise
Aug 24, 2011 @ 9:31 pm | delete
- Very nice lens.
-
-
Reply
-
umi
Jul 4, 2011 @ 6:44 pm | delete
- Great post! It reminded me of something I have almost forgotten and inspired me a lot. Im changing my todays plans. Thanks :)
-
-
Reply
-
Have2Cruise
Jul 4, 2011 @ 10:36 am | delete
- AWESOME Lens!! Well written and tons of great ideas. Some reminded me of things I have not done in a long time. I'm bookmarking this lens so I can come back to it and remind myself of the simple pleasures in life. Great job!!
-
- Load More
by Marelisa
Hi, I'm Marelisa Fabrega. I blog over at Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown...
more »
- 96 featured lenses
- Winner of 14 trophies!
- Top lens » Bucket List Ideas - 1000 Things to do Before You Die
- This lens »
Won purple star
Explore related pages
- 100 Things I'm Thankful For 100 Things I'm Thankful For
- Mother Teresa Quotes To Inspire You Mother Teresa Quotes To Inspire You
- How to Raise Your Vibrational Frequency How to Raise Your Vibrational Frequency
- Peace Joy Love - Exercises For Finding Happiness Peace Joy Love - Exercises For Finding Happiness
- Creating Happiness Creating Happiness
- The Simple Things In Life That Make Me Happy The Simple Things In Life That Make Me Happy
