365 Ways to Live Happy (31 page)

One way to get your neighbors to come out of their houses and socialize a little is to plan an Independence Day street party for the families on your street. Mention the holiday and most people think of parades, fireworks, and outdoor cooking as well as the colors of red, white, and blue. If you plan far enough ahead, you can ask your local police department to allow you and your neighbors to rope off your street to through traffic on that day. Then get the children excited about having their own parade with wagons, trikes, and bikes. Hold a Fourth of July cake bakeoff. Plan games for different age groups at opposite ends of the street and use the middle for barbeque pits and lawn furniture for your outdoor meal. It will be a memorable Fourth, so plan on taking lots of pictures to trigger happy memories years from now.

Nothing says “party” like colored streamers. Red, blue, and yellow are the primary colors of the color wheel, and from those three, all other colors, except for white, can be made. The primary colors are not just for children's parties. They energize any festive occasion. Use the colors in decorations or your party furniture. Go wild with color the way the 1980s Milan-based designer group Memphis did when they created wild, whimsical, and nonsensical furniture, such as a tomato-red couch with blue or yellow legs. Break free. Go bold. Be happy doing it.

If you are like most people, you like a lively party over one that's dull and boring. Dance music can get people out of their chairs and off the barstools, window seats, and benches onto the dance floor. Music has drawn people from sitting positions to moving and swaying upright for thousands of years. And it really doesn't matter if the music derives from clapping sticks together or playing CDs. When your guests are on their feet, stomping to some backbeats, you just naturally feel happy knowing that you helped them have a good time.

You enjoy singing the praises of your friends' accomplishments and probably know more about the people you invite to your parties than your other guests do. The next time you host a celebration, write on each guest's name tag a notable fact about her. You might want to check with your guests to be sure that they don't mind having others know that fact. For example, one of your friends wrote a book in four days, was the only man to participate in a muffin bakeoff, holds the record for catching the largest sailfish off the coast of Baja, or invented a bed for paramedics to use to transport victims of mountaineering accidents. Your guests will love learning about other guest's accomplishments and you'll enjoy helping to spread their fame.

You could talk for hours about baseball. Or, your knowledge of political trivia is unrivalled. Maybe you've been crowned the winner of previous quizzes about Saint Patrick's Day. Or perhaps you aren't into sports or saints but you know more about music trivia than the average musician. Put together a trivia quiz for a theme party. Print copies to give to your guests. Create goody bags with trivia memorabilia to give the winners. A fun quiz could be the perfect element to get your friends and family engaged in a little friendly competition to see who will reign as the biggest know-it-all this year.

There are some parties when the guest list should be kept really short, say, just the two of you. Your husband's birthday could be one of those occasions when you show him a totally different side of your personality. You don't have to look like the Playmate of the Year, but it might be fun for both of you if you could slip into some fishnet stockings and one of those skimpy little outfits with a bunny tail. If you want to get really crazy, you could cook him a gourmet meal, set the table for two, and then get dressed to meet him when he comes home from work. It might be a good idea to have a sitter care for the kids for a few hours while the two of you rediscover how exciting a birthday party can be.

You know your upcoming party is going to be a huge success because you've planned it for months. Maybe it's a Halloween costume party, a Mother's Day celebration, or a Christmas office party. Whatever the occasion, don't forget to take lots of pictures with your digital camera. Download the pictures from your camera into your computer so that you have instant access. Pick out the top five and e-mail them to all the guests. When people have enjoyed each other's company, they also enjoy reliving the moment viewing photos of everyone having a wonderful time. Do your part to spread the happiness.

Parties are fun, but the cleanup often is not. If you hate doing the cleanup alone, enlist the help of three or more friends to help you do all those cleaning chores. The work goes much faster when more than two hands are doing the work. Your friends will appreciate your trust in them to help you and they know that they can call on you the next time the party is at their houses. And you never know — the postparty cleanup gathering could turn out to be as much fun as the original bash.

Doing good deeds for others makes you happy, according to happiness experts. It's not easy to know if someone is homeless or hungry. Passing the same family sitting on the park bench during your early morning run each day could suggest their dire circumstances. A distressed veteran asking for help with a cardboard sign on a street corner puts a face on America's often invisible problem of homelessness. Many homeless people have no jobs or money for meals. If their cause speaks to your heart, carry some cards containing a list of local shelters and soup kitchens and pass them out. Buy a hot meal for someone who is hungry. Read about other things you can do at
www.justgive.org
. Find the joy of doing something to ease the suffering of others and give them a dose of happiness, too.

