WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?

Hi everyone,
Lately, I've been feeling a little under the weather and sad. This things happen and I know that I wasn't the only one because I've talked about it to many of you.
Since coming back to school, some of us have been disappointed, angry, frustrated, lonely, scared of not being integrated and many more feelings that we can categorize as negative (obvi).
Every morning we come back to school thinking "everyday is a new day" and go back home thinking "one more not so amazing day". And that for MANY DIFFERENT REASONS.
Hopefully, we're not all like that and for most of us, we'll get better. But it got me wondering, WHAT/ WHO MAKES ME HAPPY? John of course! But we only see him once a week! So WHAT ELSE?  

I know that a good playlist can go a long way and get me in the best mood ever. So does spending quality time with friends, but I thought that we could make this topic a safe space to talk about some bad feelings and what helps us get better?

You don't have to share anything too personal of course but maybe some tips that make your life better, like a sport, music, an activity?
Just use this topic to share joy and happiness <3
I wish you all a great Sunday and an even better week!

Nice idea Amelie.

Perhaps we could make this the good news thread.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/europe-could-produce-enough-wind-to-power-whole-world-for-30-years/

https://www.positive.news/environment/reforestation-schemes-gather-pace-worldwide/

Amélie, I need to say to you that you are... just AAAAAMAZING ! It is not enough to say that I like your new mood and you know that !

So, I would like to share some great things for me to be happy and to feel better :
- forget to compare yourself to others
- take a step back on social networks
- watching a positive movie at the cinema with friends
- discuss a lot about life, how do you feel and so on
- Listen to your good friends when they said to you that you are a great person et that you deserve happiness!

Peace and... love !

Hello Amélie !

Yes it's a good subject and I need a lot of tips for a better life in France.
For me, just a video call from my son makes me so happy !
I miss him a lot ... every day every second but I'm lucky because you are there for me and thank you so much my friends !

I found a new hobby on Netflix ... because I have more time haha and it allows me to think less about this lack.
And I thinking of starting a sports activity to let off steam and for a better health...

Thank you again ... kisss kisss

Hi Amelie, such an interesting subject what you chose.
I believe, small things in our lives give us the potion/dose of happiness in our lives.

There are moments in my daily life who can change 1800 my mood and not I am not a bipolar ahah.
For me a ride by bike, or a movie that makes me thing ‘out of the box - out of the ordinary’, or even cooking a nice meal, are enough to ameliorate my day.

The sporting activities also can help everyone. They push brain to release and produce endorphin, in your body. This substance make us feel better, so happier too.

Here is a random article about 10 things that make us happier.
https://open.buffer.com/be-happy-today/

P.S. The best medicine is to share your moments with other people or animals. These are just ways #DoItYourself

John what kind of sites are those? Only good news? We don’t live in a world of illusions. We shouldn’t let bad news influence our mood, just to think more/differently and concern about them.

Such a nice subject ! Nowadays, people tends to be a lot more depressed than in the past... I don't that this is only related to social media and stuff. I thing, we aren't anymore able to focus on what really matters. As Manon said, stop comparing your self with others and try to LOVE yourself as you are (you'll probably live with it all your life lol). Some tips we should all put in place :

- Your body is unique, start loving it and it will pay you back
- Do not blame yourself for having this big burger
- Stop comparing yourself to others, you do not know what is their real life
- Start doing something you really love (why not starting pottery ?)
- Come to english lecture with John (which is like a little sun in my week this year)

And so on...

What a good subject! Amélie, you're really the best !
There is so much to say on this subject, I hope a lot of people will write!
I totally agree with you, music, good movies and Manon, I totally agree with you about life’s conversations with best friends.

And Babis “small things in our lives give us the potion/dose of happiness in our lives” such a nice sentence!! so true!
For me, I think my happiest moments are when I am with my friends, especially in holidays when we think of nothing except of the present moment.
But there’s a lot of simple things who work well on me :
- Cooking (and especially eating since I’m living with Léa)
- Shopping
- Painting
- Succeed my meditation session before sleeping (by the way, I have discover an English meditation playlist on spotify named “guided meditation” which is very useful to relax and listen to English, if someone knows a good English speaker in meditation, I’m all ears).
- Falling asleep knowing that I don’t have class and that the alarm will not ring (for me, that’s really the exact representation of happiness)
- Go to the beach (especially in winter when the sea is rough)
- Sunsets and night sky, I can contemplate them for hours (and paint for hours)

Lots of love to everyone

And to list something that makes me feel really happy : COOKING. One of the most satisfying thing in the world (after cuddling my lover), creating food with your hands and imagination in order to make your close family and friends HAPPY (and full ahah).

