Happiness

Today's edition of USA Today had an article in it on how to be happy during not-so-good times. It really was an article that raised the issue of how does happiness occur and where does it come from...and is it something we can actually pursue or are people simply predisposed to being happy. One of the points the article made is that wealth can be found in ways other the money. Wealth is not simply defined by our bottom line or our income. Wealth also has to do with our social network, relationships, and fulfilling our sense of purpose in life. If we have that kind of "wealth", we can also experience a sense of happiness.

One of the points in the article is that experiencing simplicity can also be a source of happiness...or planting seeds of happiness. Simplifying our lives causes us to refocus and not put so much emphasis on stuff or things...or what we don't have. Simplicity invites us to think about what is truly important. Along with simplicity the article said that focusing on gratitude and also increase happiness. It told of some folks who keep "gratitude journal" in which they intentionally take a look at their life and write about what they are grateful for. It tends to reframe their life in such a way that they realize they might have more then they thought they did. One person put it this way, "I think what the gratitude journal does is it shows me I actually have some good stuff in my life, I feel at peace. I feel happy because of that."

Happiness is always in intriguing topic for me. I think it's important for people to be happy...and I like experiencing happiness...but it is such a bad thing when you aren't happy? In other words, have we created too much pressure on people to feel as if they should be happy all the time and when they aren't, they feel something is either wrong with them or wrong with their life?

Also, have we made happiness too circumstantial. In other words, too dependent on our circumstances - which can change as quickly as the weather. What happens when we are going through a not-so-good season in our life and happiness is hard to come by? Do we change our disposition? Change our circumstances? Or both?

Maybe, in some ways, we as Americans have been somewhat spoiled...and that has also spoiled our spirituality. We have turned happiness into a religion...even an idol. We have felt that happiness is something we are entitled too...and it has been somewhat easy for us to "be happy" in the last few years when the economy was doing well. Now that the economy has gone flat so has our happiness. The scary thing is considering how much our happiness is tied into ...and dependent upon...what we possess, own, have, and consume. Also, we try to find happiness in other people meeting our needs and fulfilling those empty places in our life. And that always seems to be a dead end street.

What do you think it means to be happy? What makes you happy? What does it mean for spiritual people to be happy? Write me with your ideas at scottwagoner62@yahoo.com or post your comment. I'm interested to know.