People — myself included — talk a lot about happiness and wanting to find happiness; yet it seems to be this extremely elusive "thing" that we never quite seem able to find. And when/if we do find it, we rarely get to keep it.
I know lots of people who claim to have "almost" found their place of happiness, and yet there is always some small detail missing.
"If only this and that were true, I would be happy!"
Really?
For one thing, I can't help but think that we may all be a little delusional about just how happy this elusive "happy" actually is. Although this might sound a bit defeatist, chasing around after a euphoric state that can't possibly exist pretty much amounts to a Fool's Errand.
Disclosure: I don't actually chase happiness, anymore. But I enjoy speculating on the nature and seeming elusiveness of it.
I do have a great deal of gratitude for the happy moments I encounter along the way, but I harbor no delusions that some "perpetual emotional Shangri-La" of happiness is even a possibility.
In fact, I would venture so far as to say that I have replaced "the pursuit of happiness" from my youth with a practice of gratitude.
Even in the midst of chaos and pandemics, there are good things all around us. We just have to be willing to open our eyes and notice them! Gratitude makes me focus on what I do have, rather than elusive things I don't
I do find myself pausing to wonder why there is so much UN-happiness and discontent in the world. Which brings me back to the essence of the title of this post: What does this "happiness" even look like? Would we even recognize it, if it came along? Or would it just be eternally not quite good enough?
As Ram Dass said: "Be here now!"
"Now" might turn out to be a happy moment, and it might turn out to be a horrid one... both possibilities exist. But whatever this moment may be, it will have passed and become the next moment, by the time you've read to the end of this sentence!
Changes your perspective, right?
I suppose some might argue that such thinking is nothing but a "woo-woo mindføck," but it really isn't. It's just a simple breaking state and looking at where we are from a different perspective. In a simplistic sort of way, instead of being in the mindset of "I hate this job!" we consider "I just did this task really WELL!"
In so many cases, our discontent arises from "thinking too big."
Consider how often you've heard someone make a statement like "I HATE my life!" Not that many people actually 7hate their entire life; usually we are just dealing with certain pervasive — but isolated — challenges that cast a shadow on everything else.
When we consider smaller "chunks" of our daily reality, we can see that life is actually like a mosaic, made up of all sorts of things... and there's typically more good than bad.
So often, abstract ideas like "happiness" and "unhappiness" are merely a matter of what we choose to direct our focus on.
Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your weekend!
How about YOU? Do you know what "happy" is? Do we have unrealistic expectations about this idea? Do you practice gratitude... for what IS? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20210812 14:50 PDT
0318/1561