Happy Trials: Day 1

Hello great friends and internet ninjas,

I am about half way through my first day of happy trials. So far it is very interesting indeed, but not as productive as I had hoped. I did not go into work today because I needed to go remove a ticket from my record (expired tabs, I'm a bad-ass).

During my trip to the court hearing office I was smiling most of the time and taking delight in the ride. The people on the bus were quite smiley too, as it is a beautiful day outside; sunny, warm, blue skies - lovely indeed. I couldn't help imagine what other people were thinking about as I saw their smiles come and go - who knows, maybe they were doing the same thing as I!

My attempts to see very small things, and take joy in the details is difficult for me. I'm not a very detailed person (except for my drawings), I'm more of an abstract-concept person, so taking joy in a small blade of grass just didn't seem like it was going to happen. However, long-ranging blue skies, birds chirping, and happy people sure set me up for an easy happy trial today!

As I entered the courthouse my spirits went null and I found it very difficult to find any pleasure in any of the people or the surroundings. People seemed to be frustrated, and my hearing officer did not want to make eye contact with me, which I thought was very odd indeed. I got my ticket dropped, though, but monetary gains aren't very invigorating to me - I'd rather have had the man shake my hand and give me a hug. It was definitely obvious, however, that blank walls, off-white buildings, and paved roads were very hard to appreciate for me. Perhaps I am too close to nature by nurture (see what I did there?) that I simply cannot take joy in cement and brick, or perhaps cement and pavement are inherently joyless, I have not pondered it and cannot say for certain. Needless to say, keeping a smile in an urban landscape with no friends, or actions to initiate it wasn't happening - but I was certainly not unhappy.

Coming home I decided to walk the 5 miles back. I enjoyed most of the way; I am a fan of graffiti and saw a very incredible placement of a "piece" get painted over (see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59840111@N05/6980457713/in/photostream/lightbox/). I love graffiti, but the entire struggle of city versus vandal is incredibly interesting as well and personally believe it makes graffiti all the more worth while. But I digress - near to the graffiti is a large river, which I walked over, taking delight in the sun rays through the water. Seeing the bottom of the river bed was peculiar - I waited for a while to see if a fish would appear, but no such luck.

Coming home I have spent some time reading outside and bicycling around my neighborhood, nothing extraordinary and very little was needed to boost happiness. As I write this I can giggle a little - simply a small grin cascades into a large smile and a slight giggle escapes me.

The most interesting consequence so far, however, is whenever I think of any deep idea or philosophy, this topic of the happy trials manifests itself in my mind, and I find myself immediately smiling! An incredible delight to be reminded of over and over.

I have much, much more to do today and my update tomorrow will hopefully be just as, if not more, rewarding to you and me!

Good luck, have fun and feel free to contact me.