It’s Ok When Things Make You Happy
Why it's smart to find joy with favorite teapots, coffee mugs and more
One of my guilty pleasures is trolling thrift shops, garage sales, antique shops and other secondhand stores. My mom’s father, Ralph Brown, was one of the original fans of Goodwill, and he passed his love of thrifting onto my mom, who passed it onto me--so that makes me a third-generation thrifter, right?
Some of my favorite finds revolve around dishes and farm-themed items. I savor the moments when I’m sipping green tea from my blue Fiestaware teacup and saucer, which I scored at the Coralville Goodwill last summer. One of my latest, quirky finds came from the Goodwill in Spencer—two cow-themed mugs for 99 cents each. Cartoon designs of Holstein cows on vacation to the Black Hills, Florida, Mardi Gras in New Orleans and a ski resort in Colorado just make me smile.
When I posted a picture of these fun mugs on my Facebook page, one of my friends shared this comment:
“Adorable! I have a picture on my wall of a farm wife milking her Jersey cow, out in a pen with a chicken or two and a small cat. I bought it at an auction years ago and love it -- just because. I couldn’t begin to explain to anyone what thoughts it conjures up for me when I look at it. Some days I am so thankful that I’ve lived long enough to have the time to just sit and think and remember.”
This got me thinking--can things truly make us happy? Is it ok if they do? For years, we’ve been advised that if we want to be happier, we should invest in experiences rather than things. But what about those go-to purchases of ours — maybe those comfortable boots, an interesting coffee mug or fresh-cut flowers — that just make us feel good?
Turns out that the material things in our lives aren’t incidental to our happiness. That’s according to Ingrid Fetell Lee, author of Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness. Her research shows that the objects in our surroundings can have a surprisingly powerful influence on our emotional well-being.
Take flowers, for example. Studies show that just being exposed to flowers can lift our mood, reduce anxiety, improve memory and even decrease the amount of pain medication used by patients in a hospital after surgery.
Manmade objects can have similar effects. Did you know that objects with round or symmetrical shapes are known to elicit positive emotions, while sharp, angular, asymmetrical objects are associated with tension and sadness? That helps explain why I love the glossy, round, bright red teapot I recently purchased at a local thrift shop for a whopping $2.
It’s clear that objects can affect our happiness in deep ways, some that we aren’t even consciously aware of. My advice? Choose items (even everyday things like teapots or cups) that enhance your joy and well-being, rather than detract from it.
There’s one more than thing that objects accomplish that experiences (like traveling, or going to a concert) do not. They stick around. Objects that inspire joy give you a lasting sense of pleasure. Not only do these items connect you to the past (I’m thinking of the antique oak secretary/desk with a beveled, oval mirror in my living room), but the feelings they evoke are equally potent in the present.
Rather than thinking of our favorite things as wasteful or unnecessary indulgences, let’s think of them as treasures that can bring out our best selves.
So—do you have an item that makes you happy every time you look at it or use it? Tell me about it at yettergirl@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
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I have way too many things that make me happy but I think the best one is an antique sewing machine in a cabinet that my grandfather bought my grandmother. I'm not even much of a seamstress, heck, sewing machines have always hated me. But anytime I try to use that machine or even just sit in front of it, I think of my grandmother and smile (and cry). She died when I was 10 but I still remember her smile.