The Pursuit of Happiness

I think about multimillion dollar business of self help books and counseling and what feeds the fire of said business.  Everyone wants to be happy or find happiness, yet happiness seems to be challenging to grasp, hold on to and keep in our lives continuously.  For the most part everything we engage in is to help cultivate a happy life.  This can be difficult because there are many outside variables that all day, everyday, can put a downer on our attempt toward a consistent mood of sunshine.  How do we create happiness and find joy amidst the stress, chaos, heartbreak, busy schedules, and loss that permeates our everyday life? This question is what I suppose fuels the multimillion dollar business of self-help stuff.... But how can these experts help us? They do not know where our happiness is rooted.  Part of the journey is to find your own individual source of joy.  We all have different happiness reservoirs that are filled with individualized ways that we can find HAPPINESS!

Don't you want to go out and do something great now?!  I think I want to wake up everyday and watch this video before I do anything else.  We do have a choice... a choice to live and be joyful.  A choice between anger, sadness and frustration or working through the hard times and brightening up someones day with a smile.  There are times that things are going well, or even great, during these moments happiness seems to have no end. Other days that choice to smile or even get up and get dressed in the morning is nearly unachievable.  But we have to make that choice and resolve to be better and happier - even if it is just one day at a time.  This doesn't mean we have to be perky and bubbly non-stop.  Happiness is a state of being, not necessarily a personality. 

I have been thinking of what makes me happy and these are some of the simple joys in my life that help me wake up on those days that I just do not want to.

-when the ice maker works perfectly

-waking up to a text message from someone great

- getting flowers

-unwrapping gifts

-wrapping paper in general

-the smell of wet cement

-kisses on the forehead

-not being able to put down a book

-being hugged so tight you can't move

-the cold side of the pillow

-being the first one to put a knife in the peanut butter

-taking my make up off

-my family

-working out so hard you are exhausted...sweating

-Stationary

And the list goes on.  What makes you happy? Write them down.  Do those things often.  Happiness is out there and ours for the taking.  Go live and be happy!