100 Happy Days | Day 1 | Details

March 30, 2014 — 23 Comments

Details, details, details.  

It’s in the details.  

Lovely, delicate, intriguing details.  

… On Day 1 of #100HappyDays … 

The details are the harbingers of happiness

from my garden to my heart.

When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment ~ Georgia O’Keeffe Photo credit: Jackie Yun of JackieYun.com

When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment ~ Georgia O’Keeffe
Photo credit: Jackie Yun | JackieYun.com

I say: “Hurrah to Being Detailed-Oriented!” because

 

  • The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life. ~ William Morris
  • It’s the little details that are vital.  Little things make big things happen. ~ John Wooden
  • This is what customers pay us for — to sweat all these details so it’s easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. ~ Steve Jobs

 

I say: “‘Being Detailed-Oriented’ is NOT the answer 

to that job interview question:

‘What is your greatest weakness?’”.

 

  • Be happy that you notice the details.  Give your skill its rightful place.  Honor those details.

 

#TakeThisMoment

To Celebrate the Details of Life!

~ Jackie Yun

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In coaching clients, I tout the benefits of “awareness” and

the need for a practice of awareness.

When my TwitterFriends

Jessica de la Davies (@DaviesBooks)

Timothy Hughes (@Timothy_Hughes) and

A.R. Karthick (@arkarthick)

tweeted:

“Can You Be Happy for 100 days in a Row? 

Take the Challenge”

~ 100happydays.com

Take The #100HappyDays Challenge.   from 100happydays.com

Take The #100HappyDays Challenge.
from 100happydays.com

I knew this was just the practice I needed for myself.

  • Over the next 100 days, I will take a photo each day that commemorates something that made me happy.  I will share each photo with you though not necessarily daily.
  • For this practice, I will engage with gentleness and flow.  I’m hoping to transform my task-master self into becoming comfortable that results can come about in a more spacious way.
  • I see this practice helping me live My Three Words for 2014, a yearly ritual that Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter (@ValueIntoWords) introduced to me:

➤ Flowers: Encouragement to do what’s important with grace and beauty because life is fleetingly short.

➤ Heart: Reminder to live from the heart because the heart can be an equal partner with the head, even in seemingly mind-dominated situations.

➤ Enrich:  A daily ask: Am I enriching others by my actions? Am I enriching myself?

  • I know I’ll be able to “claim” something valuable at the end of these 100 days. I’ll be curious whether I’ll experience the same “goodness” that others experience. Per 100happydays.com, people claimed to:
    •  Start noticing what makes them happy every day
    •  Be in a better mood every day
    •  Start receiving more compliments from other people
    •  Realize how lucky they are to have the life they have
    •  Become more optimistic
    •  Fall in love during the challenge (?! — my comment)

 

Will you join me in the #100HappyDays

journey of discovery?  

➤ Choose to be a participant yourself.

➤ Be part of my cheering squad by sharing your thoughts in the comments.

➤ Your company would make me happy and grateful!

 

To me flowers are happiness ~ Stefano Gabbana Photo credit: Jackie Yun | JackieYun.com

To me flowers are happiness ~ Stefano Gabbana
Photo credit: Jackie Yun | JackieYun.com

 

Special Shoutout:

Thank you, Jessica, Timothy and A.R. for making me aware of #100HappyDays!!

All of you and Jacqui have given me many happy moments with your enthusiastic support of my various writing endeavors. Love being connected to you all.

❤ 

 

23 responses to 100 Happy Days | Day 1 | Details

  1. I say, “Hurrah to being detail-oriented,” too! I really admire your detail-oriented ways, Jackie, and what’s so unique about you is that you seem to be able to swoop down into the details and just as easily pull back out and hover above the details to shine a bright beaming light on the big picture. Your blogging audience and social networking friends (like me!) love this, and gain so much value from your perspective.

    “Honor those details” <- yes, thank you for saying that! I will remember this next time I'm interviewing a client who exudes detail orientation and be sure to honor those details when writing his/her career story 🙂

    As well, your touting the benefits of "awareness" and even more so, "practicing that awareness" is another brilliant idea. Thank you! The "Can You Be Happy for 100 Days in a Row Challenge" is one I think I can embrace, particularly now on the precipice of a life move (putting down permanent roots in North Texas by moving into a new home mid-April 2014). With this, I exclaim, I'm all in to your challenge. In fact, I just signed up.

    PS. I'm so honored by the mention in your inspiriting post, and it is heartwarming to know that you feel this 100-day challenge is one that will help you live your 3 Words for 2014. Similarly, I hope this challenge will further imbue me with my 3 words.

    Thank you, as always, for your invigorating, yet calming and flow-filled words and ideas.

    Warmly,
    Jacqui

    • Hello Jacqui,

      So uplifting-ly heart-felt to have you on my cheering squad — and inspiration squad!

      I feel such a resonance with the power of #ThreeWords and just noticed that #100HappyDays is also a three word phrase. 🙂

      Have you read Stan Stewart’s (@muz4now) poem, Wind and Sea? It beautifully reminds me of you and the changes you’ve made and are making in your life.

      And Stan, if you see this, I am in awe of how you can “spontaneously” write poetry that is so touching.

      Love to you, Jacqui, and also to Stan!

      Jackie

      • I’m honored that you thought of my poem, Jackie. What a great practice you’re undertaking and encouraging! I’m familiar with the “my 3 words” practice (though I did not pick it up from Jacqui).

