How I Capture 5 Seconds of Pure Bliss in the Morning

And how I intend to increase it to 10

Photo by Max Ilienerwise on Unsplash

As the weather has gotten warmer up here in Boston (USA), I have been out walking more in the mornings. What usually started as a forty-five-minute walk during the wintertime has turned into an hour and a half walk trek. It has been quite a walk!

Of course, I grab my usual Starbucks iced coffee (which I still can’t live without!) as my go-to drink and say my greetings to the baristas.

Since I started to walk more, I noticed I have been getting this feeling of…happiness at random times during my walk. As soon as it comes, it goes away in a flash.

Now, I know this sounds unusual since this is nothing new, right? There are plenty of people who will be happy when they walk and drink iced coffee, so that isn’t earth-shattering news.

However, I tend to be a worrier (almost to a fault) as I think about work and other personal issues at all times, so experiencing this wonderful feeling these past couple of weeks has been very odd to me.

Being the observant person I am, I have tried to pinpoint the exact moment I feel this happiness and have taken notes down. The following are my findings.

I stopped listing to local radio on my phone

First, I realized I stopped listening to local talk radio.

I usually put on my earbuds and listen to local radio stations during my walks. Most of the time, they talk about local news or play very upbeat music. The news tends to be quite negative, and if I were being honest, quite depressing.

There are definitely negative vibes when you listen to the news, especially with the current news cycle.

I noticed ever since I quit turning on my radio app, I have been much calmer while walking down my route. At first, I was worried that I was going to miss the music and talk, but surprisingly, that wasn’t the case at all!

I started to walk in paths full of trees

Ever since I found out the benefits of walking in paths full of trees, I have been mindful in trying to walk to my nearby bike path near a river…