#100Happydays, joys and hushed tugs to the heart

Rockies, Mt. Maculot

Lately, I’ve been encountering a lot of #100Happydays from my friends’ facebook posts, and I am thinking, “Huh, do you actually count the number of days that you are happy?”   That is sad, because as far as I am concerned, I prefer making lists (But I don’t have one written down, and if I did, it would run up to 365) over counting.  But that is just me.  Easter came and it produced even more counting numbers, and since I am a newbie (and blissfully ignorant) to a lot of things modern and current, I decided to use Google to discretely satisfy my curiosity (and ignorance).

Ahhh, yun pala yun.  #100Happydays according to 100Happydays.com is actually a challenge for anyone to post a picture on facebook and Instagram -- any picture, of any place, of any person, of any event, of anything, really -- that has made a participant happy.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Not really. According to the website, a full 71% of those who decided to participate in the challenge failed to complete the task primarily because of their lack of time.

The rationale behind the challenge: to make people realize that happiness is literally just around the corner  – runs smack against the pace by which people run their lives nowadays, which is too fast, too frenetic, too frantic and too competitive to be even taking track of happy occurrences, let alone snapping a shot.  Sad but true.  People have become too enamored with the pursuit of happiness – however one defines it – that they fail to realize that it is not even running away from them.  It is just there.  If one learns how to slow down.

In Dingalan Bay, Aurora

My Harvard-educated graduate school professor always says that for anyone to be truly happy, he/she must be able to live with himself/herself first.  I love being alone.  I guess this makes me a happy person.

I like to keep things simple.  It is no wonder then that the things that give me the greatest joy are right wherever I am; or at the very least will take some effort to get and some luck to come across, but they never cost much.  I just have to be ready.

When I am alone I get to notice fleeting moments that will not necessarily alter my life noticeably, but will certainly warm and enrich my soul no end.  I once saw a hummingbird as I was coming home from a bike ride (click here for story), and for a few seconds I was mesmerized by the beauty and stealth of this amazing bird that was no bigger than a wasp.  One of my earliest recollections of amazing bird encounters was of a blue kingfisher that was snappily searching for prey in the small fishpond that my father dug in our family farm in Pangasinan when I was still in elementary, but the rich hue and majestic flight of the bird are still vividly etched in my mind.  Recently, in a hike along Maculot, two birds, perhaps owls, suddenly took wing not far from where we were treading; undoubtedly disturbed by our footfalls.  It was a magical moment for me. And so are the frequent sightings of birds, of all colors and sizes, in our yard, some giving us the privilege of a few minutes, others are content to letting us hear their songs.

I love random things that I see.  In my head I paint pictures, framing scenes that otherwise would look ordinary.  These scenes are precious because I may never see or experience them the same way again.

At a  secret bike getaway

UP Sunken Garden

Dingalan Port, Aurora

Nueva Ecija

Taal Lake, Balete, Batangas

It's not only the sight that inspires me, but the scents of the road as well.  I remember during one span in our epic Manila to Dingalan, Aurora ride where we passed by a citrus orchard that seemed to stretch up to a kilometer, thrilling my nostrils with the sweet smell of citrus blooms.  It was heavenly.  And so are the smells of Narra flowers, and Ilang-ilang which waft in the air in some of my secret bike routes in Lipa.  And when the air does not host any memorable scent, it would suffice if I can hear it swiftly whistle past my ears as I zip by at some speed.

It does not take a lot to make me happy -- joyfully happy.  Leave me alone and happiness will take care of itself.  I guess that's what #100Happydays is all about.  I hope you also have a limitless share of happy stories to tell.