Happiness is....

"How many of us, I wonder, can recall that childhood moment when we experienced happiness as a state of being, that single moment of untarnished joy that moment when everything in our world, inside and out, was alright, everything was alright." - Hector and the Search for Happiness

Recently, Netflix recommended that I watch a movie called Hector and the Search for Happiness. I never heard of it before but Netflix suggested if I watched it, I would rate it five stars.  Since I rarely rate movies that highly, I decided to give it a try.   Essentially, the  movie is about a psychiatrist named Hector who travels the globe searching for what makes people happy.  Throughout the movie, he creates a list of the ideas he comes up with.  Below is Hector's list.  

1.   Making comparisons can spoil your happiness.

2.   A lot of people think happiness means being richer or more important.
3.   Many people only see happiness in their future.
4.   Happiness could be the freedom to love more than one woman at the same time.
5.   Sometimes happiness is not knowing the whole story.
6.   Avoiding unhappiness is not the road to happiness.
7.   Does this person bring you predominantly A. up B. down?
8.   Happiness is answering your calling.
9.   Happiness is being loved for who you are.
10. Sweet Potato Stew!
11. Fear is an impediment to happiness.
12. Happiness is feeling completely alive.
13. Happiness is knowing how to celebrate.
14. Listening is loving.
15. Nostalgia is not what it used to be.

This movie and this list got me wondering what would make it onto my "list"?  I have to agree with a lot from the list above, particularly the ideas of being loved for who we are and not avoiding unhappiness.  

For me, waking up each morning with Cole curled up next to me and snuggling him makes me feel happy.  

After a nature adventure, looking through my photos and finding one especially good shot in the bunch makes me happy. 

Having one life-long friend who knows more about me than anyone else in the world makes me happy.  

Having the freedom to pursue my dreams and make my own decisions makes me happy.  

No matter what happens, my family will always love me and knowing that makes me feel happy (and secure). 

Living life as my authentic self makes me happy (although it seems one of the hardest things to actually do). 

With all the things I know make me feel happy for moments, I'm still not sure what it means to actually "be happy". I know it can't be something we are every moment of every day.  I also know that without knowing unhappiness, we would have no barometer for what happiness is. The filmakers of Hector and the Search for Happiness have their own idea of what "happiness is".  Watch it and let me know what you think.  

Travel Buddies

Picking the right travel buddy can mean the difference between night and day while on an adventure. Choose the right person and the trip is great.  You have good conversations, explore more and time flies with little to no drama.  Pick the wrong person and you can find yourself turning back before the adventure even begins.  Or even find yourself in a whole new realm of adventure filled with frustrations and hurt feelings. I've had my share of both over the years but mostly I've been fortunate to have good experiences when I choose to bring someone along with me and Cole on an adventure.

Jessie Honeyman Memorial State Park

Recently, I experienced polar opposite sides of that spectrum.  A few weeks ago, I took two different trips to the coast.  The first was a planned two night camping trip in Florence with a friend.  I was eagerly looking forward to cooler temps, exploring sand dunes and enjoying some beers by a campfire.  A couple days before the trip, the drama began and didn't stop until I found myself driving home early in 3 hours of silence because there was nothing left to say to each other. Shortly after that trip, I went on a day trip to the coast, this time in Northern Oregon/Southern Washington.  The trip was easy, fun and time just flew.  Before we knew it, our one day trip turned into a two day adventure with an over night stay in Port Angeles near the Olympic National Park.  It was completely unplanned for and completely fun, regardless.

These two experiences got me to thinking about past travel buddies.  Immediately I thought of Jim, an old boyfriend that was always up for an adventure.  Together we explored all sorts of things: trails, rivers, parks, camping spots, caves and so much more.  This is when I discovered my love of hiking which prompted me to make my photography hobby a high priority in my life.  He was also interested in photography and together we would spend hours snapping hundreds of shots that would probably bore the pants off any of my non-photographer friends.  After each trip, we would compare shots.  It inspired us to try new angles, and experiment more with our cameras.  I like to think it made us both better photographers.

Kalaloch Beach

One of our more memorable adventures is one in which everything went wrong.  We rented tubes and floated down the Sugar River in Wisconsin.  The river was low which made reaching our end point take a lot longer than planned.  The lower water level also meant that our butts scraped along about a hundred different rocks that hid under the surface of the water.  Each time it happened to me, I'd scream out in surprise -- terrifying anyone within earshot of us which made Jim laugh.  My waterproof sunblock didn't hold out for the length of our float and I ended up with a pretty good sunburn.  Somewhere along the river Jim lost his keys, leaving us with no way to get home, so we had to call friends to come out and help.  We handled it all with laughter though and we looked back upon that day fondly.  Sometimes when everything goes wrong is when you realize how right it is.

After everything went "wrong"

Sometimes I think preparing for a trip is less about things like gear, toothbrushes and maps and more about who you are with and the jokes and stories you tell and how resourceful you are along the way when faced with a difficult situation. I'm sure we all have people in our lives who either encourage us to laugh through the turmoil or who make even the best of circumstances the worst of situations. The next time you find yourself packing for your next adventure, my advice is to leave the Debbie or Doug-Downer behind and bring the Positive-Patricia or Paul.

For more photography from my nature-adventures, visit:

Kristin Roosmalen Photography on Zenfolio

Kristin Roosmalen Photography on Flickr