The happiness of small things

The other day I was browsing through the pet shop, horrified by the cost of the toys. ‘I could buy one of these and my dog probably wouldn’t even play with it,’ I thought. Barney’s favourite game is tennis ball soccer. He gets great pleasure from chewing on the discs of ice that form in the water bowls outside on a frosty night, or on a piece of kindling (or my shoe, or my backpack, or my…pretty much anything really), things that are completely free. (Except for the cost of new shoes and backpack.) Watching Barney joyfully dig in the river bank the other day got me thinking about how much pleasure is bound up in really quite small things.

I first learned about this from the book The Pursuit of Happiness by one of the first ‘happyologists’, David Myers. He noted that people get more happiness from the small things that happen regularly than big things, like getting married. Later research showed that the pleasure of big events like winning a lottery tends to wear off within months, leaving people feeling about as good or bad as they did to start with. Learning this encouraged me to build more small pleasures and joys into my life.

Like my favourite tea each morning. No matter how many times I have it, I love the sweet, spicy smell and taste, the way it warms me up. The feeling every night when the day is done and I can sink into bed with nothing I have to do, free to read. The thrill of coming home from the library, loaded down with new books, each of them a universe of unexplored pleasure in itself. The phone call each Saturday with a close friend to talk about good things in our week. Driving the car – I love the feeling of speed and power, the competence I feel as a driver. Listening to a favourite song. Looking at the frost sparkling in the sun on the branches and buds of the japonica. All free (or pretty cheap). All small. All adding to the cumulative weight of joy in my life each day.