Last weekend, my best buddy and I enjoyed the Mt. Mitchell Craft Fair in Burnsville, North Carolina. The crafts were breathtakingly fabulous; we each came home with more than one purchase! The food was totally awesome. Can anyone tell me the delicious factor of a funnel cake? YUM! And get this. The local Friends of the Library were having a blow-your-mind book sale. For one quarter, I purchased a nugget of a book called 14,000 Things to Be Happy About. by Barbara Ann Kipfer. It was perhaps my best purchase of the day. In sixth grade, the author began to write in “a tiny spiral notebook” things that made her happy. The book compiles 14,000 happy thoughts from 20 years of note taking. (She admits to eventually progressing to taking notes on a personal computer!)

Here’s my idea! Why not start your own list of happy thoughts. You could keep it on your computer. Then, when you’re having a challenging day (we all have them), you can scroll through your list for an instant happy fix. I’m going to do it!

Here are five random picks from Barbara’s book:

  • fresh-baked cookies
  • the squeak of a hammock
  • teeter-totters
  • meeting deadlines
  • laughing out loud

Are you smiling?
Diane

PS: Remember today is the last day to enter our first of five back-to-school giveaways. To be entered, share a favorite first-day activity at First Day and a Giveaway.

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4 Responses to “Five Things to Be Happy About”

  1. 13 Aug 2012 at 7:27 pm # 4.  Melissa A. Campbell

    I think it is important to teach kids to think positive b/c it helps them deal with the “small things.” I am thinking that students could write their happy thoughts on slips of paper and deposit their slips in a box. The slips could then be pulled out and shared when the class needed some encouragement.It might also be fun to guess whose happy thought each slip belongs to.

  2. 13 Aug 2012 at 3:00 pm # 3.  Darlene Taig

    Great idea and I can guarantee Mailbox will be on the list.
    Happy thoughts to all

  3. 13 Aug 2012 at 11:40 am # 2.  Cheryl

    This is a great idea! Positive thoughts make for a happier day and we all need that! :)

  4. 13 Aug 2012 at 6:08 am # 1.  Diane P

    Great Idea…I think I’ll leave a notebook in my 3rd graders’ writing center for students to start a list too.

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