If it makes you happy

The other day a dear friend commented that she enjoys my company because I'm (usually) always optimistic. Or at least that was how it came across to me but now it comes out sounding more like me blowing my own trumpet. Ha!

It's hard to be in high spirits all the time, especially on a sh*tty Monday morning (because you are, for once, wishing that you are "really" sick and still under the duvet). But it's important to always remember that the bad days are here to remind us to appreciate the good ones more as they come along and also to value all the little things in life that we usually take for granted. *nag*nag*nag*

Trust me, it gets easier with practice. Truckloads of them.


And here's a (non-exhaustive) list of things that never fail to lift me up, in no particular order:

- A good night's sleep but not without waking up in the middle of the night, looking at the clock and finding out that there's still at least one full hour left before the alarm rings

- Reading books with absolutely zilch educational value whatsoever on the train on my way to work and coming across a line such as:

" I'm being cruel, taking George to the same restaurant as Sebastian. But love has made me evil." - Candace Bushnell in 'The Carrie Diaries'

And then proceeding to laugh out loud until the people around me think that one of my screws fell out of my ear while I was tossing and turning in my sleep last night.

- Bopping my head and/or shuffling my feet to R&B tunes whilst commuting on a public transport - so what if people think I'm retarded?

Maybe I am. It's the same concept surrounding how people who are pissed but keep on insisting that they're sober. So there. I'm a cuckoo. Really.

- Walking faster than the guy in front of me on my way to my office building and overtaking him. Simply because I can.

- Ikura (salmon roe) especially if there's a mountain of them sitting on a bed of Japanese rice topped with salmon sashimi and avocado

- Stand-up comedy because I enjoy a good stomachache and my face being numb.

- Massages because pain is indeed pleasure - Mei Yen at Kenko Reflexology & Spa @ Marina Square has magic hands.

And no, she's neither my other cousin nor did she pay me to do some advertisement here.

- Outdoor yoga (same concept as massages - see above) - the sweat dripping onto the mat, the quivering muscles, the sun, breeze, mist of rain

I'm not sure about you but my favorite pose is the Savasana (corpse pose)

- Coming across a good quote, e.g. "At 38 years, I finally got me the woman that said those six words I wanted all my life to hear: "My dad owns a liquor store."' - Mark Klein

- Something to look forward to, preferable in the near future - a day off, a movie, long weekends, a vacation, your immediate boss finally coming back from her 4-month-long maternity leave

- The smell of rain

- The sunlight on my face accompanied by a light breeze (but no more than 15 minutes MAX)

- Hearing a song that I have not heard for ages on the radio. Last weekend's was Christina Aguilera's 'I Turn to You' on a Chinese radio station

When I'm lost in the rain,

In your eyes I know I'll find the light

To light my way

- Being awakened on a Saturday morning to the sounds of a cheerful soon-to-be-2-year-old Aydan singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when the sun is scorching outside.

Somehow, someway, the cousin and cousin-in-law must have got their formula right.

- Spending the whole Sunday just bumming around at home, on the couch, reading the weekend paper leaf by leaf and suddenly, out of nowhere, a good article or a phrase that someone said just caught your eye

If there's none, I'll settle for a good food review anytime. With photos, please.

- The "Oh, yesssssssss, finally, it's about friggin' time, isn't it???" feeling I get at the end of my treadmill sessions/ 3km runs

So yeah, maybe some of the best things in life are indeed free.