Pity Party RSVP - regrets only, please

Have you ever had one of those days when it's difficult to see the silver lining amidst the dark clouds in your heart and mind? I call them my "doom and gloom" days - when my skies are cloudy even though the sun is shining brightly outside.

It starts when I wake up late and can't find anything to wear. Then my coffee isn't ready before I have to head out the door. I get to work 10 minutes late after some jerk cuts me off in traffic only to find a spot of something on my shirt. Nothing goes easily at work. I get home and my kids haven't napped and are especially difficult or challenging. Everything is just hard.

Deep down I know that those are the days when my perspective needs some serious tweaking. But try as I might to dig out from underneath the rubble of my day, I still feel defeated as my head hits the pillow.

Today has been one of those days for me and I find myself thinking back to this post that one of my favorite bloggers wrote (just last night!). The topic is apropros and a great reminder to stop my "poor, poor, pitiful me" mentality in its tracks and set out to find that four leaf clover (read the post and that'll make sense!).

The other day my friend posted a status update on her Facebook account that read:
"Who remembers "Love Is..." cartoons? Tonight mine is: Love is...laying in bed with my hubby at 8:30pm on a Sunday watching Entourage"

It got a whole bunch of responses with people leaving their own "Love is..." comments. I loved it! Now that's a mini-movement I can totally get behind!

Not only do I love those "Love Is..." cartoons (in fact, there's a whole website devoted to them that's great fun to read!) but I love what they stand for! It's a basic principle of counting your blessings and defining the single things in life that mean something to us. So I do hereby declare that I have decided to make this a weekly effort. Call it a self-improvement project if you must. But my plan is to post one thing that defines hapiness in my day/week/life.

Introducing: "Happiness is..." (yes, it's probably a copyright issue, but since my span is limited, I don't think they'll mind!) Feel free to join me and leave your personal "Happiness is..." comment below! Here's to focusing on the positive and reminding myself of all the blessings in my life, one small happiness at a time!!