Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you've ever experience a moment of pure happiness?

268 replies

PaddleBoardingMomma · 27/01/2022 20:38

I'm talking unadulterated pure bliss, a moment in life you just knew there and then was what real happiness felt like, a moment captured in time you can look back on now and still feel joyous about? If so... please share :)

I've never felt it, not that "perfect" moment any way. I'm beginning to wonder if it's happened and I didn't appreciate it, or if it's just never happened for me. Maybe other peoples stories might help me decide the answer on that one!

OP posts:
heyitsthistle · 27/01/2022 22:31

I was alone in Canyonlands NP in Utah. I'd driven to a remote viewpoint, it was extremely hot and visibility was incredible. I sat on a bench and listened to the absolute deafening silence. It was so quiet I could hear the blood being pumped around my head.

I enjoyed that moment so much. I had never experienced anything like it, and probably never will again.

2holibobssofar · 27/01/2022 22:31

Yes.

Wild camping in France in the summer with my best friend, later to be DH, and dog next to a river on a sandy beach. No one else around. Swimming in the warm water at midnight.

Driving around in the summer time on the way to a client while working for myself outdoors. I was doing a job I loved and no one was telling me what to do.

Sitting in an airport lounge waiting for my plane to take me to the Caribbean. Realising how my life had changed from when I had been living in a tent a few years prior……

Walking with my dog all alone in the woods and he came flying up to me, full of joy, when I called his name.

Many moments in my life, but I’m a very live in the moment, glass half full, positive person. I think that helps.

LiveintheNow · 27/01/2022 22:31

Yes usually something in nature. I feed the birds every morning and like a PP there are a couple of robins who appear and flit around waiting for me to put out the seeds.

Walking my dog in the woods and enjoying views of the hills and the sunsets.

Hearing an owl in the trees after dusk.

A long time ago, sailing round the whitsunday islands in Australia and going ashore to butterfly bay and a cloud of blue butterflies lifting into the air, magical.

Monkeytennis97 · 27/01/2022 22:31

Almost every time I play with the adult orchestra I'm in😊 I relish the sounds of all the instruments and the community feeling with friends all in the moment together. It's fab- I think I'm so lucky to have this every week.

CaffeineAndCrochet · 27/01/2022 22:32

My wedding day. The days leading up to it had been horrible and stressful but when I walked down the aisle, all of the stress just melted away.

LadyShmuck · 27/01/2022 22:37

Bodyboarding in the sea in Mexico with ExDH (not ex at the time ) and my 2 DSs, just laughing and having fun together with not a care in the world. On the same holiday, a boat trip to snorkel and just being in the crystal clear water with music playing was absolute bliss.

Just after DS2 was born, driving home from my parents, just me and my boys in the car and feeling so lucky that they were mine. I still love car journeys with them, singing along to the radio together and playing silly games.

At my parents just yesterday, my mum has dementia and it's quite hard for her to show any emotion or interest in anything now, we took our puppy to meet them and the puppy was biting my dad's feet, my mum laughing was just so lovely, I did cry when I got home but it was just so amazing to hear her laugh again.

hivemindneeded · 27/01/2022 22:37

I have. At a music festival with my arms around both DC and DH, listening to my favourite band play my favourite song which I associate with our SEN son turning a corner and realising he would survive after all. We used to play the song all the time when DC were babies and toddlers. To be listening to it live with two healthy DC beside me was the biggest rush of joy I have ever had. Even now if anyone asks 'What was the happiest day of your life?' I immediately think of standing by that stage in the pouring rain, feeling ecstatic that my DC were strong and healthy and that song had been our little family anthem during the hardest times.

PermanentTemporary · 27/01/2022 22:37

The evening before our big rowing race, which we had trained for every day for six months, we went for a gentle outing, just practising a start or two and a couple of pieces. The sky was cloudless as the sun began to set, the river was a millpond and we were completely unified as a team, we knew each others' breathing better than our own by then. The boat running under us, the sound of the water, balancing and stretching together. It was so meditative. I was 21 and life was full of possibilities and I felt so happy just to be there.

Mackmama · 27/01/2022 22:38

Walking around my neighbourhood one day with my DS about 1 month old in the pram. I had earphones in and a song came on I liked, it was a warm autumn day and I just felt so happy doing my own thing looking after my perfect baby boy. My kids make me happy everyday to be honest.

Angryattrackandtrace · 27/01/2022 22:39

Yeo I have a few. 2 of them are:

Sitting in a rocking chair under a metal roof into torrential rain in America. It was warm, my feet were splashing in the puddles and I felt so content.

Sitting on the roof of a safari vehicle watching the sun rise with some lions playing just in front of us and my brand new husband right next to me.

friendlyflicka · 27/01/2022 22:39

I get quite a lot. Huge amount of them involve riding my horse: usually quite fast. Nothing I love more

whatisheupto · 27/01/2022 22:41

Driving through stunning countryside in the sunshine, having just made a big move that I'd slogged and sacrificed for years to make happen. Utter bliss to have finally achieved what I'd been planning and trying for for so long. I remember thinking "remember this feeling because it's a once in a lifetime feeling!" I was literally buzzing with joy and excitement.

