LITTLE HITS OF HAPPINESS

It’s time to appreciate what we have now, whatever its size

Iremember thinking, in my A-level English class, ‘Thank goodness I’m not a Jane Austen character.’ (I also remember thinking how kissable the boy in front of me was, but that’s another story.) Their world seemed so small, their moments of pleasure so fleeting. Endless, endless needlepoint, drizzly, windswept walks and piano practice, with only a biannual ball to look forward to. And perhaps new trimming for their bonnet if God was smiling on them.having to take what pleasure they could in the reading and rereading of books, in the wings of a butterfly or the antics of their dogs. Yawn. Those poor women waited for years and years for chance encounters with the men who filled their dreams. I didn’t want to wait five minutes for anything. Ever. And lucky for me, and you, immediate gratification is now the norm. Everything is bigger, better, faster, brighter. Dancing on tables with your girlfriends in Ibiza? Travelling to see Caribbean beaches and Moroccan souks? All you need for these high-octane hits is time and money. Hmm. Everything has been supersized for our pleasure. Wine glasses, cupcakes and television screens. We are never bored. Never forced to people watch while we wait. Never hungry. Never hankering. Swipe right for sexual pleasure. Click for that bag. But, somehow, this has translated to – well, for me anyway – a life spent in pursuit of pleasure. And not much enjoying it once you have it in your grasp. Why? Maybe because we load these big experiences and expensive possessions with so much expectation. Because the bed’s not comfortable enough, the beach not as scenic as it looked on the gram. The masseur’s pressure too light. The eyeshadow too glittery. We, well I, can’t switch off the wanting bigger, better, cooler switch. Never content with what’s on offer right now. Somehow unable to really feel the joy in the moment, because the present is always sullied by the thought that there’s something bigger and better round the corner. William Morris, textile designer, novelist and visionary, said, ‘The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.’ And Blake encouraged us to see

‘the world in a grain of sand’. The School Of Life thinks this is a life-enhancing skill, too. Its book called Small Pleasures talks of the wonders of a beloved’s wrist. And kissing. And dawn. So I’ve tried to shrink my pleasures down to the here and now, to what is right in front of me. Which is what those Jane Austen heroines had to do. And we might just need to do so, too...