        I’m finishing a move to a place where I literally had only 1 friend, so I had to shift my thinking into this sort of “creating my own reality” thinking rather than coming from getting stuck in the details. So, I think I really hear what you’re saying. I look forward to reading your post-100-days post. 🙂

        And spreading happiness always sounds good to me.

        Playful blessings,
        Stan

        • Hello Stan,

          Hope you are settled nicely into your new nest in your new world ~ and knowing you, I’ll bet you have found tons of new friends by now.

          In regard to “spreading happiness”, your sign off — “Playful Blessings” — is such a light yet deep way of sending a bit of warm brightness.

          Appreciating our interactions!
          Jackie

      • Jackie,
        A great observation (re: #100HappyDays also being a 3-word phrase)!

        I just read and scheduled a tweet of Stan Stewart’s Wind and Sea. Thank you so much for the introduction — and yes, it certainly resonates for me/my life. Thank you, Jackie, and thank you, Stan, for your spontaneously lovely poetry!

        Warmly,
        Jacqui

  2. Wonderful initiative, Jackie! 🙂 It’s a contagious thing you know; I guess many will follow your path. All the best.

    • Hello A.R.,

      Per Daniel Goleman, “Emotions are contagious. We’ve all known it experientially. You know after you have had a really fun coffee with a friend, you feel good.”

      Exchanging comments here and tweeting on Twitter with you is like that.

      Here’s to #100HappyDays and making happiness contagious!

      Jackie

      • I think it is contagious. And I’m also hoping that those of us who catch it can encourage the 71% who were unable to keep the happiness going…

        • Stan,

          Such a good point to encourage happiness. Music is a way to encourage and share happiness if just for a moment or two.

          One of my favorites is from Earth, Wind and Fire: Sing a song.

          ♫♪♬ When you feel down and out, sing a song
          It’ll make your day, yeah, yeah ♫♪♬

          Have a fabulous day, Stan!

          Jackie

  3. Hello Jackie 🙂

    There are many happy moments in our life, which we need to know only when we write and capture those through our cameras.

    Keep Smiling 😀

    Your Twitter friend
    Sunil Jain aka @gupshupblog

    • Good day to you, Sunil!

      You are right — Pausing to write and to take a camera shot gives us a heightened/sharper awareness of our happiness — otherwise, the many happy moments can be so fleeting in our ultra busy lives.

      Hope you’ll share a photo or two of your happy moments.

      Glad you stopped by and took the time to comment.

      Thank you, dear TwitterFriend!

      Jackie

  4. Dear Jacqui and Stan,

    I was so delighted to see your #100HappyDays tweets that I just had to copy and add them here!

    Cheers to you both!
    Jackie

  5. Jackie,

    I feel like we need to sit on your porch (I think you have a porch, don’t you?), and have a chat about this post, as there are so many things worth discussing. 🙂

    1. Are you familiar with the NLP concept of chunking up and chunking down? Some of us tend to be big picture thinkers, other are more detailed oriented. Learning to move between the two, with ease and on command (or demand), is a great skill to develop.

    2. I love how you’ve taken your 3 words to heart, which you’ll do with the power of your heart. Often people stop doing the things they love – the very things that help them “address and undress their stress” – the things that give meaning to one’s life. Do them and use them to help improve your heart rate variability – the beat-to-beat changes that are an important indicator of health. Then…

    3. Happiness and joy happens – seemingly without effort!

    Enjoy your challenge!

    • Good morning, Marianna!

      My porch is small, but we can sit under the expansive Texas Live Oak in my front garden for shade, while we chat. I’ll have sweet tea and cookies waiting because that’s the way of Southern hospitality.

      Love that phrase — chunking up and chunking down — and indeed it’s a helpful skill to develop, especially for anyone in Information Technology. You probably already know where I started my first career!

      One skill that I’m working on is writing good content more prolifically. I admire how you wrote a post everyday for 365 days via your Rheumful of Tips (ART) blog. Of course, I am just one of many admirers given the awards you’ve garnered!

      Sending hearts your way and if you get the chance, please tell me what made you happy today.

      Jackie

  6. // (ˆ◡ˆ)❀ Love is in the details. That extra special something you add to any act that has your stamp.

    Just a great thing you are doing Jackie. I am with you all the way. Aloha nui. xo

  7. Hi Jackie,

    I love the 100 day challenge you’ve taken on and how you are using it to fulfill your three words for the year 🙂 As always, you are most inspiring in both your approach and writing!

    I have no doubt that you will meet this challenge and benefit from it in terms of greater resilience and improved emotional, physical and overall well-being.

    By the way, have you heard of the Happify app? http://www.fastcoexist.com/3020551/happify-is-an-online-platform-to-make-you-happier?partner=rss

    It is an app based upon the theory of positive psychology and may assist you in your mission to take daily actions to improve your happiness levels.

    Happy happiness journey,
    Dorlee

    • Hi Dorlee,

      Happify conjures up the thought: “making happiness happen” and as the Happify article points out, it is up to each of us! Happify looks like it would resonate with many folks, especially if gamification is a motivator for them. Have you tried using Happify yourself or with your clients?

      By the way, I can see how the “Be Thankful” poem in your post, “An Expression of Gratitude” could be motivating to those who are feeling a bit down to start their happiness journey or to continue on if they’re at an impasse. Words like these, from the poem, can get one to take the next step: “Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow”. There’s happiness in growing, just take a look at the blooming spring flowers.

      Thank you for all your good info and sharing. Love learning from you!
      Jackie

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