#SoCS – Filling Frames

“The key to happiness is not to get more, but to enjoy what we have and to fill the empty frame of our lives instead of enlarging it.”

~Albert Szent Gyorgyi~

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I like this – a reminder that I have plenty to work with inside my own frame and don’t need to turn an 8×10″ into 20×24.

Friday reminded me that I have special people who make up part of my life’s photograph…spending the morning with a friend who I reconnected with last month after a three-year absence, then running into my former hair stylist (she was the best) who lived out of state for awhile and is now back in the area. We are having lunch in a couple of weeks to catch up and I’m so excited to renew this friendship.

A pandemic caused many of us to be away from people and enjoyable activities for a year or two, but that doesn’t mean they left the frame.

In early June, Iron Chef was revived and three good friends came together for food, adult refreshment and laughs. We’re going to do it again the first Saturday of September, this time at my abode, making new recipes and new memories.

Yep, the key to happiness is right there in front of us. We all have things to be grateful for, to appreciate, to be happy about. I have a few, like the bicycling that you all know I love and enjoy. I recently learned of plans to create a new trail in the area that would make it possible for me to bike from home to High Cliff State Park, which is 20 miles away by car. It will not be completed until 2026, but that’s more incentive to keep biking in the picture.

There’s more…

Kitties who are willing to live and sleep together is another key to happiness. There’s something soothing about sleeping animals (have you ever seen sleeping kitten or puppy piles?). Perhaps it’s because they’re not getting into trouble at the moment, perhaps it’s about acceptance, perhaps it’s because they’re so stinkin’ cute! (Gibbs and Hoshi and doing well together. Gibbs only hisses at her now when she is in full-out attack mode and he wants to be left alone.)

Signs can also be a key to happy land.

Whether they make me smile (I’m 99.9% positive that someone, somewhere has taken a selfie in the bathroom) or they make me so happy for others that a walk down the aisle by the bride and her mother brings up tears. (Natasha’s daughter got married in June – an event that filled up their own personal frames, plus a little bit of mine.)

Flowers, food, selfies (one not taken in the bathroom, but one of the few I deem worthy of sharing) add to the photo frame. There’s more – church stuff, music, streaming TV addictions, sleep – that are keys to my personal happiness.

I have a full life, a full frame. Sometimes it’s too busy and the frame bulges, but I’m trying to concentrate on what I have, what I know, the things I love to do, and the people I care about.

Oh, and there’s writing/blogging too. Let’s not forget about that one or we wouldn’t be here. Right?

So, peeps, what fills your frame? The keys to your happiness? What parts of your life do you hang on the wall, then stand back and smile?

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Stream of Consciousness Saturday is the brainchild of author Linda G. Hill. Every Friday, Linda provides her followers with an inspiring blogger’s prompt. It can be a word or words and sometimes bonus points are involved (my favorite). Linda asks us to write without editing, other than correcting spelling errors.

Just go with the flow.

Like a babbling brook or rain drops. Click HERE if this type of writing floats your boat or helps with your decision-making. Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is starts with “key.” Use it as a noun, a verb, or use it metaphorically. Have fun!