A Happiness Jar

As we begin a new year, many folks are making all kinds of resolutions. Some are set on breaking bad habits, while others are determined to add new good habits. Whoever you stand on that scale, we think a happiness jar is a fantastic idea. You see, along with Vitamin D and nutrient-dense foods, practicing gratitude has an immense effect on our well-being and our overall ability to be happy. By taking time each day to recall the blessings of that day, even the tiniest ones, we are choosing to focus on the positive and uplifting, when harping on the negative so often seems much easier to do. What will you choose this new year? We will be filling our happiness jar 🙂

““Enjoy the little things, for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things.”
~ Robert Brault

These days, people try to sell us everything from miracles in a tube to Hope in a Jar. So when the term happiness jar started rolling around social media circles, you might have thought “Who’s selling something now?”

The answer: No one. This is the real deal, and that’s because it can’t be sold. This treasure can only be handcrafted by you, FOR YOU. It’s Happiness In A Jar, which was first introduced by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Basically, here’s the idea: Every day you add a note to your jar that describes a moment that made you happy, preferably with pretty scrap paper. The more you fill it up with happy and thankful moments, the more beautiful it becomes. Isn’t that just the perfect picture of what life is like?

Why I Decided This Is The Year

For me, the decision to make this my Happiness Jar Year came when I was standing at a parade wishing I’d washed my hair. You see, the year before I’d stood at the same parade, held the very same baby boy, and wished the same thing about my hair. While it may seem on the surface that nothing had changed in those 365 days, the truth is that SO MUCH had. My baby boy went from a wee babe to a walking, talking boy in a thousand almost imperceptible steps.

Gratitude Jar-how-to
He and his siblings have brought more laughter and joy than I could have imagined before becoming a parent. (And also a fair amount of frustration, but we’re focusing on the good stuff for now.)

I know theoretically that they will not always be this small, and that the daily joys they bring will someday be forgotten unless I write them down. Honestly, though, it’s a reality I find difficult to grasp. It’s so easy to take the little joys of this phase for granted, but as a gift to the future me I’m trying to be more intentional about savoring (and documenting) this time. That’s why I decided to make this my year.

I’d love it if you’d join me on this journey, so I wanted to share with you some of the questions I had, as well as the answers I found:

What Should I Add To My Happiness Jar?
This is YOUR jar, so you make the rules. There are lots of things you could include depending on what seems most fitting that day:”