Plant...Grow...Happy

I have flowers growing in my apartment. There's a pot of hyacinth roses, 2 pots of red tulips, one blue vase of orange daisy-ish flowers, and a pot of african daisies. The african daisies were planted from seeds, so watching them sprout is like time traveling back to 1st grade when we grew marigolds in class. I also have a pot of rosemary seeds, but they havent started to sprout yet.
Beautiful.

Did you know that according to researchers at Rutgers, "flowers put a genuine smile on 100% of recipients' faces" (the happiness makeover).

Awesome right!

In other smiling news: I went to the animal shelter today.
Going there always makes me happy, but it also makes me want to adopt another dog =) Today I honestly believe that I found my dog's long lost sister. o.O Truly... she looked so much like my dog that i had to take a picture. I wanted to take her home with me, but alas, neither my income nor my mother will let me get another animal =| Good think visiting the shelter is free!

I dont know what it is about small animals (and sometimes big ones) that just bring a smile to my face... I use to go to the shelter when I was feeling down. They would always cheer me up. Maybe it has something to do with how happy they are to see you. One of the chapters in "The Happiness Makeover" talks about the feeling of joy we get when we make someone else happy. "Buddhists call it mudita - sympathetic joy. It's an upswelling of the heart at the happiness or joy of someone else." So maybe thats why their happiness rubs off on me.

Here's something else on sympathetic joy.

"One of the best ways to activate our own happiness on a daily basis is by looking for simple ways to bring joy to others. It makes us feel great too. Sympathetic joy is the opposite of envy. it's one of the reasons why giving, when it comes from a genuine feeling of overflow - wanting to bring happiness or pleasure to someone else rather than from a sense of obligation - feels so good. We experience in ourselves the good feelings of the other person." -M. J. Ryan

Hopefully, this little tidbit brings a smile to your face and inspires you to bless someone else with a little happiness today.