happiness
October 2008 
What is happiness?
Posted on Jun 30th, 2008
by 
Susan #1
Susan #1
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for June 30, 2008:
Happiness is what you allow it to be. It is accentuating the positive, working with the negative. It is going through life with an open heart and an open mind... the ability to realize that life isn't always going to give you what YOU want or what YOU think you deserve. Everything in interconnected, but we are usually too zoomed in or focused in order to see the bigger picture. Happiness is being compassionate, forgiving, open, letting go of the past and embracing the present. Take a breath, take a step back, realize what you have and embrace that. The things that make others happy will not necessarily make you happy. Remember that the grass is always greener on the other side. Happiness already lies within you. You have to choose to embrace it.
"What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life." ~ Leo Buscaglia
"What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life." ~ Leo Buscaglia
Access: Public
isn't it awful that some of us want to keep it a secret
Embracing myself means all of me, not just the feel good parts, but also the dark scary stuff I don't want anyone else to see. For when I embrace it, and I am more and more, Susan, it allows me to be free and others to be safe with me.
Because it continues to transform me into a person who is a loving cause in his own life.
Susan, well stated. I think the American fast paced society prevents people from really doing this at times.
A friend and I had a conversation about this after work today. She lost her husband a couple years ago and is still struggling with what you said here: the ability to realize that life isn't always going to give you what YOU want or what YOU think you deserve.
She had thought that if she had enough faith and personal belief in the positive (that he would live) that it would happen. We were talking about the larger picture….how we are just cells within a larger body….and how we can't always see the interconnected larger view. Thank you for sharing this.
Maze,
Thanks for visiting! It's always great to see you.
Heemes,
You are right… it does mean accepting the real you… the whole thing. Sometimes that's the most difficult part - being able to be honest with yourself - accepting the good, the bad and the ugly. Working with all of the parts and striking a balance within… getting to a place where you accept things or work through them to become a better you. I think you're pretty special just the way you are, BTW!
Rederick,
The fast paced society can always get in the way. So many times, society tries to tell you WHAT will make you happy (as I typed that, I snorted!). It's kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz… she had what she needed all along… it was inside of her. She spent the whole time thinking that someone else had to GIVE her what she needed. She couldn't see that SHE already held the key, basically to her own happiness…
Centria,
The longer I live, the more I realize that things have a way of working out the way they are supposed to work out. I may not always LIKE the way things happen, but I can see that things happen for a reason. Sometimes I'm like Mr. Magoo… seeing the world through glasses that are all distorted. Myopic… Every once in a while, taking the time to really OPEN my eyes to see what is really happening… that's when the Ah Ha moments occur. Yes, “just cells within a larger body”… working better, together as a whole. Connecting the dots completes the picture. Taking the time to stop and connect them properly… well that's what life is about.
Hugs to all of you!
-Susan