Author: Dara Way

Enhance Your Happiness Through Mindfulness: The Power of Smell

Smell is one of the least appreciated senses, yet it is such an important part of our daily lives. The sense of smell is tied to feelings and memories in a way that none of our other senses can. Have you ever caught a whiff of something and immediately in your mind you were transported to a specific time and place and a memory played out in your head like a movie?

This happened to me the other day. I still don’t know where the actual smell came from as I didn’t see anything around that could have caused the odor, but I was walking towards a store when I caught a whiff of a very distinct smell. It was the smell of Rose Art crayons. With that one whiff, I was suddenly picturing in my mind a time when I was a child. My dad was busy working, running later than expected, and we were waiting on him for some reason. I don’t remember that exact details. To keep my little brother and I occupied, my mother took us to a dollar store and bought us a pack of Rose Art crayons with coloring books and bought us each one of those cheap kaleidoscopes that you look through and twist the end to make the colors and patterns change. (This was obviously before the time of cell phone games and tablets.) I remember sitting in the backseat of the car waiting for my dad, and my brother and I happily coloring and playing with our kaleidoscopes like they were the coolest thing I had ever laid my hands on.

I don’t know why my mind took me to that particular memory. I’m sure I’ve used Rose Art crayons at other moments in my life even though we were mostly a Crayola family (ha ha). But isn’t that wild? Have you ever had that happen–where one smell throws you back in time to a random memory and makes you feel the same feelings you had from that time? It’s such a treat to me when that happens.

So, the question is, how can we be mindful using our sense of smell? The answer–literally stop and smell the roses! When you smell something nice, pause and appreciate it. Notice not only the beautiful smell, but the other things around you. What are you doing? Who are you with? What do you see? Who knows when it may be an unlocked memory in the future?

I’m sure you appreciate things that smell nice and want to smell nice yourself. Aim to have a signature scent. It could be a perfume or just a specific scent you prefer when picking out shampoo or lotions. I love the smell of coconut. Over the last few years, I have always chosen body wash and creams with a coconut scent. Now I have friends and family that tell me that when they smell coconut, they think of me. Isn’t that lovely? Imagine your kids one day in the future smelling your perfume or scent and being filled with love for you.

Make sure your house and car smell nice as well. Light scented candles, spray your bed and furniture with a lovely linen spray, and keep a subtle air freshener in your car.

Take the time to appreciate the smells that bring you joy and give you a sense of peace. Is it chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven? The smell of your favorite coffee shop or your grandmother’s perfume? Or the smell of the air after it rains? Soak them in as often as you can.

Science has proven that smell can even affect your mood. You aren’t going to be at your best and most pleasant if you walk into your house and it smells like the shrimp tails you threw away three days ago. On the other hand, if you walk in and smells like fresh-picked strawberries thanks to your plug-in air freshener, it gives your mood a boost.

Specific smells can help specific problems. Citrus smells can help you feel motivated and inspired. Lavender can help you feel calm and ready for sleep. A smell you associate with home and peace, such as vanilla or cinnamon, can help you to find a sense of calm during stressful situations.

Take advantage of the power of smell and use it to make your home a happier and more peaceful place to exist.

I hope you enjoyed this post. The next post will be all about the sense of touch. Have a great day!

Enhance Your Mindfulness: The Power of Hearing

We have discussed how being mindful can help alleviate stress and anxiety and increase happiness levels. I did a post on using your sense of sight to increase mindfulness. You can find it here.

This post is about the magical sense of hearing and how to use it be more mindful in your daily life.

First up is music. Music is so important to your wellbeing. It can lift your mood, motivate you to get moving, comfort you when you’re feeling low, and even transport you to another time and place. If you use music correctly, it is like having a soundtrack for your life.

Create your own playlists on music streaming services such as Spotify or Pandora. I have playlists for special times during the year and special occasions. For example, I have a summer vacation playlist, a playlist for when I want warm, cozy winter vibes, a morning get-your-butt-out-of-bed playlist, and a playlist for getting pumped to exercise. I have playlists full of happy, upbeat songs (such as “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrine and the Waves) for when I’m in a great mood or want to be in a great mood and I have playlists full of angsty, melancholy songs for when I just need to sit with my feelings for a while. I even playlists for “spa time” in the shower. Sometimes, instead of music, I will play the sound of ocean waves or rain falling when I am trying to go to sleep.

