One of my happiest moments of my life starts with my first happiest moment.

Growing up I could not shake a feeling that I had forgotten a lingering memory. One day after school when I was in kindergarten, I walked into my kitchen’s breakfast nook which was flooded with sunlight.  We had larger windows on three sides of this nook and it was up against our atrium that was filled with sunlight.

I guess I was having a good day, plus I had nothing to complain about in my life at that point.  So as I set my backpack on the table, my attention turned outside to the beautiful spring day and I was overwhelmed by the sunlight.  Almost instantly I was submerged by a tidal wave of happiness and love for myself and my life. In that instant, everything that I had learned about life thus far could never have taught me or shown me how to feel such pure love.  It was natural and easy and in that moment I just let life flow through me.  It felt like a distant memory; something familiar that came effortlessly and naturally.  Basking in the brightness of life I felt gratitude to be in this place at this time, and I felt thankful for my family, home and the gracious life that has been given to me by the creator.

The love I felt in that moment was unexplainable and was a gift from the creator.  I was young and it was an amazing feeling of pure joy and appreciation.  The level of joy took no effort, as if the potential to love that much had been inside of me all along; I just needed a catalyst to discover that happiness and understand my own capacity for love.

As easily as that wave of happiness had come, it left.  My mind was unable to fully understand the importance of that moment on my being, but I knew I would never forget it.

So I began my life’s journey through elementary school. It was hard but easy at the same time. Children can be little balls of joy and yet so cruel to others. It always amazed me how children’s decisions were run by pure emotion; basically by two polar opposite sides of our existence.  The love of life and at the same time, the jealousy for others determined how they treated their peers.  Kids do not know how to control these urges.  The urge to put down other human beings to make themselves feel better, and instead show respect and the importance of spreading their happiness for life with others.  School always seemed to be filled with little trials and tribulations, although there were never any major problems with my life till one day in the 7th grade…

“Love never gives up. Love cares for others more than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, doesn’t force itself on others, it isn’t always “me first,” doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, doesn’t revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end. Love never dies” (1 Corinthians 13, The Message).

By: Curtis Brooks

“so, i’m greek, right?”

one of my most favorite lines from ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’.

being a Greek means that if your family had the means, you’ve had summers in Greece at least once in your life.
I’ve had about 20 summers in Greece, give or take.

being a Greek means that you have to travel to Greece at least once after you get married…be it to another Greek (which is preferred by most hardcore Greeks, or wanna-be hardcore Greeks) or to a xeno (which means a non-Greek).

have fun trying to bring a Greek who doesn’t speak, read or write Greek down to Greece to meet your family- especially if you’re married. Fortunately, we didn’t have that problem.

Our only problem? Where will we pick up our breakfast before we get to the beach?
LML and I had two requisites for summers in Kalamata- constant access to the beach and some R&R throughout the day.

done and done.

I remember that there were days we would go to the beach twice- in the morning and then during sunset. It was beautiful to watch the sun setting high in the sky while swimming…floating in the arms of your one and only.

The 45 minute walks to get to the beach, and back were also crazy worth it- probably because of our never-ending conversations. We loved walking by cafenia (cafes), watching the tourists (haha), snapping pictures (me- and LML telling me not to because we’d look like tourists)… and the amount of exercise we got between all that walking and all the swimming would lead ultimately to…

gelato.

Now, i don’t have any pictures of the gelatos we would get. Why? Because the last summer we were there, my camera decided to kick the bucket about one day into our one month vacation.

Oh, Gelato.

Our nights consisted of: waking after our ciesta- getting all dolled up and hitting a different cafe for coffee or a beer (we’d sampled all the beers in kalamata during our last summer there)…or hitting the hookah cafe on the beach and watching the bellydancers… or going for the most incredible pizza in the world at Pizza Roma.

Ho. Ly. Cow.

Holy Pizza.

food…beach…swimming…r + r…what else is vacation all about?

love me,
the globetrotting gamine
By: christina

Yesterday when I baptized my boy in our swimming pool as a child of the Universe, by having him repeat these words:

I will always be good to myself and others
I will always pursue knowledge,
I will respect my planet,
I will make the most out of each day that I am alive

Then I dunked his head underwater.
We hugged for a few seconds.

