I began the Happiness Tools posts to inspire others, but the more I write the more i recognize how much of these are part of my life and may be why I can still report happiness when life gets difficult.  Some of these were conscious choices as I know they bring me joy and others were just happy accidents! 

Linking up today with Pinned it and Did It

Loving this Navy Chevron dress I picked up from No More Rack

Leggings from F21

Today’s first happiness tool is Helping Others,  Studies show 100 hours a year is ideal. While I have never thought about how many hours a year i find this tool helpful to my goal to have a balance in Mind, Body and Spirit,  I know it is a major one for me.    Just yesterday, at my WW meeting a young mom found out I had a blog and asked me for help in finding a style for herself, after years of wering a military unifrom she felt lost.   I loved that conversation and steering her in the right direction and look forward to helping her even more.  It doesn’t have to be about spending money, it just has to be giving of yourself and your time.  There are givers in this world and takers and I for one am a Giver and I get so much more than I give. Try just complimenting someone today1  If you are the boss , trying compimenting your employees for a week and see how it goes!

I added a sweater for warmth to the original inspiration, which is from

Sweet Laundry. 

Giving in terms of money and things is also a part of my everyday life.  I had so much time over the summer thrifitng for my niece.   I also help a single mother friend by thrifting for her and her daughter.  I buy things all year to make their Christmas special as well.   Each purchase throughout the year makes my heart sing as I know the joy it will bring.  I will never forget the year we gave friends $500 at Christmas when they were struggling to pay their water bill.  I even liked on our St. Maarten trip that we delivered coupons to our group that were from the owner of the company to enjoy one actvity on him.  Just going from hotel room to hotel room sliding those under each door made us both giddy and the best thing was that it was the last thing we did on our Anniversary night before calling it a night!  

A lot of us Give during the holidays, but I challenge you to find ways to Help Others through out the rest of the year and see how much joy it brings you! 

Dear Readers, Today’s second Happiness Tool is to Practice Smiling. Research showed that customer service workers  who fake smiled actually worsened their moods , while those who visualized a happy place to smile increased their mood. I recommend if you are a mangager to try smiling at your team as they are working and see what happens.  I believe so much in this tool and want to share a dream I had a few years ago.  I found Laughter Yoga and wanted to become a laughter Yogo Instructor and go around to businesses and start their day off with a session, I know it would be of value and increase productivity. I did this with my two youngest before they went off to school each morning and they loved it!  

A Full Belly Laugh each day is good for the Soul!

Gratitude

I am grateful to my daughter for coming and apologizing to me today, something that is very hard for her to do!!! 

I am grateful that my husband had a break in his work day and  grabbed the three youngest for hair cuts , leaving me home alone to write this post!

I am grateful that as I typed this my intense sinus pressure headache went away! 

I am grateful for this report card of how I am doing to create happiness in my life that is coming out of sharing these posts this week.  

I am grateful that the Spelling program for Connor is really what’s been missing and that he is embracing it fully!