What does happiness mean to you?
Is it getting that promotion at work? Perhaps it's watching
your favorite team win a game. Or maybe happiness to you is
when you spend quality time with those who are most important
in your life.
To me, happiness is a temporary state of mind. A series of
small events that make us feel good, when they go our way. We
may go through the day with a goal in mind and, when
accomplished to our liking, we feel good... we feel happy, at
least for a moment. Having a day with a series of events like
these can certainly make for a Great Day but what do you do if
those days seem to sometimes be few and far between? How can
we create happiness in the mundane? How can happiness be found
in the problems or in the things that don't go the way we'd
like? Is there some magic pill or antidote to unhappiness?
Some pharmaceutical companies might tell you "YES" but outside
of their clever marketing, their antidote is still missing.
As Benjamin Franklin said, "The Constitution only gives
people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it
yourself." Sounds like a race doesn't it? It's like we are
running around a track with a carrot dangled at our nose but
the faster we run the faster the carrot moves. Eventually we
tire and some even give up. But what if you caught the carrot?
Then what? Would you be happy? Sure, for a few minutes.
As odd as it may sound, Happiness is only temporary but JOY
is eternal. Finding Joy in your life is what separates you
from the pack. It's what makes you enjoy the race, for the
race, versus just the pursuit of the carrot. Joy is a source
of object pleasure or satisfaction. Joy is what you draw upon
for purpose in your life. It is the antidote to unhappiness,
after all, how can anyone be truly unhappy if they are filled
with Joy. Joy embodies every single feeling of happiness and
makes your cup half full instead of half empty. Joy is not
based on a response from a certain event. Joy is your state of
mind. Joy is recognizing that there are many roads in life and
learning to find happiness even in the detours along the way.
So how do you develop a Joyous life? First, stopping
chasing the carrot, the temporary happiness that at the end of
the day really doesn't matter. Joy comes from tapping into
your spiritual connection to recognize that you, your talents,
and your life was put here on Earth for a reason. Every
situation that you encounter has a purpose. Every sickness,
every lost job, every negative event (and positive) is part of
a bigger plan for you and for those who you have contact with.
Think back on your life, I'm sure the evidence is clear. How
many times have you, at a given negative circumstance, felt
like the world was against you only to find out that it set
you up for something great (maybe years later but it still
did). Starting to look at your life and every situation within
it as a gift is where you begin. Becoming truly thankful for
the blessings you have been given, even if sometimes they seem
like a bother, will set you up for a joyous life. Every minute
that we spend looking at things through a negative eye is
60-seconds of wasted happiness and the chipping away of Joy.
For me, happiness is knowing that I don't know all the
answers and that I probably never will. It's being okay with
who I am and having Faith in One greater than I. It's trusting
that each of us has our own unique purpose on this earth, even
if it's just to impact the life of someone else. Happiness is
finding Joy that I have been given life and the opportunity to
share.
