Happiness and simplicity

Hello there happy campers and here's hoping you're having a great week so far. As I've done on a few occasions before I bring to you this morning a stightly modified version of one of the weekly tips I regularly send out to those on the mailing list at makingchanges.com.au. I hope you enjoy it...

This tip will be, as they say, short and sweet...and it derives from a very recent and very personal experience.

I've just returned from a Father-Daughter camping weekend - organized by some parents from my daughter's school without being an official school event.

I'll get straight to the happiness point...I had a great few days with my daughter and thoroughly enjoyed the rather rare opportunity to be just with her (I have another child, a son, and so family time is usually all four of us which is great, but means that neither child ever really gets our full and undevoted attention).

But that's not, actually, the point of this tip (although there may well be some seeds for future happiness tips in there somewhere). The message for this tip is that I had two days out of the city; beyond mobile/blackberry range; without television or other electronic distractions; with limited "civilization" just a bunch of people spending a bunch of hours in a bunch of simple tents.

And that my friends, is this week's tip...finding happiness in simplicity.

I'm not entirely sure how to describe it but I gained an incredible degree of satisfaction and contentment from living, albeit for just a few short days, a much simpler life. Now I don't know if I'd want to live like this all the time but what I do know is that I'd love to do it more often...because I can feel in my bones that it's good for me and my happiness. And I'd bet it's probably good for you too.

So go away and think about how and when you can simplify your life...and then let me know how much happiness you gain from the exercise!