Happy thoughts...

[annwfyn]

A while ago I was trying to explain the concept of 'happy places' to someone. Basically, there are, in the world, a variety of places which I associate very strongly with being happy, with good things happening, with me liking the world I live in. And just being able to think about those places, to remember them, to get a mental image in my mind always makes me feel better.

And so tonight, when the world is being a weird place, and I am in a lot of pain and really am not content with the world, I have decided that I want to find some of those places and spend a bit of time inside those memories. It'll make me feel better, and it'll turn into something that no one can take away from me.





















So those are five random places that make me happy. It isn't an exhaustive list - I haven't got pictures of the convent in Bolivia I fell in love with, or Streatham Ice Rink where I am almost always happy - and there are a load of other places too. But those are five places I adore and feel like sharing with the world tonight.

How about you?

Comments

[pmp.livejournal.com]

All my happy memories aren't associated with places, but with people at specific moments in time. For me, it's who I was with that make the experience special.

This makes it a little harder to share, for example how do you really communicate a sense of hapiness when the cause was simply someone chosing to say hello, are you ok, and then listening to the answer?

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

~nods~

Everyone is different. I think I just like places.

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

On a slight tangent - you've reminded me of Thetford Forest.

Old, old woodland - all soaring trunks and deep dried leaves. When I was small, there were always castles just on the edge of sight, far in the distance. Even then, I seem to remember myself being pretty sanguine about them being like rainbows - perfectly real in their own way, but not something you could walk up to and touch. And that adults couldn't/didn't see them. We moved away from there when I was seven, so I can't have been older than that.

It's a lovely forest, and I should go back if I'm in the area at some point. I'm just not sure my eyesight is as it was when I was that age...

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

That reminds me of the New Forest and specifically The Dinosaurs.

I am now unsure what they were, or if they even still exist. I think they were sculptures in the shape of dinosaurs in a glade in the New Forest where we used to go a lot when I was a kid, always in the winter when there were no tourists about. I remember them vividly, but no one else I talk to seems to know about them and I can't find any reference to them online. But they were awesome.

[faerierhona.livejournal.com]

Avebury, Neuberg a.d Muerz, Electric Ballroom/ Camden, Cornwall and Dubrovnik off the top of my head :-)

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Cornwall is awesome! Which part of Cornwall? I am a devotee of North Cornwall, around the Tintagel area. I can't think of anywhere I am happier than standing on top of Tintagel Castle, being buffeted by the wind!

I have never been to Dubrovnik but it is absolutely on my list to go to one day!

[faerierhona.livejournal.com]

I meant to make a longer post about this on my LJ - thanks for reminding me :-)

Avebury because of the many hours, days, weekends I have spent there laughing and being happy. Solstices, chasing Badger as he tried to tackle a helicopter, terrifying the life out of people who thought I was a talking tree, the walk of shame past the snake dancers, squeeing at sheep, persuading a little girl I was a magic lady, staring at the galaxy above us, sunrises, sunsets, meals, racing wheelchairs and so on. Amazing place

Neuberg is where I spent my childhood, or much of it, living like Heid. Often on top of this rock, just dreaming http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/30300973.jpg. I am on the postcards for it, my "extra grandmother" lived there and died only a couple of years ago. I learned to ski there, to pick fruit and leaves and mushrooms, to identify wild animal tracks and to catch lizards

Electric Ballroom/ Camden is my goth home (Avebury my spiritual one, Neuberg my childhood one). Dancing night after night at the clubs, laughing with friends, flirting, misbehaving, heart breaks and love affairs, and most of all ALL of that gorgeous music while dancing until I couldn't move

Cornwall is where Ashley and I went on holiday - no matter how poor we were we managed it. Often camping in cheap places or on holiday parks and then went on to holiday appartments. We had so much fun - sometimes the two of us, sometimes he brought a friend. We went bodyboarding, surfing, swimming, sand castle building, exploring ruins and stones and farms. I love all of it, from Tintagel to Mousehole

Dubrovnik was just a wonderful family holiday with Jason, Ashley and Ashley's friend Will. A holiday with my *adult* son who still chose to spend his time playing board games with us more than going out drinking, who still squeed at kittens and hedgehogs while exploring abbeys and castles

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

This footbridge in Melbourne;

I once stood there in the mist at 2am and felt utterly at peace.

Leicester square;

I know it is a tourist hotspot but it was the centre of London when I moved here and always represents that move to me.

And the peak at Hong Kong. A place of stillness in a frenetic city:

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

You left me pictures so I love you the most of everyone. :)

[werejud.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, the ones I can come up with are a mixture of places, times, and music.

Lourdes, France - specifically a bridge over a peaceful river just by the shrine itself, on a calm night. My memories of that are mixed and complicated but it was a very powerful feeling, being there. So powerful that I went to great lengths to go back with the same group the next year (which for various reasons and for years afterwards made me feel guilty and selfish).

A small wooden bridge, somewhere in the middle of London in an enclosed courtyard between restaurants and shops, at night with Hugh. Very peaceful.

My first couple of months in Edinburgh with Hugh - I can't tell you why, I just associate that time with a great feeling of peace and 'fresh start'. I still get it, sometimes, though tend to be a lot busier now so have to slow down before I feel it!

Certain classical-ish/soundtrack music, namely The Last Samurai; Sacred Spirit; some LoTR music. If I can sit/lie and listen to it with nothing else to do, I can really find a peacful place in it.

[childofcrow.livejournal.com]

The White Horse of Uffington is the symbol of the shop I work for. It's a lovely image.