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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:
ABitOfAShitShow · 27/01/2022 23:31

@Shinydiscoballs1

I can't think of a specific occasion as such but I do get bursts of happiness and excitement about life in general from time to time. Usually when I'm in a good place in my head and feel balanced etc I love it! Does anyone else get these?
Yep! I get these moments and they aren’t usually in an idyllic setting or anything. They’re not common for me though. I feel joy a lot but not that peaceful perfect feeling.
ABitOfAShitShow · 27/01/2022 23:32

Should have said - not the excitement bit. Just happiness.

LoveaStatementNap · 27/01/2022 23:33

So many. But my favourites:

When I sold my first story.

When I got a distinction on my degree and got accepted into post-grad (there’s history of lack of emotional support and it was the first time I truly did something for myself).

The very first time I went to Rome.

The first sight of the Disney Castle at WDW.

Every time I pick up my little dog and he cuddles right into me. He smells so good and he clearly loves me as much as I love him. He personifies love.

Dreamstate · 27/01/2022 23:33

I get it through music, so I can experience this pure happiness everyday, like I want to burst into a ball of light cos its so overwhelming Smile

Fizbosshoes · 27/01/2022 23:34

The day DD was born. When they put her in my arms I felt a rush of love that I'd never thought before.

We went away to Majorca with my parents when DD was just under 2. On the last evening we were there after avoiding going in the sea all week DD walked into the sea on a gorgeous tiny beach a few minutes from where we were staying. She loved it and we had to quickly strip her off (and ourselves as far as suitable!) as she went further in.
Breaking a time goal in a marathon after 4 years of trying.

Watching DS master riding a bike for the first time on a campsite.

Seeing my kids play together in the sea on a quiet beach in France a few years ago

covilha · 27/01/2022 23:34

No

peachgreen · 27/01/2022 23:42

Yes. Walking over Waterloo Bridge with late DH, the day we met. We stopped to look at St Paul's and then our eyes met and I realised that he felt the same way about me as I did about him, and that we would somehow end up together. It was incredible. Had the same feelings when we said our wedding vows a few years later.

I also experienced a moment of extreme joy when I walked in to check on my daughter and realised that after 2 long years of the most horrific PND, I finally loved her wholly and completely and more than anything or anyone in the world - but DH had passed away by that point so it was also tinged with sadness at him not being there to tell.

Yebbie · 27/01/2022 23:51

@ShirleyPhallus

I do have this feeling quite often, we have a beautiful garden where the sun sets through the trees and casts the most gorgeous, soft, golden light and it’s lovely to sit in the garden, in that patch of light, having a coffee and listening to the birdsong, watching the toddler run around etc etc.

Gives me a real sense of true happiness. It’s actually contentment I think.

Exactly this! I watched an interview with Jimmy Carr a couple of weeks ago and he said "the meaning of life is enjoying the passage of time".

These moments are what life is all about. We all waste so much time wishing life away, waiting for our kids to be that bit older, waiting for our next payday, so many of us are guilty at constantly living in a state of "what's next?" and don't realise that this is what matters.

My life can be pretty dull sometimes, so can most people's, but I've had loads of these moments. Stop waiting for big moments and find the beauty in the mundane, in the everyday. Enjoy the passage!

Sorry this sounds so corny but I had some epiphany when I realised this a few years ago and again when Jimmy Carr so accurately summarised the same feelings I had. I fully believe this!

MaybeHeIsMyCat · 27/01/2022 23:54

The day Prince Harry got married! Not for that reason Grin
It was burning hot, and I took my horse out for a ride. There was nobody about, I guess everyone was watching the wedding so I had the roads to myself and went for a canter up a huge hill and just stood looking across the view for a while. It was so silent as well

Every moment of pure joy was with her, I lost her in 2019 and it's been a giant struggle

Tubs11 · 27/01/2022 23:58

Meeting my husband, knew instantly he was the one
The moment my children were born, that feeling will stay with me forever

Judystilldreamsofhorses · 28/01/2022 00:01

This is a bit crap compared to all the lovely stories on this thread. Last March my DP got offered a job after not working most of 2020 - I actually jumped for joy like in a cartoon!

Seeing our cat playing or come racing in from the garden makes me laugh out loud, and I also love seeing happy dogs running around in the park.

BabyPotato · 28/01/2022 00:02

I have had lots over the years and they're mostly about me spending time with my husband and/or son. The first thing that comes to mind was yonks ago when me and DH had been together for a couple of months. Our relationship was love at first sight and we've been inseparable since and especially in the beginning the need to be together was very strong. I remember when I had moved into his student house and we were living together in his tiny little room. I woke up one morning in his tiny single bed and he was still asleep but spooning me so that I could feel his cool breath on my neck. I listened to his breath and I felt like we fit together perfectly like two puzzle pieces in this lovely sleepy cuddle, and I was so happy I could have cried. I was quite troubled before I met him but that morning I felt calm and safe and everything just felt right. Bit soppy but it's such a happy memory.