You can also create playlists to figuratively transport you to another time or place. I have a mild obsession with French culture, so I often play French cafe music in the background when I want that chic French girl vibe. I also play music from my teenage years when I’m feeling particularly nostalgic. It is amazing how one song can take you back 2o years and you can remember what you were doing and who you were with the last time you heard it. Music is so powerful. Use it as your secret weapon to help navigate life.

Stop and appreciate other sounds as well. Pause for a moment when you walk out to check your mail–what sounds do you hear? Birds singing? Squirrels scampering up trees? Children laughing as they play down the street? Close your eyes and be thankful for the sounds around you. You’re alive and part of a big, beautiful world.

When you’re at the beach, soak in the sounds of the ocean waves hypnotically lapping on the shore, the sea gulls cawing, the families that are laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Even in the city, you can soak in the sounds and be thankful–the constant hum and murmur of the people who make the city so exciting, the sounds of cars and trucks buzzing through the busy streets.

And when you’re with others–your family, friends, coworkers, and even people you may meet at the grocery store–truly listen to them. Don’t interrupt to put your two cents in. We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. People love to be listened to. It makes them feel important and valued.

Your assignment today is to pick one song that gives you “the feels” you want to be in and to write a list of your top 5 favorite sounds.

Mine are:
1. rain falling with thunder rumbling in the distance
2. the sound of waves lapping on the shore
3. my mother’s voice
4. when someone laughs so hard, they snort
5. my cat purring

What are yours?

I hope you enjoyed this post. I’ll see you next time to talk about the power of smell!

Enhance Your Happiness Through Mindfulness: The Power of Sight

I’m sure you’ve heard the buzzword “mindfulness” thrown around the past few years. Psychologists and medical doctors are in agreement that mindfulness can decrease depression, help you regulate your emotions, and decrease stress and anxiety.

Being mindful simply means taking notice of what is around you at the present moment and being fully present to what you find. One of the best ways to practice mindfulness is to utilize the gift of your 5 senses to take in as much information about the world around you as possible.

Some people seem to live their lives with blinders on. But people who have a true zest for life take note of all of the good around them. That zest for life is contagious and attracts others to them. So, how do we use our senses to be more mindful and as a result at least a little bit happier? I want to do a whole series of posts about the 5 senses. Today, let’s focus on the gift of the sense of sight.

If you see something beautiful, for the love of all that is good, STOP! Physically stop and take the time to examine whatever you found more closely. Don’t just roll past it like a speeding freight train.

Say, for example, that you are walking down a sidewalk and look down to see a small wildflower growing through a crack in the pavement. What do you do? Pause, bend down, and admire it! Marvel at the strength it took for this little wildflower to push through in such an unforgiving environment. Take note of the color and shape of the petals and the delicateness of the stem holding it up.

Choose to take in beautiful sights–the twinkling stars that look like diamonds thrown against a black velvet sky, a sunset filled with only the best shades of orange, pink, and purple, a bouquet of fresh flowers in a vase on your kitchen countertop. Before you eat a meal, whether at a restaurant or at home, take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the creation–the colors, the shapes, the artful plating.

A beautiful sunset in my neighborhood

Go for a nature walk and make it a challenge to find beautiful things someone else might overlook, such as the deep emerald shade of the moss growing on a tree trunk, the way the sunlight catches on a leaf making it look like it’s glowing, or the many different color feathers on the birds you see along the way.

I loved how the light made these lonely red leaves look like they’re glowing red.

Snap pictures of everything you find beautiful. I have a friend who posts her unusual nature finds on her Instagram page, and I thoroughly enjoy seeing what she posts. She snaps pictures of everything from spiderwebs to unusually shaped trees and has even photographed a snake or two. She’s a fun person to be around in general, and I think part of her charm is the happiness she gets from her nature discoveries. You can also snap pictures of your food, a beautiful vignette at a hotel, a funny shaped cloud that looks like a dinosaur eating a slice of pizza, or the way the light changes the colors of everything during “golden hour”. Take lots of pictures! You don’t have to post them on social media, but it’s always nice to look back through your camera roll and remember all of the beauty you’ve seen in your life.

