Happiness #5 Enjoy what you got.

You feel happier if you take some time to think about what you actually got. Not saying you have to think about it all the time, not even every day, but now and again. Focus on the things you own, rather than spending time wanting what your neighbor have.

It is challenging to me to enjoy what I got. By all means; I have a really good house which is tight to water and wind… even cold, I have a fairly ok car which starts like clockwork every morning and has room for just about anything. There isn’t much I need or want, although I really, really wish for a carport. I know it will be built in very near future, so it is not like as if I get an angst attack thinking about it. You see: I have no storage room in my house, and a lot of what I keep indoors is stuff which is to be kept in the storage unit at the back of the carport. Tools, paint, flowerpots… that kind of things. It will be like as if the entire house will grow and become roomy over night. That will be just lovely!

There is no use for me to wish for new furniture. I’ve got what I call “constraint furniture”. It’s not as negative as it might sound, but there are limitations as far as the they are conserned. Since I have these furniture, and houses have limited space (I know, however, a couple of people who don’t believe there is such a thing as floor space… you know, just enough to let a mop dance over your floor and under the chairs and sofa).

I do have a few items of furniture I have bought myself, i.e. my kitchen table which is absolutely gorgeous and fantastic, and it’s bought on IKEA. I like it, not because of its look, but because I can seat 14 people around it, and it is just worn enough to be comfortable. Just about everything takes place there from wrapping gifts, baking and repairs to office related doings.

The only downside to the kitchen table is that when it is so large that there is also room for a lot, and this "much" is bits and bobs that just laid there, and it makes itself comfortable staying put right there. Mail, books, stationery and a lot of other stuff piles up until I get too impatient and throw it away or put it in place .

But, yes, I am delighted with what I got. Even my “constraint furniture” gives me great pleasure. Now there may be some who hesitate a bit when reading I have something called “constraint furniture”. Those are bits of furniture that are so old or have such a great sentimental value, it is hard to get rid of. Furniture that 80 years ago were crafted by Grandpa is not something you can just chuck out of the house because you want a new style. Fortunately, I like them. I can sit in my living room and look around and tell stories about most of what is there.

If I were to point out something I have, which I'm unhappy with, it must be my hidden piles of unfinished needlework. I have a lot of art supplies I keep thinking I sometime in the future will have time to conjure it all into something beautiful, after all there is no expiration date, so it is all good. But ... I have a few projects I once started that sometimes annoy me. It annoys me that I can’t find it in me to finish it, and I'm too stubborn to get rid of it. For example, I must have at least three unmounted sweaters that I once knitted. I don’t quite understand why I haven’t finished  them, either. It’s sort of just stayed like that. I think I'll look at it soon ... again , some time.

Strictly speaking, I rejoice what I have. And I don’t begrudge my neighbors anything they have. Their tended gardens (mine should be completed in a year or two) and apparently always newly washed cars, and it's downright quite nice to look at for me, as a neighbor. I am fortunate to live in a nice neighborhood with neighbors who care about their homes.

I have no idea what the right answer to what happiness really is, but ... although I shiver and tremble with freezing cold (perhaps not that strange as it is, after all, winter, and the wind has been whistling cold and hard for over a month now) spring is already well underway within me. I thaw and feel warmer inside, and although this is not the correct definition to what happiness is, I am sure it applies?