The Secrets to Happiness: Secret #5

There are thousands, if not millions, of "secrets" to happiness. Each person has their own personal set. Many are universal, but most need tailoring to the particular individual.

For example, over on the right, you can see that Secret #1 is "Drink water". That's a pretty safe secret, because you'll die without it. (I'm not saying that death is the ultimate unhappiness, but most of us would try to avoid dying of dehydration.) But how you and I interpret "Drink water" will be quite different. If lived in or around Hot Springs, Arkansas, I would take dozens of containers and make the journey to one of the community taps and fill up with what I think is the best water I've ever had. Here in VA, I drink filtered tap water and bottled water when I am heading to and from work.

You might like flavored Vitamin water or maybe you prefer sparkling water to still. My point is, these secrets are supposed to be very general recommendations based only on what impacts my happiness. Drinking water, in and of itself, rarely makes me feel happy, it rather lays the foundation so that I am likely to be in a happy mood about the rest of my daily life.

I'm belaboring the point, I know. Even though there will continue to be so-called secrets that are just basic things we all should really try to do in some variation, there will be so-called secrets that arouse a modicum of controversy. Today's secret for example:

Make your bed.

Oh, I can hear the cries of "fuddy duddy" already. I'm not, really. I'm kind of a household slob. But a made bed is my visual sanctuary. It is the eye of the hurricane. My nightstand holds a jumble of books and journals and old pens and booklights and magazines. And one of those wooden pegged back massager things. Seeing a made bed, especially because it is larger than my nightstand, overwhelms the disorderliness with order. It calms me. Makes it easier for me to turn down the sheets and go to sleep.

Another possible objection to making the bed is for health reasons as seen in this BBC article. One could wonder that perhaps these scientists had some very strict nannies that led them to this line of research. I can almost hear them saying, "Ha! So there!" to fussy old Mrs. Butterbottom.

I'm not going to do decimal secret numbers, but if I did, it would look something like this:

Secret #5.1: Wash your bed linens weekly.
Secret #5.2: Turn, rotate and vaccuum your mattress monthly.

But, I won't do that.

The Happiness Notebook needs your secrets. Whisper them to me via email or say them aloud in the comments.