The Happy Jar!

It's gray, windy and it's been raining non-stop since I woke up so I thought today would be the perfect day to tell you about my Happy Jar!

It was around Christmas time. I had just gone home for the holidays and was working on my essay when one day, a message from Celine 씨 popped up.

"I think I'll buy a jar for the new year. Then I can put all the small things I do in it so that I'll remember them, you know! Kind of like making New Year's resolutions but where you make a jar that you can fill with experiences" - Celine 씨

...

And from that day the idea evolved.

The idea is to make either a note or a little slip every time you do something worth remembering or something that makes you happy, write the date on it, and then open the jar later on. Celine seems to make notes after specific experiences and so far I have made slips whenever something has happened that has made me extra happy. So really it's subjective and all about what you feel is worthy of being put into the jar of happiness.

We talked about then opening the jar around the end of the year to look back before entering the new year. Specifically, I plan to open mine on the very last day of the year and make a video where I read them all, think back, and end the year on a happy note.

I wrote my first slip on January 1ˢᵗ, when I woke up to check my phone and I saw that my first message was a voice recording from my friend Larry. He said that it was something he did for all his close friends for New Years and hearing that made me feel really appreciated.

"That is going in my jar!" I said.

That answer confused him so I told him:

It's so easy to end the year thinking it was bad just because one has had a bunch of bad moments in the days leading up to new year. But if you open a jar like this it can remind you how happy you also were during the year. And I think that's really important so you can have a good start of the new year - feeling optimistic and satisfied.

Larry loved the idea and has since joined in! I know that he has at least 10 slips and 8 of those are because of me he said. I know that one was because I filmed greeting my grandma and it made him smile. So again, what we decide to put in the jar varies a lot.

One day Larry told me he was afraid that he'd become over zealous about it. He didn't want to overuse the slips otherwise they'd become less special. 

I thought about it and said:

If it makes you feel good then why not? I think it's all up to how you feel in that moment you are wanting to put in the jar. We tend to think of the past with nostalgic eyes and romanticize our memories. So for me, to not overdo it, I only allow myself to write happy moments from the day. Meaning today I can't write about something that happened yesterday because, obviously, I would have written it down yesterday if it had made me happy enough. It's sort of like a rule ... but it's only there for you to not spoil it for yourself. 

After that, Larry said that if it were important enough for him to stop what he was doing and write it down, it'd be jar-worthy. He said that he'd like to put his slips in order and make a collage/timeline out of it. The possibilities are endless!

So far I'm super happy with our decision to do this. My mood has gotten a lot better and I feel like I appreciate and am more aware of the little things happening during the days.

When we make slips, we tell each other. I felt super hyped when Celine sent me a picture of her first slip and when Larry screams "MY JAR!" in the midst of a conversation become he's deemed something jar-worthy. 

Now, whenever I look at my jar, I feel excited for the next days to come and I can only hope that you feel inspired to make your own jar after reading this post.

⋆ ✧ Let's fill our jars and share our happiness on December 31ˢᵗ! ✧ ⋆