"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." -Buddha

Happiness. The underlying theme of my blog has been ways to be happy. By seeing beauty in things you may not have noticed before. By finding happiness and self-worth within yourself. But today is about gaining happiness by sharing it with others.

It's why I always write to spread the beauty at the end of each my posts. When you are happy, making others happy only creates more happiness. Sharing it with others, like Buddha says, does not destroy your own happiness. It makes it last longer.

It is so easy to spread messages of negativity. Sharing stories of our bad days with friends. Telling your parents how your teachers really upset you. And sometimes we need to vent. We're human. We need to purge negativity sometimes.

Just don't forget to share the positive stuff too. Let others know about the happiness in your life. And ask them about the great things happening in theirs.

When there is a smile on your face, do something to put a smile on someone else's face. You'll only be happier when you succeed. This world could do with a lot more smiling. Be apart of that.

This is just another reason why kids are so great. They love to tell you about all the great things that happened to them. They got to use bubblegum toothpaste this morning. Then they had a chocolate donut for breakfast. They're going to a birthday party this afternoon! They want you to know about all of the happiness in their life, and they just can't keep it inside. Stop keeping your happiness inside. Let it out into the world. Let it help others to be happy too.

Share the happy things in your life with me by contacting me via Twitter, sending me an email, or commenting below.

Spread the beauty, spread the word, and spread some happiness too!

Shannon

As I have mentioned, I am a dance teacher. Every year I encounter new (and old) students. Some you get to watch grow up, and others are already grown when they walk into the studio.

Ideally, you'd like to remember every single student you have forever, but that is pretty much impossible. However, there are definitely some who really make an impact on you. (Side note: if you work with kids, you make an impact on a lot more of them than you think)

There is one student I have become close with in the past year. I think of her as my mini-me because we are very similar. Unintentionally, the first thing I say about her when I talk about her is "I love her". She's in those teenage years. The really sucky ones that people tell you are "the best time of your life". In all honesty, every single day can be the best time of your life if you make it that way, so don't ever believe that once a certain chapter of your life ends that you are no longer in the "best time of your life".

My mini-me is a fabulous dancer. She's a great human being. She's so smart. Yet, she's in this constant struggle to be accepted by her peers. She is never her true self around her friends because she is afraid that they won't accept her anymore. She hides the unique parts of herself and does what she thinks the others will think is cool.

It's these unique parts of her that I love the most. Be different. Be yourself. You are you not anyone else. And you are pretty freaking awesome.

Her struggle with peer acceptance has led her to struggle with self-acceptance. But she is so great. One of the greatest things about her is her work ethic. She never gives up. She never stops trying. She works and works until she is perfect. Admirable. I admire her.

Why do we live in a society where it is so easy to find our faults and so difficult to find the positives. I challenge you find one positive thing about yourself every single day. If your immediate reaction to this challenge isn't "YES!" then at least answer this: why don't you want to think the positive things about yourself? What bad things can come from thinking of something positive about yourself?!

Don't make it too hard, friends. Today, my positive thing is that I have one random blonde eyelash. The rest are black. It's strange. But ya know what, it's also pretty cool. And I'm glad I have one blonde eyelash. I'm always up for a little bit of variety.

So I want you to find your blonde eyelash of the day. Feel free to share by commenting below, tweeting me, or sending an email.

Spread the word. And spread the beauty.

Shannon

Each of us has so much beauty inside of us just because we think of others.

This morning I taught a class of three-year-olds. They're always precious, but today was special. One little girl that I know fairly well marched right on up to me and handed me a dandelion. "Here you go, Miss Shannon. I want to give this to you." I told her it was beautiful. And it is beautiful.

The dandelion in question, pictured above, is not only a beautiful creation, but it is beautiful because my little dancer gave it to me. She wanted to me to know that she was thinking of me. That I am important enough to her to warrant a gift. And not just any gift, but a very pretty flower that she hand-picked.

After I thanked her for the flower, she ran back to her mother and returned with a clear cup. Inside the cup was a dead grasshopper. My little dancer had named it Aurora, after her (and mine!) most favorite princess. She explained to me how when they walked to their car to drive to dance class the dead grasshopper was on their windshield. This little dancer thought the grasshopper was really pretty, which is why she named it Aurora.

And here is yet another reason I love kids. They see the beauty in more things than we do as adults. What adult takes the time to preserve a grasshopper and show it to the people around them? Look at this little guy who was once alive and enjoying life. Let's not forget about him. He is important too. Adults rarely do this sort of thing. But kids do. They care about everyone and everything. Even the dead grasshopper on their windshield.

I challenge you to acknowledge the beauty in something you don't normally notice. The way the grain in the wood is just a certain way, or the way the grass blows slightly just before a storm. Find something beautiful and out of the ordinary.

I want to hear about your stories of beauty. Comment, email, or tweet me your story or picture of something beautiful.

In the meantime, spread the word and spread the beauty.

Shannon