Happy Friday! It's Friday, April 8th, 2020.

I'm Kevin Roman. I'm a designer, stylist, and generally all-around happy guy. A few years ago, I started the tradition of texting my close friends a great quote and a great song every Friday. Some of my friends liked the quote of the day, others loved hearing a new song I discovered. Everyone found these Happy Friday messages inspiring in their own way.

Well, eight years have passed, my text message group has grown to 50 friends, and now I'm taking things further with this podcast. This is Happy Friday.

Happy Spring, Happy April, Happy Friday! Thanks for joining me. This has been a long time coming, but in a world that's so crazy and unpredictable, a little bit of happy can go a long way. So let's get started.

 Here's a thought: Let's talk about good days and bad days. And you know how these start. You can wake up nice and rested. You can have a good hair day going. Everything seems to be going well. There's no traffic. Even time slows down so that you get more stuff done. And you are feeling great. You're having a great day.

But just as easily, the opposite can happen. You can get up on the wrong side of the bed. You can stub your toe, you can drop things. With me, that's what I do - I, I start dropping things and it just frustrates and frustrates and even the littlest things piling up and it's just downhill from there.

So, let me tell you a story. When I was a kid, and kids are wonderful, but you know, kids love to whine and moan and yell at each other. You know, that sort of like "You pushed me," like "She made me feel bad," "You hurt my feelings." And I remember hearing from the adults in my life at the time: "They're just feelings!" 

Thanks a lot, grownups! That's not really what a kid wants to hear. But over time, I realized actually there's a great lesson inside there. The lesson to not always trust your emotions and don't put too much weight in them. Good ones, because they may not last. So don't pin all of your hopes on that temporary emotion. And even the bad ones, because they may not be grounded in reality, and so they might not stick around either.

I know what you're saying, I know what you're saying, "But feelings are so powerful!" And they are, good ones and bad ones, but if there was only a way that we could turn them on and off, like, like a light switch, like I'm having a bad day and I just want to flip the switch and have a good day. You know, cause I can remember how great it felt with those good feelings and I wish I could just flick that switch and turn on the good. And that way, we could use them, control those emotions, not be controlled by them. Now this is really nothing new. It's not rocket science, but in simple terms, we need to learn how to trigger our emotions and trigger our happiness.

So Socrates said, "Know yourself." Actually, a lot of other people said "know yourself," but he was the big one. And I'm not a teacher, but I have had a lot of experience doing one thing at least and that's being myself. And if that's one of the first things we learn, by being ourself is to know ourself, then you'll learn what kind of things make you feel good? What things get you moving? What are your triggers, your happiness triggers? What motivates you? It can be a thing, an activity, a person. It can be a great thought. It, it doesn't really matter what the thing is. Well, okay, it does or I'm going to be sitting around watching YouTube videos every night, eating ice cream, because that's my happy trigger!

I actually looked up the definition of "addiction" and it involves when you become dependent on something instead of being independent. So you want to find triggers that inspire you so that you can inspire yourself.

Okay, so two things I need to touch on: blame and action:

One, you may feel that there are emotions that you can't overcome and I'm here to tell you that is not true. If holding onto good energy is something you can't do yourself, find a professional. Because depression is real and there are experts with real skills to help you get on track. And there is no shame in asking for help to get there.

And a quick number two, I'm not talking about some secret Hocus Pocus, touchy-feely, you know, "dream about it and wait for it to come to you." I will be the first to admit that emotions are actually sort of a gimmick. The key is using them to spark our energy into real action. And energy is power. If you visualized it, if you've seen it, and especially if you felt that energy before, if you remember a good feeling, that's proof that you can achieve it. You can do anything!

And that's why you, and only you, can make yourself happy.

Okay, so every week along with focusing on a great thought, we're going to share a great song. I discovered this song last summer, and it has been on my playlist, like all season long. It is super high energy. It is literally a feel-good song. It's the song, High Heels by John Duff. And I love the quote in it that says "If I looked the way that I feel..." It talks about feeling lifted and elevated. You know the saying, "If you look good, you feel good." Well, and that's true - and that could be a happy trigger - but also the reverse is true. If you feel good, everything about you appears better. And I love that message! 

I hope you like it. Every week, you can find a link to Friday's song in our show notes right in your podcast app and online at our website, happyfriday.fm. And remember: You and only you can make yourself happy!

Thanks so much for listening to this first episode; this is going to be a lot of fun! And let me know your happy triggers. I'd love to hear them. Mine are chocolate chip cookies and... running, maybe?! Find us on Twitter and on Instagram @happyfridayFM and I will see you next week.

And now go have a Happy Friday!