On March 20th, 2014, I started the 100HappyDays Challenge. The challenge is to find something to be happy about daily and share a picture of it, @ http://100happydays.com/.
The most wonderful part, happiness seeks you! I started the challenge at the time when I was emotionally broken, things happened in my life and family that wasn't pleasant, I was motivated by seeing others doing it. I said, why not, engaging my thoughts to creative and productive activities would be much more better than keep dwelling on unnecessary worries.
I started thinking about, what are the activities that previously made me happy? I remembered my friends in college, friends back home and here in Boston. I thought about the first time I learned to ride a bike, I learned to ski, learned to play the piano and all those great moments.
First Day, on March 20th, the official International Happiness Day, I went out to eat sushi with friends, food is a great way to enjoy great moments with lovely company.
Since then, every day I carried around my little camera phone just to capture the best moment of the day. Daily, I found many things to be happy about, but I was only suppose to chose one picture from them. Yes, It was a pretty difficult task.
You either happy or not, it's like an all-or-none response just like our neuronal action potentials!! It's either there or not, you can't judge the happy feeling, it's happiness, simply happiness.
With my new happiness practice, I started noticing more in everything. I started being mindful of my surroundings, saw pretty birds chatting with friends, ducklings swimming around, started noticing the beautiful colors of the sky even more. I thought, this is called mindful photography, just being aware at the present moment and capturing the feeling of peace and joy.
Realized, my new learned skill, mindful photography is a great way to enjoy a walk alone in nature.
After a month, I figured happiness is associated with movement, I'm happy when I exercise, when I walk or jog, when I sing or dance and even when I'm taking a coffee break from work, I'm happy.
So went on hiking, close to the Fells by my home, nature walks after work and long walks in the city! To challenge my little walks, for the first time I hiked/climbed the intense,
Mount Monadnock, reaching the summit at 3165 feet High! This experience was challenging, but oh so rewarding!
So went on hiking, close to the Fells by my home, nature walks after work and long walks in the city! To challenge my little walks, for the first time I hiked/climbed the intense,
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| Mount Monadnock, NH |
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I took weekend trips to New York City, because this city is my home and I want to make great memories at my home. Just the beautiful view of central park can make anyone happy.
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| Central Park, NYC |
Since I love food so much, how can I left out on trying new and spicy cuisines for my happiness? So, I cooked this mouthwatering famous Bengali dish, Biriyani Rice, for the first time and it turned out, amazingly delicious!
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| Cooking Biryani Rice |
Some of my happy days, I spend hours at the gym working out. Rock climbing with friends is always so rewarding. It gives you a great sense of accomplishment, to go rock climbing you need to reach a goal, the end point. Reaching a goal always satisfy you and brings joy.
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| Rock Climbing |
Happiness comes from doing worthwhile activities you enjoy doing and by helping others. So, I volunteered at several places to add to my happy days, helped out at the BU blood drive, joined human rights rallies and engaged street children in a painting project in Bangladesh.
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| Volunteering at a blood drive for BU Global days of service, #BUGDS |
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| Rally for Venezuela at Symphony Hall, Boston, MA |
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| Kids art project at Dinajpur, Bangladesh |
Music soothes your mind and brings you unlimited happiness. I went to many different classical music concerts over the past three months. The most rewarding experience, was listening to the greatest Tabla player, Zakir Hussain, at Symphony Hall. I grew up listening to his music in Bangladesh, and finally heard him play!
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| Zakir Hussain & Masters of Percussion |
Ever since, I started the happy days challenge, I became more productive at work, many other happy events started to follow, such as surprise hand written notes from a friend, gifts, and cards from overseas. Life became more and more worthwhile, just because i was paying attention to my happiness.
Finally, at June 28, 2014 completed the 100 HappyDays Challenge!! It was such an amazing experience indeed.
I learned Happiness is always there, you just have to find it. I went hiking, biking, boating, photo walking at NYC & Boston, and Mountain climbing at New Hampshire. Eating out, laughing loud and spending time with great friends was the key to continuous happiness!!
A lot of the time I forced myself to do something fun even though i didn't feel like and it turned out to be perfect.
After all, It's all in the Mind, if you want happiness, no one can get into your mind and change that. Happiness is all yours, you just need to find it !!
