Happy Children Sing

I think it was probably a heading to an article, or maybe even click-bait advertising for a parenting website, maybe just a quote on the internet. But it stuck with me. Happy Children Sing.

My son Phoenix is a musician. One of the ways to tell if your child is a musician is around practice. You don’t have to pester a child musician to practice – it’s getting them to shut up that’s the problem, and we therefore have a very noisy household.

Phoenix’s younger sister Skylah does not have the same musical drive as her brother and so we hear a bit less music from her although she makes up for it in other ways. I found her quietly singing to herself earlier this week. I thought of ‘Happy Children Sing’ and of course, that made me smile.

It’s the Winter Solstice today, and as I have written in past years, winter blues is a thing. Those of us who have not left the country this winter and are feeling like everyone around them has headed off to somewhere warm, or is about to, probably feel even worse.

So what better time to think about happiness. If I was to re-write the above line as ‘Happy Adults …….’, how would we fill in the blank?

I am guessing that this is highly individual, although no doubt there will be some common themes. If you happen to be reading this, have a think about what you do that shows you are happy.

If I am altogether happy I am likely to be getting up early with a skip in my step, doing some exercise, spending some time outdoors one way or another, being nice to people including my family, being generous, and yes, singing too.

The amazing thing about our brains (surely the seat of happiness) is that while our feelings (happiness) can impact behaviour (i.e. singing), so too our behaviour can affect our feelings. It’s a two-way street and it’s important to know this.

Your turn now. For this exercise to have any value, take a moment and think about (ideally write down) what you do when you are happy. If you are reading this online, feel free to share some of your happy behaviours in the comments.

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Now you have a nice list of personalised happy behaviours you can put them to good use. If you find yourself suffering from some of those winter blues (especially if you are not taking a tropical break this year!), I encourage you to take a look at your list and find the simplest activity you do when you are happy, and go ahead and do it. You might have to push it – a fake it until you make it kind of thing – but trust your body and your mind to do what it does, and watch your mood lift and allow yourself a little bit of happiness.

Welcome to Ross Cleland! Ross has moved from one seaside paradise to another, having recently moved from Hahei in the Coromandel, up to Mangawhai in the North. We are thrilled that he has decided to join us and work at our branch, Mangawhai Real Estate. Our non-corporate and remote style appeals to Ross, and with years in commission based selling, and more recently a great start to his real estate career, we look forward to working with him and helping him to achieve his goals.

Stay warm, dry, and happy out there!