Take care,

Molly

Admin wrote:Molly

Your dog ??

What about us ?

Léa ABREU wrote:

Admin wrote:Molly

Your dog ??

What about us ?

His wife??

Isaure Ayrault-Roy wrote:

Léa ABREU wrote:

Admin wrote:Molly

Your dog ??

What about us ?

His wife??

Both ???

Manon Saroul wrote:Amélie, I need to say to you that you are... just AAAAAMAZING ! It is not enough to say that I like your new mood and you know that !

So, I would like to share some great things for me to be happy and to feel better :
- forget to compare yourself to others
- take a step back on social networks
- watching a positive movie at the cinema with friends
- discuss a lot about life, how do you feel and so on
- Listen to your good friends when they said to you that you are a great person et that you deserve happiness!

Peace and... love !

When you said "discuss a lot about life, how do you feel", it makes me think about a small article I read, really true for me:
https://www.tapage-mag.com/idees/comment-donner-du-sens-a-sa-vie

Léa ABREU wrote:

Admin wrote:Molly

Your dog ??

What about us ?

ha ha you and Isaure are sooooo funny.

In reply to your question.

When you use this forum and communicate in English you truly make me feel happy and worthwhile. Thank you.

My dearest and loving Amélie ,

Many things make me happy (obvious, u are one of them but I will keep for our privacy the sonnets u inspire me).

Let's just say that the things that motivate me to get up in the morning are gone :
- A good Disney playlist
- My little treasure of Loup (my one and a half year old cat) who strives every minute to transmit to me his positive waves and his love
- A full-bodied coffee (preferably in beans)
- Food (hey, u even know it yourself).
- Read a good book or watch a good series wrapped in a plaid (because I LOOOOOOVE and I NEEEEED spending time doing nothing but letting myself be done)
- I enjoy talking with people and discovering a personality that is not underestimated <3.
- Going to a long and painful sports session that would allow me to exorcise all my excess emotion
- I like to live adventures on a daily basis that make very beautiful stories to tell over a drink with friends.

And I still have a lot to say, but I'll save the best for you for later.
Kisses, sweetheart.

Great subject Amélie !!!
Sometimes the monotony of our daily life just make us forget to be happy. 
In my opinion everyone should look inside himself/herself to find what really makes him/her happy. So as many of you said , music, a good movie, eating, cooking can all be a good way to be happy and to enjoy life . 
But more personally i would say that, apart all the hobbies and activities i said before(and many others of course) , there are other things who really make me enjoy life and live nice moments.
For exemple going to sleep knowing that i havent done or said something that can hurt people , challenging my self and see that i can do it (for exemple moving to France and leaving my family and friends has been one of the great challenge in my life), helping others in every kind of situation ( one "thank you, you helped me this day" can really change my day) . 
Of course that's just a bit of what makes me happy in my everyday life, i don't want to bother you by making a long list   
I really wish a happy life to everyone !!  

OMG GUYYYS! Waking up to all these new answers this morning is the best thing eveeeer! This topic makes me so happy! I've been reading all of it while listening to a "good mood" playlist and let me tell you that this day feels great already!

So many amazing ideas on how to make your day better! It made me realize one who changed my life. On my Erasmus I taught myself something: stop and really take time to capture the moment in your head when you feel happy. Even small moments like lying on the couch with your friends! I just stop talking and listening for a minute to capture every face and try to remember it when I'm looking for happy thoughts. When I take the time to do that it feels me with happiness because I can actually enjoy AND realize I'm happy.
You guys are the best, really keep spreading love, good news (or food) and make each other happy!
LOVE YOU

GOD GOOD GOOD Morning,

I will share with you my recipe to get my own satisfaction withe positive vibes and love (so important for me) anywhere I am.

I am a huge believer in "genuine" love (self, people and the universe) ans in its limitless power to drive gigantic global changes.

