Recently I was invited to join Happify, a website that will help you the five essential happiness skills: savor, thank, aspire, give, and empathize.
When you sign in you get to chose what aspect of your life you want to focus on. I chose enjoy parenting, this doesn’t mean I do not enjoy being a mother, but sometimes I get so caught up on my to-do list and what I should be doing that I forget to truly enjoy being a mom. Running from one thing to the next, breakfast, lunch, work, the blog; it soon drowns me and I get so cranky and so stressed out that I forget to enjoy life.
My first task was an easy one, one that I truly enjoy:
Happify // Take a walk with a camera.
Instructions: Take a walk outside (or around your house) taking pictures of things you find beautiful, novel or funny. Look for the beauty in things you normally wouldn’t notice. A rumpled bathrobe tossed on the floor. The shadows cast across your driveway.
A week ago my husband’s company, Red Rokk Interactive, moved into their new office. Saturday we stopped by the office for a bit. It was there where my photographic adventure began (I promise there are not too many photos below).
I truly love this man. How often do you get to see your husband working with tools in a silly St. Patrick’s Day hat as well as neon green wayfarers. This made me laugh so much!
Later on the Irish accessories were taken over by little J. who walked around with upside down glasses and saying, over and over again: “Mom, I look cool!” or “I am cool, mom!”
And, yes he did look very cool!! He did walk to the car looking cool in green gear!!
I love this one too!
We then headed to Cornwall Park to hang out with the cousins. The moment I saw this tree I just had to photograph it.
So grand and beautiful. Covered in moss. Our greeter to the park.
The ground around the tree was also covered in moss which reminded me of fairies. I have never been the fairy kind of girl, but it warmed me up inside just enough for me to enjoy its beauty.
Seeing my husband play with the boys makes me happy to no end. I just love seeing them wrestle and be goofs together. It made me happy to see my oldest boy, A., enjoying some time with dad. He did look kind of uncomfortable in that baby swing but he still smilles and screamed in happiness!
There is no way that sitting on a swing and seeing your toes touch the sky would not bring a smile to your face.
While the boys played I walked to the right of the playground, to the wooden bridge over the creek. I love its weathered look. Standing there, under the sun light, made me feel happy.
As I turned down I saw more moss. It abounds here in Washington. And, being tiny, I had to stuff my camera on it…and snapped happily from every single angle.
It is amazing how our daily lives can cause us to over look the simple things that could, easily, bring a smile to our face.
And I finally have a picture of my self that I actually like (besides the one on my Facebook profile).
Have I mentioned that I love that dude? Yeah, I do. And since he usually frowns at me when I point my camera at him…I took pictures of our shadows. Now they are trapped in this photo; kind of what happened to Peter Pan’s.
Being with him make me smile; he is where home is.
Oh this little boy. Mastering the terrible threes. His are being worse than his brother’s were. But I still love him. Even when he is in trouble, and he knows so, his big puppy eyes and shy smile will make even the toughest person crack.
I love my boys. All 3 of them. I love my life. I love where we are in our paths.
Could things be better? Yeah, of course. But I am happy with where we are. As long as we are together, nothing can go wrong!
“Mindful photography trains us to look for and notice positive features of our environment,” says Dr. Fred Bryant, psychologist at Loyola University, “which data show can boost happiness.”
- Join Happify -
Stay in touch
Facebook || Twitter || Google+ || Pinterest
Very cool! I will have to check out Happify!
great photos sofia I really should take a class
I’ve always wanted to take a class. It takes practice. Try different angles, and I always edit my photos on Photoshop. Editing definitely changes the photo a lot! It can give it a different feeling and look.
I love this challenge! Sometimes I get caught up in life too and forget to take time to enjoy what is around me! Thanks for the reminder!
Tell me about it!! It does get tough with everything that goes around one’s self. Just take it easy, I am surely trying
I love the one of the shadows!
Your photos are amazing! It looks like everyone had a great day
I love taking pictures, and I bring my camera with me as often as I can. These pictures are wonderful.. Thank you for sharing.
Awesome pictures! I need to check out Happify!
I love the shadow picture! Of course all of them are great shots. If taking pictures forces yiu to look at the beauty surrounding you-then it is a very good thing!!
There is beauty all around us….but sometimes we forget to truly see since we are so busy…besides, I love taking photos
I love it . Definitely a fun activity you can do with the kiddos when they get bored too.
Great idea!! Kick them out of the house, camera i hand, and tell them they are not allowed to come in untile they have 10 pictures of something that caught their eye….I’ll have to wait for my boys to get older though!
Nice photos, I love the coloring on them.
Love all of the picture! Your kiddos are adorable!
Great photos. I really like Happify. I have been using it for stress.
nice
What fun pictures! I love that tree one. I have to say, John is always doing work around the house with his “pimp” hat as I call it, or in some other crazy garb.
You should totally take photos!!
Those are great photos. Seems like a great hobby to have!
Your photos are lovely, and so is your family! This post was beautiful to read and view, thank you. Sometimes there’s so much bad news and drudgery out there, that it’s refreshing to read something positive like this.
Great pics! Looks so fun! Love family-fun days!!!
What a fun task!! I really enjoyed looking at your pictures. They made me happy as well!! I recently joined Happify, and I really enjoy the site so far. I’m to focus on parenting as well, and it’s really given me tasks as well to remember to focus on the little things!
What a lovely walk with a camera! I miss doing this. Nowadays its a walk with the kids and an iPhone. Thankfully our weather here in the PNW is getting better almost daily – and 70s on Saturday. Wohoo! Also, I think it is so neat that you took a self-portrait. That is something I’d like to start doing more of.
Love the challenge and the photos, thta moss-covered tree is grand and love the pic of your husband doing man work in a silly hat lol
Nice pictures! Love the quality and contrast!