Small But Certain Happiness

It was through a Youtube video that I learned of the term "Small But Certain Happiness".

I then searched on Google to find out where exactly it came from. It turns out the first mention of it was from Haruki Murakami's essay: "Afternoon in the Islets of Langerhans". I can't find a copy online however, and I don't know if it was translated into English, but the idea is appealing to me.

I must be a year late or something, but I think it was back in 2018 when this became a thing with Koreans. Oh well, I think it applies anytime, anywhere, and with anyone. The idea is basically finding true happiness in our daily mundane activities.

I want to share with you my own list of things, experiences, and situations in my daily life lately that bring me Small but Certain Happiness. I will describe it in the best way I know how. I hope dear reader you can imagine it with me.

• Waking up before my 5:30AM alarm, is a small certain happiness. For some, they might say I'm crazy, but I like waking up early. I like the small moments before the room is flooded by sunlight. 

• In my daily commute going to my office, I get down at the first bus stop. From there, it would take me around 10-15 minutes to walk to my office building. Often on my way there, I witness the busy streets, and I join the crowd of office workers walking to their offices as well. What gives me happiness is when I enter my building: upon opening the doors, I feel the sudden cold breeze from the inside and it feels so refreshing to breathe in real air and not smoke from the streets. All of a sudden the noise from the outside world is muted and I'm inside a safe space.

• From time to time if I'm lucky, when I'm able to get out of the office by 5PM, I brisk walk towards the van terminal to get home. There are times when there are no lines, and the van arrives fast. My certain happiness comes when I get home by 6PM. I wish this was my reality, but it only happens when the universe is kind. 

• I listen to music while I work. What I do usually is to check out my Discover Weekly playlist for Spotify's recommendations, and I think they base it on the songs I've liked and been listening to. Certain happiness for me is when I'm listening to the playlist and at first nothing strikes me as worth listening to until.... maybe the 4th or 5th song, it becomes some kind of Eureka Moment! for me, when I realize that I'm listening to a good song. It's like, a hidden gem. It instantly lightens up my day.

• While it's nice to have my own desk in the office, I sometimes would prefer working in an open space. My certain happiness can be whenever I move to the pantry to do my work. It's close to the food so I can get food whenever I want, and I'm near the windows, where I can get some warmth.

• On weekends, my happiness is laundry. I know for others it's a chore, or something they'd rather not do, or put off for later, but it's almost always the first thing I do when the weekend rolls around. It's satisfying for me to clean my closet and wash my clothes. It's like, I'm shedding skin. I'm putting behind the worries and the victories of the week that has just passed, and now I'm welcoming a new one. 

• And on Sundays, I still wake up at 5:30AM. The only day I get to sleep in is on Saturday, but most of the time I still wake up early anyway because that's just how my body works. I attend the first service in church, so I wake up early and do my make up. This time around it's an extensive routine, and I take my time with my eyeshadow palette. I enjoy it.

• Small but Certain Happiness is also right now; it's a rainy Sunday afternoon and I'm writing this. Writing has always been, and will always be, my certain happiness.

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Sharing with you the instrumental for Standing Egg's song of the same title, Small But Certain Happiness : - )

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I truly appreciate how there were dear readers who left songs on my previous entry. Thank you! :") I love it when people share things with me and I discover new things.

Dear reader, I hope you're well, and stay safe.

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