Happiness in Motion
A hundred years ago, when I was a little kid, one of the thrills of autumn was jumping into the great piles of leaves that my dad and all the other neighborhood men raked from their yards. Maybe kids still do that today. I hope so. There’s nothing like it.
You think the leaves will be cloud-like, given the way they billowed all summer high up on the trees. But when you leap, it’s as if you dived into a huge bowl of cornflakes. It’s like October’s version of an April Fool’s joke. And you fall for it every year for a couple of years when you’re of the right age, and come out laughing, with leaf crumbs stuck in your hair and ears, every time.
We grown-ups don’t do much jumping, except maybe at sporting events when our home team scores, or if we’re the wise owners of trampolines. We don’t often skip down the sidewalks, or walk on curbs to see if we can keep our balance, or take a turn on the swings or teeter-totters in the parks. Few of us go rolling down big grassy hills just for the joy of it or splashing through mud-puddles either. And that’s just a damned shame.
Putting your body in motion, heedless of how silly it might appear, is such a great way to generate happiness. Oh, we adults have our versions of the childhood games. We jog and dance and play our sports. And that’s a wonderful thing. If you’re not spending some of your day in motion, you’re missing out on a big helping of life’s joy. Happiness likes to move. It likes to take giant steps and go twirling. It likes clapping hands and stomping feet.
I think we need an International Day of Inhibition when we can all be kids again and let happiness loose in play. But until we get one, at least take advantage of the grown-up versions. Have some fun. Jump for joy—in whatever way you dare.
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