One thing that I struggle with a lot, especially when work sets in and I’m getting less sleep and less free time or just dealing with a lot of stress in my life, is staying positive. I am very easily pushed into an unhappy mindset when life gets tough. It’s not a great way to feel, and it’s certainly not healthy, so I am always looking for ways to counteract this.
Recently, while on Pinterest, I saw the idea for a “happiness jar”. The concept is fairly simple: get a jar (or any other kind of container) and fill it with little notes reminding you of happiness—good things that have happened, favorite songs or moments or lines of poetry. Whatever your happiness is, take the time to write it down and collect it together in the jar. The idea being, you will have a tangible reminder of the good. Once I got to school this year, I set out to make my own. A little mason jar sits on my desk, and every night before bed, I write down one thing that made me happy that day on a little colored scrap of paper, and I add it to my jar. It’s almost always simple things— reading an especially good passage in a book, getting an iced coffee, the way the fog looked waking up early on a fall morning. Every day, I make sure to sit myself down and reflect, to ask: what is at least one thing that I am happy about today? One thing that I am grateful for? One moment of good?
It’s a simple way to practice mindfulness, and it works well. The moment of calm and reflection is just as beneficial, I think, as the recording of the feelings of happiness themselves. And the jar provides a physical reminder of the things which have made me smile. On the bad days, when I am feeling stressed or lonely or anxious, there is something I can look to as a reminder that it is only temporary. Sometimes I reread what I’ve written, but, often just knowing that there was and is happiness—whatever it may be—is enough. As someone who all too often takes bad days as an end-of-the-world scenario, holding myself accountable and mindful helps immensely with positivity. No matter how bad things get, I know that there has been happiness. There will be more slips of paper, more laughter and more friendship and hundreds of other moments of good. Maybe the concept of a happiness jar is not one that works for you specifically, but I think that for everyone, taking the time to consciously acknowledge all of the happiness that there is will always be a good idea. College and life, in general, are often difficult, and mindfulness can help balance some of those worries. Take the time to remind yourself of the fact that there is good in your life. There is always happiness to be found—enough to fill a whole jar, enough to fill hopefully hundreds.
(**Please know that while this has worked for me and can contribute to creating a more positive outlook, serious depression, anxiety, or other mental illness often require professional and/or more serious help. This is not meant to replace those solutions.)