Finally, I picked him up and threw him in the water and hit him on the head with a beachball as he came up for air.
By: Ruben Lopez

Seeing the Chargers make a come back win..with a determined set of 3rd string players.  Could it be?  The chargers seem to be rolling, and seeing Antonio Gates scoring TD’s again is a great thing.  I think this could be a great year…

Maybe its just becoming the great American past time, but each year I look forward to football more and more.  I have happy moments dating back to childhood to now as an adult.  Whether it was watching USC play with my dad as a kid, or going to San Diego State football games during the Marshall Faulk era, or watching EJ Watson break through the fog for a winning touchdown run during one of La Jolla High’s CIF playoff games, or being at any of my high school football games, or watching the Chargers vs Chiefs each score 4+ TD’s and Chargers winning while watching at Tortilla flats with Kelso, or watching Chargers make a late comeback against the Chiefs watching with my bro at Oggis’s, or watching LT break the Rushing touchdown record, or watching Denver choke a late season lead letting the Chargers make the playoffs with an 8-8 record.

The good times just keep rolling with football, and I can’t get enough.  Even the changing of the seasons during the football seasons help elicit the great feelings.  The seasons always seems to start with at least one blazing hot Santa Ana day, and the changing of the seasons during the seasons only add to the emotional attachment to football.

I hope everyone loves this sport or any sport as much as I do, cause sports can truly bring people together, and help develop deep bonds and fond memories.  Enough of this sappy crap…its football season, get tough and Chargers….just win just one Superbowl…please!

By: Curtis Brooks

As a kid I barely noticed the sunsets from my house…but as I got older I began to notice and appreciate them more and more.  I was so lucky to grow up in such an amazing house with such amazing views of San Diego and the ocean.  It truly gives me a euphoric feeling imagining myself sitting in the cushioned chairs in my old living room, relaxing and watching the sunset across a summer skyline…and jammin’ some Bruce Springsteen records

I need to find more time to head to the beach and enjoy the sunsets…

By Curtis Brooks

With our communities expanding at a rapid rate, we are invading the local habitats and disrupting the animal kingdom.  We need to find a balance to how we use of the environment, instead of always taking, we should also give back.  With new construction and developing of society, the local habitat is completely turned upside down.  We “degrub” the site and remove all local plant life.  Then we build our buildings and surround them with pretty landscaping, that provides little to no benefit to the local ecosystem/animals.  I think we need to change this style of constructing.

I call it “environmental gardening.”  I think an effort needs to made to increase the harmony between the local ecosystem and our current/future environments.  First, it would start with a survey of existing developments to determine what types of animals live in and around us.  In reviewing the findings, we should pay special attention to the surrounding natural habitats, to help support existing animal life.  We should research the local ecosystem to understand the true potential of this environment and to work to restore any animal population that is missing, to potentially restore the missing animals from this chain of life.  In conjunction with the animal survey, a plant survey should be taken within the developments and then the adjacent ecosystems.

In review of these studies, we should determine what is lacking within the animal and plant ecosystems, and determine an action plan of how to restore harmony to the ecosystem, and increase its diversity and health.  The first restorative focus should be on improving the adjacent natural ecosystem, by replanting local beneficial plants, eliminating non-beneficial invasive or foreign plant, and reintroducing animals that are missing from the typical animal kingdom structure.  With the existing local preserves flourishing, this will hopefully result in an overflow of population.

Now we should turn to our review of our city’s interaction with the ecosystem.  All plants that are non-supportive to the local system should be eliminated and replaced with beneficial plant species.  The goal being to provide additional food supply for the local animals.  Flowering, fruit and seed producing plants that support the local animal population should be strategically located to provide the best dispersion and comingling of species to create an extension of the local ecosystem.

