What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?
What brings me happiness is not usually anything dramatic. More often, it is the ordinary things I return to again and again, the parts of life that make me feel most alive.
Nature is one of them. I love bushland. Bushwalking is a great source of joy for me. I love the exertion of it, the sense that my body is being used well. I love the mental spaciousness that comes when I am walking for long enough to let my thoughts wander. And I love the chance encounters: a bird, a lizard, some small native animal appearing unexpectedly and reminding me that the world is more alive than I often notice.
People are another. I spend most of my days surrounded by people: leading them, caring for them, helping them. But the joy of that is not just in being busy or useful. It is in the people themselves. I am endlessly interested in who people are, how they became themselves, what matters to them, and what hopes they carry for their lives. There is something deeply life-giving about paying attention to another person.
Music also brings me happiness. I am not musical, but I love music in all its forms. Beautiful, heartfelt music is always a source of joy. It can move me, steady me, or open something up in me that I had not realised was there. I admire people who are musical. It seems a remarkable gift to be able to make beauty in that way.
Animals are another everyday joy. I love walking with our dog each day, but I also love other people’s animals. Animals are fun, companionable, and disarming. There is something about them that draws me out of myself. More than that, they remind me that life itself is a miracle. To be close to another living creature is to be brought back to a kind of wonder.
And then there is writing. I love the freedom of simply letting the words flow, seeing what emerges, making discoveries in the process, and then shaping what I have found. Some days the words come easily and some days they do not. Either way, the act of writing makes me happy. It is one of the ways I make sense of life, but it is also simply one of the ways I enjoy being alive.
Ultimately, these are the five ways that I feel alive in the world: noticing nature, attending to people, receiving beauty, delighting in living creatures, and making meaning through words.
The Afterword 
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