Happiness

I was a little surprised with myself when I picked this topic to be grateful for today.  I have not been exceptionally happy recently, but at the same.time I have much to be happy about.

I have a beautiful wife and children that I love dearly, and that love me in return.  I get to talk to them pretty much daily, and seeing them on video makes me so happy.  

I have a good job that supports my family well and provides all of the income that I need, and then some.  I get to work around airplanes, though not as much as I would like right now, and I work right next to a runway where I regularly get to see planes, which always makes me happy.

The biggest airshow in the world is going on right now at EAA Airventure in OshKosh, Wisconsin, and while I can’t be there personally, I get to live vicariously through the many friends that I have that are there.  It is easy to be happy when you get to share in the happiness of others.

As I write this I realize it is really just another list of many things I am grateful for, but isn’t that really what happiness is all about?  Acknowledging the great things that you have in your life and allowing them to bring you joy?

It is so vitally important that we always look for the good and joy in our lives, especially when they get hard, and that is why today I am grateful for happiness.

What are you grateful for?

Some Thoughts

I have been at this gratitude thing for 50 days now and at the risk of showing gratitude twice in one day, I had some thoughts I wanted to share.

As I believe I said in my very first post, I really am doing this for me.  It is something I had thought about for probably almost a year until I finally started doing it.  I really just wanted to make sure that I was taking time to realize all of the great things I have to be grateful for in my life, because sometimes it is super hard to see them.

Today I had a coworker say she enjoys seeing my posts which really made me happy because I love to do things that provide value to other people.  It has been interesting to see how people have responded over the last 50 days.  It has been generally positive, with only one frustration filled bout of anger at me.

Personally, I think I am happier now than I was 50 days ago, and that is despite having to be without my family for awhile.  I think I am generally more optimistic than I was before, and as I mentioned in my last post, I generally have more hope for my life in general.

I know there are tons of books and such out there that talk about the power of positive thinking and other such topics, and while this was not brought on by reading such a book, I can testify to the value it has brought to my life.

I won’t tell you that you should do this too, because it may not work for you.  What I will encourage you to do, is to find a way to find more hope and joy in your life.  Maybe it is writing something down everyday like I am doing, or maybe it is talking to a certain person who always seems to brighten your day.  I don’t know what will work for you, but I will promise you that if you put forth the effort to find the good in your life it will reap benefits.

We are so programmed these days for instant gratification and instant feedback, but those are not the things that provide the most value.  If we want to truly improve as people we have to be willing to put in the effort to change over time.  It will rarely come suddenly, but it will always be worth it.

I have also really enjoyed the few comments I have received both here and on Facebook of others expressing gratitude for things, and I would encourage others to share as well.  The most important connections we make in life are the emotional ones we make with the people around us, so please share your thoughts.

I am grateful for the improvements that I have seen in my life already and I look forward to what the future will hold.

What are you grateful for?

People Who are a Light

I seem to be grateful for people a lot and I guess that is a good thing when you realize how important the influence of other people is.  It has been said that we are all the  sum of the five people we spend the most time with.  So we should make sure they are good people.

I was around just such a person today.  

I have already talked about the value of old friends in a previous post, but as a military member, many of our friends become old friends quickly because we don’t have a decade to get to know each other.  In many instances those friends aren’t even military members, but they are just as valuable in our collection of friends.

My Queenie became fast friends with Jessica when we lived in Arkansas before they actually moved away from us.  Since then they have remained friends through the wonder of social media, or as I like to say, the only reason social media is valuable to me.  They have also been able to get together a few times over the years since we have family in similar places.

What makes her special though is the light that she brings to everyone she is around.  I have never seen her frown or get upset with messy kids (though I have been assured it happens).  Just being in her presence makes it pretty much impossible to not feel happy and light, and this is coming from a relatively somber person.

I know a couple of people that bring this much light into the world and they are such a blessing in my life.  I want to be like them and bring happiness to so many people simply with my presence.  They are just a joy to be around.

I will forever be grateful for the people in my life because people are what make life worth living, but I am exceptionally grateful for the people who are a light in my life.

What are you grateful for?

When things work out

Life is so full of stress sometimes.  It gets so bad for some people that it makes them physically sick.  I am surprised I didn’t end up with an ulcer a few times in my life.

