Suggesting happiness

Gretchen Rubin's site Happiness Project is dedicated to finding happiness in whatever way works. Rubin is writing a book on the ventures of trying for a year every suggestion and scientific method and idea to find happiness. On the way to being published, she publishes various post encouraging others to think about happiness, to start a happiness project of their own, to work on being happy. I follow her posts mainly off her twitter feed, but occasionally find a link or two through other sources.

The most recent post that caught me thinking asks, What image suggests happiness to you?

Without hesitation, my answer was an image of a yellow marigold. My only pause in completing the answer was trying to decide between the sunshine yellow of some marigolds, and the goldenrod yellow of the others.

The yellow of the marigold just screams sunny, summer weather when the flowers were out. The flowers themselves remind me of my mother out in the yard planting them in the front parkway and along the side of the house. The smell of them teleports me back to the days of youth when life was a carefree venture of staying out past 9pm in the summer evenings playing kick-the-can or tag, or watching the fireworks in July, or catching lightning bugs in the back yards after the sun went down and the air finally cooled enough that you could move.

Yes, a yellow marigold.

Without a doubt.