The Happiness Box

Then there is the list of discoveries I have made while lingering in my deepest well.  I have found that humor and music help me best.  Who knew?  A friend had sent me a link to a video of Louis Armstrong singing "Cheesecake."  I was told to save it for those times when I needed a lift.  I did just that and by golly it helped.  While I chuckled during the cheesecake song, I cried along to Anna Nalick's "Breathe."  With each hypnotic refrain I could feel myself growing stronger, her voice reminding me to "just breathe."  I would also pull out old TV shows that I had grown to love like Will and Grace.  Each silly story complete with snappy come backs and laugh track would help me to pass the time.  There were even moments when I forgot my sadness and laughed out loud.  During my last bout of depression I made the discovery of LOL cats, a web site dedicated to the images of ridiculous looking cats with matching captions written in a special LOL cat dialect.  Absurd?  Yes!  Yet looking at the fat cat sitting prone on the top of a door and labeled as "Monorail Cat" did it for me.  It broke the rigid depression barrier and cracked it just a tiny bit.  I found that I was still able to laugh despite my depression.  I could still feel human. 

You never know what will work for you.  Sometimes it is the most inane and preposterous things which will help you get through the bad times.  I know that some of you are shaking your head and declaring that nothing helps.  I am hoping that you give it a try to find anything, however small, to fill up your tangible and/or virtual box of happiness.

If you can I would love to know what you would put into your happiness box.  Perhaps it could help someone else going through a bad time.