Happy Happy Joy Joy

Today is the start of something new-ish on this old, old blog. Starting today, the theme of my posts will be, "Oh boy, look what I saw that made me smile today."

I say this is new-ish because my old "Laff of the Day" posts used to serve that purpose. And anytime you're feeling wistful for vitriolic old Mama Kelele, just click through my old posts.

Anyway, the goal of all this is to notice one thing each day that makes me smile, feel grateful, or laugh inappropriately loudly, because our world is crammed full of joy. But if you're anything like me -- or at least if you're not a self-righteous know-it-all with no self-awareness -- you're too busy, too distracted, too self-absorbed, too anxious, too worried about the future, too obsessed with mistakes of the past, to even notice most of the time. Somehow, I woke up in the middle of the night last night in a panic, because I realized that a lifetime of failing to notice would be a tragedy.

So, once a day we do this, me and myself, with you watching (and leaving comments, please!), until I slow down and it becomes every few days, or every few weeks, or every few months. Let's face it, I know myself too well.

But the whole idea is that noticing takes practice. I'll try to make it a daily practice, the way more spiritually evolved people make meditation a daily practice. And like in meditation, the point is to shift my attention to things that bring me those elusive, fleeting moments of joy. With practice, the moments become less fleeting and more MO. And when my mind wanders, or in this case when my life wanders, and I miss a day of paying attention to the happy-worthy gifts I receive every day, I simply bring the focus back. Pick up again, no judgments, no self-flagellation.

And now, for the first happy on record:

Click through the entire wonderfully photographed duck drama here.