topic Re: What makes you smile? in Staying well

What makes you smile?

ecomama — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 14:51:10 GMT

I would LOVE to read about what makes you smile.

At a push you can share what makes you laugh too!

Whatever circumstances have brought you to BB, many of us are dealing with MH concerns.
Sharing our healing journeys can be so amazingly helpful to others, it's priceless.

Yesterday I felt JOY for the first time in a long long time. It happened while watching my grandchildren make huge bubbles at an Art Installation. Joy felt good but quite alien tbh.
Today one of my children said she belly laughed for the first time in maybe a year, a funny thing happened at work.

Depression, as with other MI's, sucks the joy out of us. Our goal could be to quieten these invaders by filling our lives with more joy.

Please share what makes you smile.

Love to you
EM

Re: What makes you smile?

geoff — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 15:30:05 GMT

Hello EM, a good thread and what I smile/laugh at now after MI could be different to what I did before my depression, although some may be the same as before, but your mind has changed in how it not only thinks, but how it receives a situation, which may be completely different than before.

Perhaps it allows us to open another door to provide this humour, and yes what my grandchildren do or say does make me laugh.

What brought me to BB forums was when Jeff Kennett began this in 2000, it wasn't until 20 years ago I decided to join and have been here ever since.

Even when suffering from MI we do occasionally have a laugh when friends/people come around when invited by your wife/partner, the trouble is that when you do laugh, people expect that your illness has disappeared, whereas it may not have.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 15:49:52 GMT

Hey Geoff

Thanks for posting. You're so wise lol, I love when you share.

Thankyou also for being a faithful, stalwart member of the BB forums since forever hahaha... although we all know you're a spring chicken. Our dedicated, long time members really are the salt of the earth. We appreciate every one of you.

It's so true what you say about how we perceive a situation and also how others perceive us 🤔.
I guess this lends itself to us all being on our own individual healing journeys, as opposed to being completely "fixed" or all better now.

There's an opportunity for "educating" others about MIs if we feel like it, but IMO no one should feel under any obligation to share anything about themselves if they don't want to.

Our poodle has a onesie pyjama and walks around like he's King Pin when he's all dressed in it. That makes me smile, he's so funny.

Love EM

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 21:33:38 GMT

What made me smile recently:

~ a visitor patting our chickens last night! She was laughing her head off, she'd never patted a chicken before and was scared but they loved the pat so she was laughing.

~ seeing the SUN this morning!

~ seeing my daughter arrive with a box full of scraps for the chickens, yay!

~ hearing the Council truck arrive this morning to take ALL our broken and damaged furniture away, THANK YOU!

Off to feed my feathered friends, I hope everyone has a smile today,
Love EM

Re: What makes you smile?

Fiatlux — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 22:27:32 GMT

Hi,

Your post made me smile... then I thought of my late dog and my daughter.

My daughter even now in her 20's has a very child like giggle. It is gorgeous and I hope she never looses it.

I will post more as things happen...

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 12:20:51 GMT

Aww how sweet my post made you smile Fiatlux! That made me smile lol. A NICE contagion!

Aww the puppers, they change our world don't they? Sincere sympathies for your loss, hugs!

We have a rescue poodle (oh dear lol), he's all black like a woolly sheep when he needs a groom. He's a total SOOK and gets carried everywhere by my children, so spoilt.
Today my daughters went clothes shopping and bought him a black T-shirt that says "BUSY CHASING (female dogs)" which is hilarious because he's not only neutered but is terrified of every other dog except for family's dogs. He ain't mean! He's conked out next to me atm, such a mama's boy lol.
This t-shirt made me laugh in shock lol.

Your daughter sounds delightful! That makes me smile too. How wonderful for you both.

It's raining tonight and SO FAR our repairs to our roof have HELD UP, YAY!
I must say I smiled so wide, but then had tears of gratitude... praying it keeps up this way.
First time in about 3y that we aren't walking thru water inside when it rains, trying to avoid the buckets.

Hoping everyone can smile today
Love EM

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 09:01:44 GMT

Missy Possum came down early for her apple tonight. Her appearance so early made me smile.

Feeling better today made me smile too.

My friend's daughter helping me and our whole family apply for some disaster relief payments gave me a sense of relief with a smiling face lol.

😀EM

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 08:20:14 GMT

Hey everyone!

I had a few smiles today and even laughed a bit with colleagues at work.

It was nice to drive with P.son in his new used car this afternoon, still doing his Ls, lots of hours yet to do.
We smiled alot in his car, it's soooo lovely!

Re: What makes you smile?

Doolhof — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 08:36:09 GMT

Hi All,

Thanks for this discussion idea. As others have mentioned, it can be hard to find things to smile about when mental health issues are present.

Laughing is good for the soul. I had a good laugh today watching some corellas hanging upside down in a tree, swinging from the branches, making a raucous noise and looking like they were having a wonderful time.

Some days when I am down, I Google funny animal clips. Cute animal photos make me smile.

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 11:37:25 GMT

Hey Dools

Nice to see you! Your post made me smile. Birds doing birdie things are so sweet to watch. I love those animal clips too! They are so gorgeous.

