:: My Excellent Essence...

Hey you!

I am reading a book. I know. Ah-may-zing, considering I have not even finished Pride and Prejudice (btw, if you would like to write a post about P&P for this blog, please let me know so all our book club members can share in it!)

Anyhoo, back to this other book.  It's called The Happiness Project.  Have you read it?  Have you heard about it?   (You can download podcasts here, if you like!)

I first heard of it via a trail I followed from David Gauntlett over here. (I really like what David has to say about everyday creativity.  After I heard his term, I realised THAT is what I am all about.  Not so much about making a thing every day, but rather about having a creative approach to things daily and having a dive-in-trial-and-error-wide-eyed-determined-capable-excited daily approach to craft, and life in general.  More about having a go, rather than having it perfect.   Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.  )

The reason I have been thinking about all this stuff is that I have been writing a book proposal for a far away book. I want it to be super special and meaningful and fun. And I want it to be super positive.   I've been thinking about craftiness and making things, for sure, but also I have been thinking about other things that really matter to me, the kinds of things that make people happy in general. I guess because making makes me happy, it's sort of lead me to Making Is Connecting and  The Happiness Project. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear!

So, I've been trying to distill all the Things that keep me happy and positive into one Excellent Essence. Things like looking for the interesting and the beautiful and the colourful.  Things nostalgic and laced with childhood memories.  Things that smell good and taste good and feel good and are good.  Things that stretch my brain into happy knots.  Things that make me happy-tired.  The little everyday things that can keep things peachy.

From a craftier and no less peachy point of view, I have been thinking about craft and community, big parts of my Excellent Essence and happiness.   And about craft and family, craft and friendship.  I've been thinking about how making things together and for each other helps us get to know ourselves and each other better.    I have been noticing the benefits of feeling a bit dorky and disarmed, making crafty, happy mistakes in front of strangers (or indeed friends!) in the name of craft and community.    I've been thrilling at the way sharing crafty skills, times and traditions connects us in really happy ways, just like David says.

Ah happy.  Don't you think that often the simplest, most lo-fi things make us happy?  Have you noticed that often unexpected, sometimes mundane things make us happy?

For instance, cleaning up a room and getting rid of crap we don't really need = happy
Getting up a bit earlier and having quiet cups of tea in a warm room = happy
Taking a walk every day and looking at the neighbourhood = happy
Remembering to stop and chat and laugh with someone you really like = happy
Being a bit more organised = happy
A tray of tea and a biscuit or two = happy
Smelling flowers with a big deep SNIFF = happy
Drinking more water = happy
A clean bathroom or a made bed = happy

So I bought The Happiness Project, which is all about these kinds of simple, happy, excellent moments. I have been reading it in the bath.  And nodding. And smiling.  And feeling excellent.

What makes you happy?  Do you have an Excellent Essence?

xx Pip