Four Thoughts for Friday...Come On Get Happy

It's been a week of bad news. The attacks in Paris, the nightly airstrikes in the Middle East, the hostage crisis in Mali, the endless conversation of whether or not to accept Syrian refugees, these are the things that have dominated the airwaves. It's not very uplifting, and heading into the holiday season, it hasn't left me feeling very merry and bright either.

Which is not to say that good things aren't happening in the world as well. They just tend to get overlooked for the myriad of negative headlines that get more attention, more viewers, and more and more ingrained in our social scene as the days go on. This week I've been tired, both from a lingering cold that I just can't seem to shake, and from the endless tragedy and drama that has continuously unfolded in the world. So here are four thoughts to make you smile, make you think happy thoughts, or to at least distract your attention for just a moment as we head into a weekend that, hopefully, brings a little peace and quiet...emphasis on the peace!

1. My mother used to tell me I was like a duck: That is, in the sense that I might appear calm and relaxed on the surface, even when I was paddling like crazy to stay afloat. Today I would like to be like these ducks! The sheer joy of 5000 ducklings running into a pond...just because!

2. When internet quizzes know you better than you know you: Last week a quiz made the Facebook rounds that was about the Shakespeare character that most emulated your life, and while I didn't completely agree with my result, I did have fun taking the quiz because, well, Shakespeare! This quiz --> CLICK HERE <-- asked me to do nothing more than associate emotions with random pictures, which I did. And then I got my result and thought, "well shoot! How did they know that!?" Try it...it's entertaining!

3. Wanna be happy? Be like an otter!: Want to know the cutest fun fact ever? Otters hold hands when the fall asleep in the water to keep from drifting apart! Admit it! That's adorable. The quote below made me smile as waking up to find that J Word as inadvertently taken my hand in the middle of the night is one of my favorite, sappy romantic things. Want to fall asleep thinking of happy things and not the world's negativity? Fall asleep holding hands with someone!


4. The struggle is real: Somebody wrote the story of the human condition in a comic strip! Enjoy!


Happy Trails,