A worker has been moved to my section this week and it's really lovely having her.
She's got a great mix of being serious about our work, it's serious atm! Yet she can also "get" a joke I make and laugh with me. She's very sweet and I'm happy she's joined us.

So my colleague made me smile this week.

Re: What makes you smile?

Alison_M — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 04:22:06 GMT

Through all the heartache with my husband, my 3 pups have given me so much joy and give me a laugh all the time. They also seem to know when I'm at my saddest and depressed, they all come and give me cuddles and kisses. They nearly drown me with kisses literally as they are Bullmastiffs, I handraised them all and they think their my babies. Which they are to me as well.

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 05:09:16 GMT

Oh Alison WELL DONE YOU Venturing into other threads amidst what you're going through.

WHAT RESILIENCE!

Your puppies sound gorgeous! My rescue poodle is laying next to me for the pats and scratches on his tummy while I type lol.
Aren't pets just the best?

I had a chicken that would pop on my lap when I was crying my eyes out in the garden in the aftermath of similar to what you're going through. A bucket for the tissues next to me. She just KNEW when I needed a cuddle.

You are strong and resilient. You will get through this. More power to you!

I SMILED When I saw a favourite cut of meat on sale at the shop around the corner.
I bought TWO and they're marinating for dinner right now.
Can't wait, SO YUM.

Love EM

Re: What makes you smile?

Alison_M — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 15:27:58 GMT

Hi EM

Thank you for all of your support, you sound like such a lovely person. I hope this makes you smile!

Also soooo glad to hear you give a Possum fruit instead of bread! I handraise native animal's as well as puppies etc also paddock animal's (I've even handraised baby Cria, which are baby Alpaca's). I started training to handraise natives around 30 years ago, puppies, kittens, etc even longer and have been trying to educate people about our native animal's for as long. Most people seem to think bread is good for every animal but it's not.

So please keep up the good work! I honestly don't think I'd be still alive if I didn't have animal's and have baby ones needing me regularly, it's something I'll never stop doing. I bottle fed my first orphaned animal when I was 5 years old, a newborn lamb!

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 09:29:06 GMT

Hi Alison, it's so lovely to read more about you. You're a very dedicated animal lover, giving you a lifelong passion too.

Our possums come to visit almost nightly. Last night Mama poss came and I saw her very fat belly. Sometimes the baby is on Mama's back. They take the pieces of fruit from my hand lol, one night I took too long so Mr poss walked along my lap and sat next to me waiting. Another night I was feeding a Mama poss and her baby reached out of her pouch and took some fruit!
I learnt about not feeding animals bread or white sugar many years ago. I doubt white bread is good for humans either lol.

We have fruit trees growing, they LOVE that lol. We have Lilly Pilly trees which helps feed them too.

I only have rescue pets.
I think I was about 5yo when we had an abandoned lamb to care for too.

What makes me smile (and cry at times too) is watching families reunited with their biological families.

EMxxxx

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 02:34:23 GMT

What has made me smile today....

* realising I'm laughing so much more! For years I wasn't laughing, like I wasn't able to laugh. It's probably scaring my kids a little lol! Not really, it's nice.

* seeing the positive side of life makes me smile.

* having a day off work today is AWESOME and is making me happy today!

I'm going in to make a YUMMY lunch for us all, that will make me smile too.

Love EM

Re: What makes you smile?

Alison_M — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 15:56:08 GMT

I had a laugh today at the Tathra holidays caravan park advertisement on TV. Where they make out the dogs are talking about human's and finding love on holiday that their 2 legger friends took them on. Really is funny and lifts spirits. Especially after I had a bad fall 9 days ago and haven't had a good night's sleep in ages. Even though my 3 big dogs do manage to make me smile most days even if Husband doesn't! My youngest dog the other day was in a big muddy puddle, she was covered in mud and thought it was fantastic! The smile on her face was so big and the tail was wagging that fast I couldn't even tell her off. Reminded me of my son in the puddles of water when he was young.

Alison M

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Sun, 07 Aug 2022 06:49:08 GMT

That's funny Alison.

Today what made me smile was having a well timed hug of support from my daughter. It also made me cry but made me smile too.

EMxxxx

Re: What makes you smile?

sbella02 — Sun, 07 Aug 2022 12:39:59 GMT

It's making my heart so happy to read through this thread. Alison_M, pets can be such amazing sources of joy, it's wonderful how much your mood can change after spending a bit of time with them.

Beyond Blue makes me smile, reading through forums like these and seeing people helping each other and bonding over aspects of the human experience.

In terms of my personal life, my ragdoll cats make me happy 🙂

Re: What makes you smile?

On The Road — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 15:19:44 GMT

Some posts and some of the replies here made me smile 😊

Re: What makes you smile?

ecomama — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 15:46:53 GMT

Awww those are sweet messages sbella and OTR, I'm happy you're enjoying the posts here :-))))

I am too!

What made me smile tonight was painting my new Buddha garden statue with colourful nail polish we no longer use lol. He looks so vibrant now in his resting position.
I don't want to put him in my garden now, he might have to live on my balcony.

EMxxxx