Water droplets on a banana leaf plant that I thought looked beautiful

Choose beautiful things—whether it’s your outfit for the day or the pillows on your couch. When given a choice, choose something that will make you feel happier when you look at it, something that speaks to your sense of beauty. Surround yourself with beauty as much as possible. Visit art museums, take nature walks, and travel to take in new sights. When one of your friends, family members, or coworkers is wearing something pretty or looks particularly spiffy, tell them! People love compliments.

So, here’s your assignment: use your gorgeous eyes to spot gorgeous things. Find 3 things today that are beautiful to your eyes and take a picture of them. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just something you would find in your everyday life. I promise you will feel a little happier for doing so.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a truly wonderful day filled with beauty and love. I’ll be back to post about using mindfulness with the other senses soon.

How to Actually Have More Gratitude

It seems like everywhere you turn these days, someone is preaching at you to have more gratitude. That if you have more gratitude, you will somehow magically have a better, happier life. Write down 3 things you’re thankful for every day, they say. It will turn your life around, they say. Is this true, though?

Well, I am here to tell you that it is true. Having gratitude can absolutely improve your life and make you feel at least marginally happier. In the world we live in today, even making our lives feel marginally happier sounds like an impossible task. The key is to experience gratitude correctly.

A lot of experts recommend having a gratitude journal where you write down 3 things you are grateful every morning or every night before you go to bed. I have tried this approach. I would write down: 1) family, 2) cat, 3) food. The next night might look like: 1) friends, 2) hot water, 3) air conditioning. And so on. Yes, I am grateful for all of the things I wrote down, but I have to be honest, just writing out a list of things like I’m jotting down what I need to pick up from the grocery store…did…not…help…me. I didn’t see any benefits of my “gratitude journal”. It felt like a waste of my time. I certainly didn’t feel any happier. I felt like I couldn’t even do a gratitude journal correctly, which only added to my self-esteem.

I decided to try a different approach. Instead of writing down 3 things every night, I narrowed my focus to one singular event, person, or thing that was the highlight of my day. I then used my gratitude journal to write in detail about this one source of gratitude. For example, instead of just jotting down the word cat in amongst a list of other good things, I wrote entirely about my cat and why I am grateful for him. See my example below:

Tucker is asleep beside me as I write in this journal. I am so very grateful that he came into my life. He is gray and white and oh so fluffy. I had lost my cat Milo about 3 months before getting Tucker. Losing Milo was devastating. I didn’t think I had it in me to get another cat, because I never wanted to feel that pain again. My family knew better, though, and 3 months later I found myself relenting to my cousin’s request to adopt one of her new kittens. I was to pick a kitten from a litter of 5. After holding and loving on each kitten, Mr. Tucker climbed me like a tree, curled up in the crook of my neck, and promptly went to sleep.

“Well, she chose me,” I told my family. Yes, I said she, because at the time I was told that Tucker was a girl and I introduced her to everyone as Emma Kate. It wasn’t until a trip to the vet where I discovered that HE needed a name change. Ha. So, now I have the fattest, fluffiest, most handsome cat in the world. He loves to curl up beside my head when I’m reading in bed, sit on my lap when I’m watching TV, and gets very jealous if my laptop takes his place. I often find myself balancing my laptop on a pillow to the side so Tucker can rightfully claim his lap. A few days ago, I had a terrible headache, and Tucker wouldn’t leave my side. The furthest he got was atop the couch cushion where I was laid out on the couch trying to nap with an ice pack at the back of my skull.

I will be grateful forever that he chose to be my happy little boy. He has brought nothing but joy and love to me. So, thank you, Tucker.

My Tucker baby atop his throne

Gratitude is short for great attitude. So, which gratitude entry do you think actually changed my attitude and made me feel…I don’t know…grateful? I assure it was the last one. Did it take longer to write? Yes. Did it take more effort and energy? Yes. Did it make me feel happier when I was finished? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

If you find that the typical gratitude journal is just not helping you, I challenge you to try this new approach. Narrow your focus. Make it a game to pick out the one good thing that is worthy of your time and energy and attention, so that you actually have more gratitude and therefore more happiness.

Until next time, I hope you have wonderful and joy filled day!

Embrace Hygge: Cozy Tips for a Happier Winter

What is hygge? Hygge (pronounced huh-guh) is a Danish term that embodies a sense of coziness and contentment, especially on a cold day. Since the good old Danes are supposed to be the happiest people on the planet, we should all probably pay more attention to this concept and follow their example to add some joy to our lives.

