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appreciation
May 2009 
What's the easiest way to become happy?
Posted on Nov 19th, 2008
by 
TextMage
TextMage
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for November 18, 2007:
Love yourself. Love Others. Accept everything in your life right now exactly as it is and help someone else. Smile and laugh a lot.
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Thank you for these ever useful reminders! Blessings!
I think the expression “become happy” is a funny one. It rather implies (if you ask me) that once you are happy once, you remain that way. That happy is a lasting state-of-being. I'm not saying it can't be. I can, I'm sure. And of course, this is always up for interpretation and different people have different ideas of what happiness consists of and perceptions of what it means to be happy and all that jazz.
Happy could be a state-of-being. But I hope that if you are striving to “become happy” and reach that state of being that you don't forget that there is an entire spectrum of emotions out there. If you feel sad for an hour or a day or a few days, it doesn't mean that you're not happy. Just means that you're sad.
Happy is a feeling- an emotion. Today I will be sad, happy, frustrated, pleased, eager, and any number of other things.
Yesterday is a great example. Yesterday was an entirely average day. Nothing particularly special happened. In fact, work was rather slow and I didn't get any credit applications and my manager got on my case about my goodbyes and thank yous. But I felt insanely happy. Throughout work I quietly jammed to the music over the intercom that usually I tune out because I've heard it so often. Even my more rude customers could not bring me down. I felt so genuinely happy, for no reason at all! I wanted to bounce out of my skin. I wanted to scream how happy I felt. Laugh it, sing it, dance it. Spread it around. Give all of my loved ones huge hugs. Later, in the evening, I cried my eyes out. It happens.
My state-of-being, so to speak, is still Very Confused and As-Yet-Pathless Young Adult. I have plenty to be very sad about. Plenty in my life to screw me up. (Mentally, emotionally.) I also have a lot to be thankful for. And the truth is that I am happy from the inside out. So when I'm sad I'm still happy. When I'm happy I'm still sad. Part of me, anyway.
Human Beans are so complex! So is my thought process right now. Which reminds me of a poem I wrote a number of years ago.
Okay, time for work. I'm working on being late to work. Have a great one!