With time our environmental gardening experiment will help rebuild the natural order and not only improve the ecosystem, but also the quality of our enviornment, improving our health of our neighborhoods and bring the sound of nature back to our backyards.   I hope we find a way to make this type of dream happen…and I would be willing to be the construction manager for a project for this type of project any day…so hire me at www.TreeFrogBuilders.com

By Curtis Brooks

Humans need to find our connection to the world around us. Right now we live as loners on this planet, taking what we need and not giving back. We need to find our niche in the ecology of our planet, and find a way to contribute and support the ecosystem of our surroundings.

By Curtis Brooks

according to the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:  Zaphod Beeblebrox created ”A Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster is a cocktail based on Janx Spirit.  The series states that the effect of one is like having your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick.”

I like the sound of that…where can I get one!

I was driving home last night thinking about this website, and thought it would be great to have more than just happy moments.  I wanted people to share their general thoughts about happiness.  There are more things then just physical moments that make us happy.  Often times just thinking about how to create something or imaging a better world or life can bring about joy.

I thought that if this website created a social sharing experiment of happy thought, inventions and moments, we would be creating basically an out of control brainstorming session on happiness.  Changing the world can be a very difficult persevere with an idealistic world changing idea, and few people have the stamina to really put the effort into changing the world.  I do not believe in possession or ownership of “being the one” that changed the world, rather I would love to at least help ANYONE find a way to bring about profound change.  I am hoping that this websites brainstorming of positive ideas may help anyone else, that has the resources and abilities, to build off of these shared ideas to create a great way to change the world for the better.

I just really think our society and world can be improved, since it has always been an ever evolving world and culture.  Its time to focus on things that will benefit everyone…not just the individual wants and needs.  We should work together to create a Happy world, so please help and share your thoughts on how we can improve society, and the world/environment around us!

By Curtis Brooks

When I held my son for the first time. I never thought I could love someone so much from the very start. I felt as though I was standing on a cloud, but the sun was not above me. I was holding him in my arms. I remember saying in my head:

“Welcome to this world son. I will do my all to be the best dad in the world.”

I named him ‘Surena’, which means in sanskrit: God of the sun.
By: Bashful

Lately i am having many happy moments. But the day my son came home from Iraq in 2004 was the happiest day of my life…even happier than his birth..
By: MorningBreeze

Whenever my fiance proposed.

It was so great and I’ll never foget it. He brought the kids into our room one night while I was sick so I was laying in bed and they all sat on the bed and asked me if I would want to be a part of the family and I said yes then he got down on one knee and pulled out this beautiful ring. Here’s a picture of it. I’m SO HAPPY!

The day I met my dad was the happiest moment I’ve ever had!! I was ten years old, and some strange man came in through my class room door asking for me and at first I was like, “uh, who the heck is this?” but then he said “Hiya Princess” like he did in the letters and I started bawling my eyes out. I went and stayed at his house for a week and had to be pulled out the door by my mom when it was time to go home…….. Loved that day, and the only day that ever came close to that level of happiness was the day my brother was born!

By Nikkiscared

The day my daughter was born. The nurse said my daughter was coming so fast they had to deliver her right in the room where we were. I was holding her mother’s right leg as she was coming out. It was a brand new experience for me. Watching another life come from out of another life. And part of that life was MINE!!! Other than the delivery nurse, I was the first one to touch her. I touched the top of her head before it was all the way out. After they put the black stuff on her feet to get her footprints I was the first one to hold her.

If I’m not at work she is everywhere I am and goes everywhere I go. She is my only child and we look just like twins with the exact same personality. I am 47yrs old, she turned 8 last July 1st.

By Don Juan

So many happy moment’s to mention, but for today walking in the light rain towards the bush/bike track and seeing the most beautiful sunrise, purple,pink with the sun rising over the tree’s, Wow! makes you think how beautiful this planet really is……It’s our home we can’t move to another planet.
Remember That!!!!!!! Take in the beauty and take time to smell the roses.

By Jude6225

Ooo top 10. (In no particular order):

Escaping a bad situation, finally moving back to my hometown and being truly free.

Quite a few moments that are riddled throughout dating my husband.

My wedding day.

The birth of our son.

My 27th birthday party (It really was quite something).

Buying my first house.

A handful of exceptionally happy moments with friends over the years.

