We started a “happy jar” two years ago. It was meant to capture the small, everyday moments that made us smile throughout the year. Anything that made a member of the family happy was to be written down on a scrap of paper and deposited in the jar. At the end of the year, we would all sit down and sift through our memories together.
I had read about the happy jar somewhere – let’s be honest, it was probably on Pinterest. But I loved the idea! For many people, the new year is a time to look forward and resolve to do things differently. A time to look for areas of improvement within ourselves. I loved the idea of instead making that time an opportunity to reflect on the closing year and remember all the things that made it great.
At the end of the first year, we accumulated maybe 20 scraps of paper, which I thought wasn’t too bad for our first effort. But in year 2, we only had 2. Talk about room for improvement.
Now, sure, we had a hectic year, between moving multiple times, our youngest starting school, and building a new house. But there was a lot of good stuff in there that got lost in the shuffle.
So this year I moved the jar to a more prominent spot on our kitchen counter and have made a conscious effort to record the little things. Bud’s perfect score on a math test, Pumpkin performing in a jump rope demo at school, taking a walk in the woods, etc. It doesn’t have to be a major milestone, but just a moment worth remembering.
Well, we have already surpassed last year’s total, and it’s not even the end of January. Granted, the bar wasn’t set very high, but this is about looking on the bright side, folks. Still, I think we can do even better. So I plan to make this space my own virtual happy jar. I will share with all of you the tidbits that I scribble down and add to the jar. The hope is that doing so will make me more accountable and cause me to follow through. But I also hope it might brighten your day or inspire you to reflect on the little things that make you smile.
So stay tuned for my virtual happy jar entries. Even so, I am not going to abandon the real thing. I like the physical reminder on my kitchen counter to appreciate the goodness I stumble upon in life.