The cold, dreary days of winter can leave us feeling blue. There is even a day in January called Blue Monday that is supposedly the most depressing day of the year. This year it falls on Monday, January 19, 2026. By this time of the year, all of the happy high vibes and festiveness of the holidays and time off of work and school is in our rear-view mirror. What’s left going forward is months of cold, dark, and gray days until the happiness and liveliness of spring. That can certainly lead many people to feel depressed this time of year.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Enter hygge.

Instead of allowing ourselves to get discouraged and downhearted about the cold weather and the fact that the sun is still setting much earlier than we would like, we can take charge of our feelings and romanticize the heck out of the remaining cold, winter days. Here are some ways to make your life feel like you are the main character in a cozy, happy romantic comedy that just happens to be set in the winter.

Indulge in a warm, comforting drink.
Think hot cocoa, a steaming cup of freshly brewed coffee, or a cup of your favorite herbal tea. Get out your prettiest mug or teacup and treat yourself–multiple times of day. Take your warm drink to a cozy corner of your house and savor it. There is something so soothing about feeling warm liquid slide down your throat and into your belly on a cold day. Stop to take a deep breath and appreciate how good it tastes and how cozy it makes you feel. Wrap your cold hands around the mug and soak in the warmth. Imagine you are the main character in your own rom-com and this is the scene where the heroine looks chic and peaceful sipping her warm drink by the window.

Add some twinkle lights to your indoor and outdoor space.
It doesn’t have to be December to enjoy the warmth and ambiance of twinkle lights. Add some twinkle lights (some people call them fairy lights) to your home any time of year you want to feel an extra bit of coziness. There are many fairly inexpensive options available online. Most are battery powered, and some outdoor options are even solar powered. Some even come with remote controls or timers to come on automatically, which makes them even more easy and fun to use.

Put a string of lights above your headboard to give your bedroom a warm, ethereal feeling. Wrap some lights around various plants in your home–that fake Ficus or fiddle-leaf fig tree or the pathos plant in the corner. I have some around a fake olive tree in my den that I love. Every time I turn them on, it makes me feel happy. Weave some in between dishes, glasses, and plates if you have a glass-front cabinet. Place some in a lantern and put it on a table or fireplace hearth in your living room. Outside, you can wrap them around trees or the posts of your porch or pergola.

Wherever you end up putting them, they will bring instant joy and coziness to that little corner of your home. You just can’t be sad when looking at twinkle lights. It’s not allowed.

Put out soft and cozy blankets.
Invest in the softest, coziest blankets or throws you can find. Add them everywhere you want to relax–your sofa, your recliner, the end of your bed. Be mindful of how a blanket feels against your skin before you buy it. We’re going for max softness here–nothing that makes you feel itchy or could dampen your mood. In your free time, wrap yourself up in your softest blanket, grab your warm cup of tea, and watch your favorite show or movie. Can life get any better than that? TJ Maxx and Marshalls are great places to look for throws and blankets, but I have even found some great ones from Wal-Mart. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to feel like you’re wrapped in marshmallows.

Wear cute winter clothes.
Sure, sundresses are pretty and sandals make our toes happy, but winter clothes can have their moment. Celebrate the cold weather by wearing your cutest sweaters–the fair-isles, the turtlenecks, the cardigans, and the cable-knits. They can all be beautiful. Embrace the joy of wearing coats. There are so many chic options available. Wear your coziest, warmest boots to keep your tootsies toasty. And don’t forget the best part of dressing for the winter–the accessories! Go crazy with cozy scarves, beanies, hats, mittens, and gloves. Remember, you’re the main character in your own movie. How would she go out for a night on the town–in a boring, over-sized sweatshirt just to keep warm or in a beautiful, soft fair-isle sweater with an elegant wool coat, cozy pink scarf, and a beanie with a pom-pom on top? Dressing in your best winter clothes will lift your mood and help you embrace the season just as it is.

There are so many more ways to add hygge into your life this winter. I have created a fun BINGO card that you can download below that has even more ideas. You can check them off throughout the winter as you try them or even come up with your own ideas.

No matter how cold it gets or how cloudy the day, we have the choice to either feel dark and gloomy or cozy and content. I hope you choose cozy and content. Share how you hygge in the comments below. Happy hygge!

Click here to download your free hygge BINGO pdf document.

hygge bingoDownload