I have lots with my son too, especially from when he was a baby and he would look at me like he adored me, and I would almost burst because I couldn't believe I could ever experience such bliss. Even now when he crawls into our bed at night and sniffles around and plays with my hair in his sleep my little heart is so happy. ❤️

Bortles · 28/01/2022 00:03

A hormonally induced one when I was pregnant with my first baby. Just sat on a bench by a river in the sun thinking, holy shit, I feel happy.

One that makes me super sad to think back on. I'd just moved in with the love of my life. I had gone shopping on my own for placemats. I had a sort of 50s housewife moment of tralala everything is lovely and romantic and here I am making things perfect! It was not to last.

Other than that...I have a shadow over me all the time re. things not lasting, the sadness of impermanence, that stops me feeling happy. So. Two. Sad I have things and moments that make me smile, I love cuddling my two DD, lying on a straw bale on a hot day with the dogs pootling about, but...it's all bittersweet.

OhWhyNot · 28/01/2022 00:04

Ds and I on holiday. He was three. We were having pudding (lots of choices) ds was so happy trying them all and I remember thinking all the worrying times feeling alone and all was absolutely fine it was just the two of us

Lalliella · 28/01/2022 00:07

@nocoolnamesleft

On the drive home from getting my first covid vaccine, on the first day of the UK roll out. Joy, relief, gratitude, amazement, hope. But mostly joy. I couldn't stop singing. I felt so alive.
@nocoolnamesleft I felt the same! I burst into tears when I left the vaccination centre, I was so very grateful to the staff and the scientists that had given us this amazing hope!

Excellent thread OP

Gobolino80 · 28/01/2022 00:07

One sunny afternoon on the harbour beach in St Ives about 2006. DS was playing with his skim board on the shoreline and my ex DH was playing with DD, pulling her along in her inflatable boat. I just remember looking at the kids and thinking how happy they were to be in the sea and to be spending time as a family, a really strong sense of happiness and contentment washed over me, I can still see it now if I close my eyes.

Thirtytimesround · 28/01/2022 00:11

Yes. Breastfeeding. Just that sense that I was doing exactly what I was meant to be doing, with someone who I adored and who adored me, lying in bed listening through the window to the garden birds singing in the garden on a sunny day.

user1471604848 · 28/01/2022 00:18

Yes, years ago I was in Copenhagen with my ex boyfriend. We were in a 3-D cinema in the dark, waiting for the show to start. I remember an Enya song was playing.
At the time, I just felt so utterly content. There was nowhere else I wanted to be, and with no-one else. I felt the world could have ended at that point, and I would have been happy. It was such a strange, lovely, overwhelming feeling of absolute contentment.

Wingedharpy · 28/01/2022 00:23

@Judystilldreamsofhorses : That's not at all crap IMHO. Very understandable, under the circumstances. It's good news and it's a positive thing to recognise it and enjoy it.

sunflowerdaisyrose · 28/01/2022 00:34

Quite a few, but a stand out was last summer watching my children perform in a COVID postponed musical - everyone was so worried about having to isolate because of covid that right up to the second the show started i thought it would be cancelled - I cried (quietly!) when it started as was just so happy for all the children it was finally going ahead.

Another was sitting with my book and a vin chaud on the ski slopes while having my lunch. Not sure why it sticks in my mind so much but was having a perfect moment alone on a great holiday!

Judystilldreamsofhorses · 28/01/2022 00:35

Thank you @Wingedharpy - him being made redundant in a pandemic was so utterly shit, on top of the actual pandemic, so it was just such a huge relief. Today he got offered a promotion, just acting up for six months while someone is seconded abroad, but we are delighted!

mocktheweek1 · 28/01/2022 00:38

My son said his first word today.
He failed all his newborn hearing tests and we've had months of observations and an operation and they kept saying his speech would be delayed. But today he said daddy so clearly and he's said it at least 30 times today and it feels fantastic Smile

Od130990 · 28/01/2022 00:40

F

mocktheweek1 · 28/01/2022 00:40

Also passed my driving test a few weeks ago after failing it SIX times! That was special and now I feel like I can do anything Grin

Lucia23 · 28/01/2022 00:42

@ChaosMoon

OP, are you watching Buffy?
Ha ha. Well aside from watching Buffy which brings me much happiness...

I lived in Italy for a while and went back packing round some of those really beautiful villages at the edge of the sea. I remember one night in La Spezia, watching the sunset with friends I'd just met that week. I'd never seen such a beautiful expanse of sea and I remember the snapshot in my mind well.