This week I reviewed an intriguing book for another of my columns. “The Science of Happiness” left me thinking about “being in the moment happiness,” times when I’m engrossed in something specific that’s going on around me or a particular task at hand. No matter how much time is involved, these “being in the moment” activities leave me feeling contented—happy.

I thought about it and came up with some of my “being in the moments.” They include…

• sitting on a hay bale, listening to the cattle across the fence as they chew on their breakfast.
• watching hummingbirds as they flutter around a feeder filled with red sugar water.
• writing “Pipi’s Pasture” for the newspaper.
• listening to the furnace purr away on a cold winter night.
• smelling rain as it gently falls on a summer night.
• watching a fire burn in a fireplace or an outdoors fire ring.
• roasting marshmallows over a fire in a fire ring.
• savoring the aroma of cinnamon as a spice cake bakes in the oven.
• picking ripe apples off our trees.
• admiring freshly-washed curtains as they hang above a clean kitchen window.
• watching young calves as they run across the pasture, playing on a cool evening.
• sitting on the creek bank, listening to the water trickle downstream.
• stepping on rocks to get across the creek, as I did when I was a child.
• smelling fresh-cut grass or hay as it is being cut on a lawn or meadow.
• soaking up the fragrance of roses as they’re being arranged in a vase.
• checking out zucchini plants to see if the little squashes are ready to harvest.
• pulling weeds in the garden, all the time feeling the soil between my fingers.
• reading a “can’t-put-it-down” novel.
• savoring the aroma of coffee as it perks in the morning.
• watching leaves move on the crab apple tree as raindrops fall on them.
• enjoying a cup of coffee with my brother Duane during a morning phone chat.
• watching robins hunt for worms as water sprays on the lawn.
• using crayons to color a picture with my great-grandchild.
• creating a children’s story.
• clipping old blossoms from the potted plants, all the while taking in the fragrance of the flowers.

These days, as our country is in a topsy-turvy state, I find myself savoring happy times, mostly those times when I’m “in the moment” and not going in many different directions all at once.  What are your favorite “in the moment” times?