How do you become exuberant, anyway?

So where did I get this whole idea of living exuberantly?  I was actually reading a news story online about Sir Richard Branson that mentioned his views on “exuberant living”.  It seems to me it should be easy to enjoy your life when you’re a billionaire, but really, most billionaires seem pretty boring.  Richard Branson, though – he knows how to LIVE.

His favorite sport is kite surfing.  He’s attempted world records for circumnavigating the globe in a hot air balloon.  He has his own private island (http://www.neckerisland.virgin.com/).  He has his own SPACESHIP, for goodness sake (well, its in development, but STILL!).  So he’s kinda my hero now.
 

I thought to myself, yeah, the man has some money, but there are a lot of people who seem to have that love of life who aren’t billionaires.  So I asked myself, how does one become exuberant, if one isn’t already?

Now I like to think I’m a fairly cheerful person.  I like to laugh.  I laugh a lot.  But at the same time, I do have a dark side – who doesn’t?  Not a serial killer-type dark side, of course (yet!), but I can definitely be grumpy.  That’s one thing I want to work on – keeping the grump at bay.  I don’t feel like I exude “living-life-to-the-fullest” on a day-to-day basis, you know?

It seems to me one of the best ways to LIVE, LIVE, LIVE (as Auntie Mame would say) is to figure out what you like to do and then do more of it, as a start. (And if you don’t know who Auntie Mame is, you should Google “Mame Dennis”, and then go rent the movies and/or read the books – you can add that to your list of New Year’s Resolutions).

So here’s a quick and dirty list of things that make me happy:

1. Hugs from my kids
2. Being at the beach
3. Walks in the woods
4. Reading a book outside
5. Yoga
6. Gardening
7. Long hot baths
8. Red wine
9. Jogging
10. Watching space documentaries (yes, I know this marks me as a complete geek)
11. Riding my bike

Arguably, I do too much of #’s 7, 8 and 10, though at least it means I’m clean and know a lot about astronomy and planetary science, though often with a slight buzz :-).  However, I know I don’t get enough of most of the others.
 

Since Exuberance-by-Policy will be my goal for the year, I’m going to make conscious decisions to do more of the things that make me happy.

Had a good start this weekend, when we took our kids to the Jacksonville arboretum (www.jacksonvillearboretum.org/).  It was lovely.  Temperatures in the 70s and we all enjoyed being out in nature, though my kids were loud enough to scare away any actual wildlife that might have been in the area.  Still, it was a lovely afternoon!