Let's be very clear first! Iy's completely legitimate and human to crave for sharing love; otherwise, we would just be robots. But, here’s the point: there’s a huge difference between “love” and “attachment”. The pre-requisite for true love is “Self-love”. My theory is to love myself correctly, so that I can accept and love others. Nobody will be able to love or know me more than myself.

Create your universe : I spend a lot of my time in my small house, so it's really important that I feel my soul on it.  I am a person who like the flea market, I think they are full of soul and energy. So I bought a lot of good old things. And that's make me happy.

In Tunisia, I used to often have a coffee in my house the afternoon either with my family or my friends, and here, I bought plants that I give them names of people dear to my heart.

Also, it is important for me to be attentive and to help those around me even with a smile or a simple hello. I learned this to give thanks to an exercice that I found in an article (I forgot the source), 5 years ago. It's about choosing 5 persons per day and sending them a message "What can I do to make your day better?" and for the most of time the answer was "You just made it!" <3 (there is no emoticon heart

The hug, which I miss! To be honest, it's been a great moment that I did not give a hug to a person here apart from my plants after a long listening section    If it inspires you, I invite you to organize a hug day or hour or even 5min if you want...

For once, I am grateful to the technology because thanks to her I do not feel distant from people that I love (I am very emotional).

Also, the fact of preparing helthy food that is not often delicious :p but it makes me happy anyway and also to take a real French pastry and a Turkish coffee on the weekend. It's a real delight.

Going to the gym, sweating and exceeding my physical limits, gives me an invaluable joy.

I invite you to be yourself, to be honest, to love yourself and take care of yourself and your desires! Follow your instinct and do what you really want. Don't be afraid to go out from you confort zone, don't worry, real people who loves you behind you. Believe in yourself, you are a good person.

Have a good day
So much LOVE

H.B.A

Hello,
Good topic Amélie ! I just read on a psychology magazine that thinking of worst help us to feel happy. For example, we can think "today was a good day because I was not ill, my train wasn't cancelled, I always can count on my family" and so on. We are so focused on our daily problems that we forget to think about what we've got. To me, I so often think "I'm lucky because I'm a White European citizen, my family is safe, I can make studies and build a career. I have food, I am not homeless, I have good friends too and I'm in good health". That makes me really happy !

Léanne makes me happy. Meghane too.

...Cédric not so much (KIDDIIIIIING).

Emeline Giffard wrote:Léanne makes me happy. Meghane too.

...Cédric not so much (KIDDIIIIIING).

Hi emelin you forgot ME IMAN and FARAH

SALMA FARES wrote:

Emeline Giffard wrote:Léanne makes me happy. Meghane too.

...Cédric not so much (KIDDIIIIIING).

Hi emelin you forgot ME IMAN and FARAH

OH MY GOD I'M SORRY !

You girls are the Sun of my life, please do not even doubt this !

HI AMELIE!

I began this school-year very positively , with energy as well, when i'm feeling down i listen to sad love music and i began to sing out loud, i know it's very strange , or eat a lot of snack or junk food and that's makes me feel very well!

Enjoyyyyyy

Hello everyone ^^ !!
Amélie I'm very glad that you created this topic. Actually I think I really need this.  I totally agree with you saying that sometimes it's like everyday is the same. In my case I feel that way since childhood and it has been really difficult for me to understand why was I keeping to live. I was wondering what was the purpose of life, especially when you see that we're not living to enjoy  anymore but we're now living to work, and we're not enjoying that much what life offer us ( which was free by the way). At this time I was questioning myself a lot about those kind of things and I make my mother fell very bad haha. But I still having the same questions now that I 'm 21 and that I have to work. Even I f I spent  a lot of time listening to music and really good time with my friend I always feels like something is missing. When I come home I'm just looking at my empty room asking myself " so what now? How can I keep myself busy, how can I not be bored, what can I do now to feel alive?"
My problem is that I don't have any idea to solve all of that and people are saying I'm really " dark" or that I lack "posytivness"...

Emeline Giffard wrote:

SALMA FARES wrote:

Emeline Giffard wrote:Léanne makes me happy. Meghane too.

...Cédric not so much (KIDDIIIIIING).

Hi emelin you forgot ME IMAN and FARAH

OH MY GOD I'M SORRY !

You girls are the Sun of my life, please do not even doubt this !

Okayyyy you are forgiven