For a quick dose of happiness, gather up that loose change lying around the house and give it to a good cause. By some estimates, the average American household has as much as $90 lying under the sofa cushions, in dresser drawers, and even in laundry room where a lot of it comes out in the wash. There are myriad ways to donate your loose change — drop the coins into charity boxes in grocery store checkout lines, give it to your church or temple, or simply convert it to currency and donate it to a favorite charitable organization. Happiness researchers say that when you perform a selfless act of generosity for someone else, it increases your happiness.

Some relative or other always brought a green bean casserole to Thanksgiving dinner or the annual family reunion because that green bean casserole is one of those comfort foods that many American families associate with gatherings of family and friends. A cherry pie, a chocolate cake, a loaf of banana nut bread, mashed potatoes, and, of course, that old standby, the green bean casserole reminds us of a bygone era when life seemed simpler and easier. Back in the day when people didn't have computers, they made friends the old-fashioned way, face-to-face. Why not start a tradition in your neighborhood by giving the green bean casserole to someone who has just moved in. Welcome them warmly and nurture the relationship as it grows.

As you meet neighbors on your daily walks, invite them to join you the next day. Ask them to invite other neighbors or friends to also join your group. Keep the group together by reinforcing the collective effort to live healthy and make good lifestyle choices. Always be on time for your scheduled walk. Share healthy recipes, information about organic foods, and personal goals. Set some goals as a group, such as walking for a mile together and then increasing it to two miles. Or, set a time, say, thirty minutes each day and increase it to forty-five and then sixty. You and your group could even join a charity walkathon to raise money and awareness of the need to find a cure for breast cancer, leukemia, or some other noble cause.

Happiness experts have established that a strong support network is vital to higher life satisfaction levels. Humans were made for loving others. It is from our relationships with spouses, lovers, and friends that we derive meaning and happiness. Having a group of friends to do things with on a regular basis is a path to happiness. So get the cards, call up three friends, and start having some fun playing Bridge or another card game.

If you enjoy the occasional visit to a casino for a little gambling and a show, double your pleasure and take your girlfriend along on your next trip. Conversation during the trip can break the monotony. Plus, you'll have a pal with you to share your elation at winning or to commiserate with if you lose. Then, of course, there are all those wonderful buffets, and who wants to eat alone? Pleasures of the moment are in abundance when you are enjoying eating a good meal or gambling. Of course, winning at your game also contributes to your levels of pleasure and happiness. You feel happy when you think of all the things you can do when you win a big jackpot. So, if you have a few bucks to spare and some free time, call your gal pal and head off for a pleasurable weekend at the casino.

Orchestrate a dinner party for friends who like great-tasting food. If you have a lot of fun at that dinner, suggest that the group form a gourmet dinner club that regularly gets together on a rotating basis in each friend's home. Remind everyone that planning and preparing a gourmet meal or finding appropriate wine is not necessarily as difficult as one might imagine. Every day, the Food Network brings extraordinary chefs into your living room to show you how. Most of those chefs say it starts with fresh, wholesome ingredients and a few basic pantry staples. Wine merchants are happy to help you find the perfect wine accompaniment for your food selection. Sharing food is about more than just eating and drinking; you are sharing meaningful and pleasurable moments of your life with friends who are important to you.

Get into the holiday spirit this year and include neighbors on your street. In December, ask five neighbors to join with you in hosting a progressive dinner party that begins at one house for the first course and proceeds to other houses for subsequent courses. Suggest that your neighbors select one out of five possible courses to host at their homes: appetizers, soup, salad, entrée, or dessert. Then put flyers out at each house on your street inviting all your other neighbors to join in the festivities. Each family who will attend is asked to contribute one item to one of the courses. Be sure to inform everyone to RSVP so that you can keep a running tally of how many people will participate. A number of religious and cultural holidays occur in the month of December so even if the neighbors on your street are from differing ethnic and cultural backgrounds, you can still get them together for a progressive party and some wholesome family fun.