The thing that sucks about most stress is that we seem to bring a lot of it on ourselves.  That isn’t to say that there aren’t outside stressors that we can’t control, but the more time I spend looking at my life the more I notice how much stress I have put on myself my entire life.

That’s just not smart, and the most irritating thing about it is that most of the stress I put on myself was for nothing.  I say it was for nothing because everything that I stressed so much about has worked out in the end.  

My favorite phrase growing up, that unfortunately drove my mom crazy, was, “it’s all good”.  At the time it was just a catchy phrase that I used, but I am starting to believe it more and more.  

For example, almost nothing in my Air Force career has gone the way I wanted it to.  I didn’t become a pilot, I didn’t get the plane I wanted as a navigator, I didn’t get to go to the location I wanted, and now I am actually out of a job. (To be fair the Air Force is willing to retrain me, but it just isn’t what is right for me and my family.)

But as I look back at all of those things, it has all worked out for the best.  I love what I do, I adore the plane that I fly, I have gotten to see some amazing stuff in my time, and maybe most importantly, met some incredible people.

Now with this next phase in my career nothing has seemed to go right in getting there.  I have been working on it for about nine months with my commander without much luck.  But in the last week or so a lot of it has finally come together.  We still have some significant work that needs to happen, but I am more sure than ever that we are going to get there.

While life is not always “all good”, I am incredibly grateful today that things always seem to work out in the end.

Flying

I know I already mentioned airplanes, but a love of airplanes and a love of flying are two different things.

Today I had the opportunity to enjoy an amazing flight through the mountains of Japan.  It was the last flight of one of our more experienced pilots before he leaves Japan, and he made the most of it.

I really wish I had brought my GoPro because it would have made some amazing footage.  

I know most people think of flying up at 30-40,000 feet cruising along for hours on end with only minutes on either end close to the ground.  However, while we do fly higher on occasion cruising along, what makes my job fun is the low-level flying like I got to do today.

The C-130 is not a sexy sleek fast fighter jet, but when you see that big old plane trucking through the mountains at 250mph only 300-500 feet off the ground, it is a sight to behold.

It is an even cooler sight from the inside.  I could go on and on about just how much fun it is to fly low-level a in the C-130, but that is not really the point of this blog.  

If you would like to read more or watch some of my videos from flying please check out my other blog AviationGuy.com There are tons of pictures and videos and articles for you to enjoy there.

For these purposes, I will simply leave it at how grateful I am that I get to fly for a living.

The Laughter of Children

Today was probably the hardest day I have had so far deciding what I am grateful for.  It was just sort of a crappy day, but this is supposed to be a positive space so I will just leave it at that.

The bright spot if my day was definitely hearing my kids laugh.  It has been a struggle with my youngest, who we recently adopted from China, but today I taught him how to do a “raspberry” with his tongue and he thought it was hilarious.

Then later on my older boy found the movie we were watching to be incredibly amusing so he was laughing too.  

I also never pass up a chance to tickle my youngest daughter.  You know the kind of kid that tells you to stop tickling her but then immediately began you to do it again.

My oldest is a little harder to get going these days, but that just makes her laugh that much more sweet. 

It really doesn’t matter which one of them it is, or why they are laughing, because I will never get tired of hearing them laugh.  It is one of the purest expressions of joy one can experience.  

So while today may have been rough, I still get to be grateful for the joy that I was able to experience when my kids laughed.

My Dear Queenie

A blog post is really not sufficient gratitude for the woman that makes my life everything, which is why I hesitated to even put her in here today, but I can never express enough appreciation for her, so here goes.

She is the one that puts up with my constantly changing schedule.  She is the one who literally moved to the other side of the world to support me.  She takes care of my kids better than I ever could as evidenced by the times she leaves me with them and they are always so happy to see her come back.

It makes my heart ache when she is sad, and it brightens my whole life when she is happy.

I mentioned yesterday the transition I am going through at work, and I know how hard that has been on her every day that I don’t come home with any news.  As frustrated as I am with the whole thing, the hardest part for me is watching her struggle with the whole situation.

When we got married I was told to always treat her like the Queen that she is, and it is a constant reminder to me of what she deserves.  Far too often I don’t live up to that status, but it is something I am working on, and likely will for quite some time.

With all of the uncertainty in life I am so lucky to have a sure thing that I can always come home too.  We have been married for ten years with plenty of ups and downs, but I simply could not imagine life without my sweet wife.

She is truly my Evangeline.