By Lady Face

There are so many happy moments in my life. Some become golden memories, like the cabin my father and grandfather built. It was a wonderul place, though is now gone, returned to the National Forest Service to give the earth the best environmental opportunities it could.

I am a Buddhist, and one of the truly golden memories I cherish is a day when a friend of mine and I returned from a Fife and Drum Corps practice. We had had extra time to chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo after practice, and when we got home we decided we would chant some more. We were at her house, so we first chanted an hour there. Then, we walked to my house and chanted an hour. We walked back to her house and chanted another hour, then back to my house again. In total, we chante seven hours that day. I have chanted that much in a day since then, but that day is my best memory of that kind.

Most of my best memories are of Buddhist activities. A Fife and Drum Corps parade, a performance for a national convention, chorus performances, a ferry ride with the chorus, all my many Buddhist friends. I began my Buddhist practice in February of 1969, and have loved all the activities we have done since then.
By: Jeanne B

Mine might seem a bit boring. Because it not the time when I scored my first goal. Its not the time when I got all most all A on my report card. It was when I was in the prime of my childhood. Every week on Friday I would come home from an agonising week of school. The only thing I could possibly look forward to would be watching my favourite cartoons the next mourning.

When ever I woke up on a Saturday mourning I would run down the stairs and sit down on my favorite couch and eagerly await the next episode of Pokemon followed by a small episode of post man sam.being a 4 year old child there was nothing more I could ask for than a nice small cartoon to keep me full of joy and happiness.

Those were the days.

walt disney- All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration, caricatures. It is the very nature of fantasy and fable
By: Free Thinker

Silence, that is so sad! I mentioned this thread to my sis as thought provoking-reflective…I said to her, My son graduating HS, she said, how is that “one of YOUR happiest moments???”

Guess there may some merit there… But I explained he was ADD and slipping further and further behind in danger of drop-out. I found special school, he was VERY angry at me..low student-teacher ratio, he was I think 1 of the only students not a behavior problem, only learning. He found so much of himself. Teachers were awesome, some also ADD. He graduated…the most touching graduation You could imagine…they used MY old HS Auditorium designed to accomodate over 2000 students…There were exactly 7 Students TOTAL In His Graduating Clas, all ADD and/or AT RISK. I Trembled & SOBBED-(shocked myself.) He was so proud and so was I! He realized how much it truly meant then to both of us! Of the dozen or so kids he began K w/more than 1/2 dropped out and yet not gotten GED, 3 others did grad, but bad drugs/alcohol etc., only 2 or 3 doing reasonably well besides him! He has been through alot, but God despite it all he is so healthy and so much better adjusted that I am.

So, now I’ve shared that is that ok to consider one of my happiest moments?? I will ponder others and reply later! LOL
By: gooselove

Finding out I was literally the best in the World at something.

While working at Monfort meat packing – after work the head of personnel came and got me from my saw ant took me to his office…I thought I was in trouble lol. He had some paperwork with graphs and numbers on it…and he stated ” this last Quarter we handled more meat per person than any other plant world-wide. He then showed me the ops of theses graphs saying this is where we did this and that; all the highlights for each month for 4 months, And he said it out loud You are the #1 saw man in the industry…he then gave me a $1.oo an hour raise. I was pretty proud to see my efforts pay off. Then he said they were handing-out raises at the end of the month and to keep mine quiet. He also made my profit sharing reflect the raise for the entire yr.

Back then the Company was more like family (no longer Monfort – but Swift and Co.) and for each Holiday – they’d back up trailers full of cases of meat I always chose the 8 oz steaks. Was a great time.
By: rocky88

It was the morning after a stormy spring night. As I awoke I could smell the fresh, cleansed air from the night’s rain. Today was a new day…the clouds had passed, and the earth was basking the tranquil warmth from the spring sun. I pulled up my blinds and opened my window, allowing the fresh air to permeate and exhaust my room. The fresh air awoke my frogs and they began singing their song.   Looking out my window, I could see the rainwater flow across my empty backyard, creating a series of lakes and rivers.  My frogs croaking became even louder with desire for more of this fresh day…I could not deny my pets this experience!