joy – Clementine Fraser

“We can’t all be as positive as you!”

“Ugh, she’s always so cheerful”

“Being optimistic is just being naive”

I’ve heard all the above about myself, and about friends. One friend in particular was facing real pushback and scorn from new workmates on her optimistic approach to life and began to wonder if her positivity was really that annoying. I told her the truth – that it was one of her most endearing qualities, that her joy and laughter and boundless optimism had lifted up so many of us and we missed it every day now she no longer worked with us.

I like the way my sister once described my positive approach to life, she said: “When you meet people, you’re kind of like a big bouncy friendly puppy and no-one can quite bring themselves to kick you away”. Continue reading “Why I’m happy being a Pollyanna” →

Biggest son when he was smaller, in a moment of joy.

Happiness is something we are all supposed to be striving for and when we don’t feel it we wonder how we can catch it, pin it down, keep it.

I think it is useful to differentiate between happiness and joy. Sometimes we can be quiet happy when other times it’s bubbles of joy floating through us. When I was looking up images for happiness on Shutterstock it seemed to be mostly photos of people with arms wide open, faces to the sky. Happiness as an open feeling is something I can connect to. It can be a giant feeling. But sometimes happiness is a quiet secret moment, a gentle glow. And happiness looks and feels different to different people.

Something I hear a lot is: ‘you’re such a positive person! how do you stay so happy all the time!”. The big secret is that I don’t. No-one can really maintain a high level of positivity constantly (if you can – get in touch and tell me how!). Like motivation, positivity and happiness need fuel – you have to put stuff in to get stuff out. I’m not always good at it either, but when I actively chase the happiness, usually I can catch it. Continue reading “Happiness – how I try and catch it” →