MalfunctioningRobot · 27/01/2022 22:43

Walking with my dog often gives me moments of pure joy. She’s quite an anxious dog and a border collie so very focused. There are a few times when she looks back at me and does a really giddy run, like she’s so happy to be out with me, I feel absolute joy watching her in those moments.

Sweetpeasaremadeofcheese · 27/01/2022 22:44

When I had my third DS. With the first two I went into shock because of the pain and didn't really even want to hold them. But with him I just went into a state of bliss, like I knew who he was and he was finally here!

Pluvia · 27/01/2022 22:49

Yes, OP, fairly often. Usually when I'm at my desk quietly working and things are going well and I'm feeling really calm. I just seem to slip into a state of absolute joy: it rises and falls with my breath. I just let it happen and don't grab.

Perhaps I ought to say I'm not spiritual, so it's nothing like that. I used to meditate but haven't for years. It's something to do with just being in the moment, not being under pressure and knowing I'm alive. I never get it when I think I should — it doesn't happen with sunsets or weddings or staring into my partner's eyes or at a beautiful picture. It can happen unexpectedly on a bus or train or sitting in a lecture or watching a film, but never when I'm talking or engaging with other people. It's a 'me, here, right now, in the world' experience.

Briony123 · 27/01/2022 22:49

@BreakfastClub80

Walking our two dogs today, both behaving themselves but having fun and chasing around in the woods, it was a moment I thought to myself that “this is happiness”
Yes, it happens often, and isn't hard to find!
JangolinaPitt · 27/01/2022 22:51

Often. I think it is the capacity to feel sheer joy that is a gift rather than having a perfect life as mine is far from.

3scape · 27/01/2022 22:52

Quite a few moments, generally looking over views. Such as looking from Snow topped mountains to coast from a bath on honeymoon while my husband was lighting a woodburner in a tree lodge, there was also a glass of wine to enjoy and some handmade biscuits in that particular moment. Natural views really help me feel happy and very joyful.

I also remember feeling happy when I've woken up from a sleep during very dark times to find my husband still holding my hand or curled around me. Normally we give each other room. It's bittersweet, but it moves me.

Simonjt · 27/01/2022 22:53

Yeah, quite a few, when my son achieves things and seeing him feeling proud about his achievements, getting married, meeting our daughter, seeing the moment my husband became a Dad, a few rugby based ones as well.

Hippophile · 27/01/2022 22:54

I feel v fortunate that I feel happy a lot. My wedding day was the happiest day of my life. I was marrying the most beautiful man I'd ever met, surrounded by mountains beside a lake, with all my family and friends around me. The weather was incredible and I just felt so, it was just perfect, and looking back feels like a dream. going to collect my dogs was a lifelong dream come true as well, i was ecstatic when I got them home. They bring me so much joy on a daily basis, i cant believe how much I love them.

Snowboarding with DH in fresh powder in Austria only recently, we were alone on that particular piste and we whooped and laughed the whole way down 😄 Riding my horse in the beautiful countryside where I live on a sunny day makes me immensely happy. however, more often than not, its the little things in life that make me feel happy, spending time with gorgeous DH and the dogs, glass of red and the fire on, chatting and watching a good series, makes me feel so cosy and content. As if we are the only people in the world at that moment in time ❤️

Pluvia · 27/01/2022 22:54

@JangolinaPitt

Often. I think it is the capacity to feel sheer joy that is a gift rather than having a perfect life as mine is far from.
That's a lovely way of putting it. I can't help feeling that striving for a perfect life is one sure way of ensuring one's never full of joy.
ThreeRingCircus · 27/01/2022 22:55

I think mine are the small moments but I really try to hold onto them and notice them when they're happening.

One was the other week, I'd tucked DD2 age 2 into her cot at bedtime and as I closed the door I said "I love you, sweetie" and she replied "I love you, mummy." It was the first time she'd ever said that and I felt a rush of pure joy and love.

Also when I put a birdfeeder outside of our kitchen window, I didn't see a bird on it for ages and ages and then one morning about three weeks later a little robin landed on it. I stood in the kitchen frozen to the spot as I didn't want to move and startle it and watched it eat the seed I'd put out. I remember being SO happy at the simple loveliness of it.

Duke4 · 27/01/2022 22:56

When I have one of the DCs in bed with me for whatever reason. I kick DH out into the spare bed, cuddle my sleeping DC and inhale their beauty.

beechie12 · 27/01/2022 23:00

I sometimes get a wave of pure joy when playing piano or violin. Lasts a few seconds.

Shannith · 27/01/2022 23:02

@Singlebutmarried well you've just caused me a rush of nostalgic joy. I just picked an episode of Angel at random and it's the one where Wesley pretends to be Angel. Happy sigh.

Swipe left for the next trending thread