Be Happy...Sounds Easy but It Ain't

According to Pharrell Williams, the road to happiness starts when we throw worry under the bus and move on down the road.
Good song.

The Dalai Lama offers two quotes about happiness:
"The Purpose of our lives is to be happy."
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
Good words.

Saint Augustine observed:
"Indeed, man wishes to be happy, even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible."
Good observation.

H.L. Mencken offered this:
"Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."
Good laugh.

It is easy to find lists of all kinds that point the way to happiness.

When I think on the times when I have been most happy...they almost always involve specific places, experiences, feelings, and people.

Go ahead, give it a try: Think of the three or five or dozen times you were most happy.  Are you in touch with the places where this happiness happened? -The experiences taking place? -The feelings you were most aware of? -The people whose company you were sharing?

And so, based only on the facts that I have been around the block a time or two, have been exposed to my fair share of "stuff", and have arrived pretty much intact at the ripe old age of seventy-two...here is a listing of what I suspect moves us closer to being happy than not...taking into account that being happy sounds easy but it ain't.

Try to treat every day as a (good) gift.

When its necessary,  don't be afraid to lean on other people

Practice acceptance: Of Self, of Others, and of Life.

Get in touch with your soul (your essence) regularly.

See the Light (see God) in people.

Let your emotions be your guide, but not your identity.

Leave room in your life for surprises and new possibilities.

Give...but give to give, not to receive.

Let joy lead your forward, not fear.

Do things that are meaningful.

Meditate on things positive, and beautiful, and true.

Don’t confuse making a living with making a life.

Adopt realistic visions of both success and failure.

Accept...even better, embrace...change.

Don’t be afraid to risk or to challenge.

Be aware that everything is temporary.

Invest in yourself...it pays the greatest dividends.

Practice forgiveness...and gratitude, too.

Live only in the present.

A Change of Direction

You've been going in that direction for so long now...it seems like that direction is fate...or karma...or even devilishly- or divinely-directed.

But that direction is not the only direction open to you.
Believe it or not, you can change direction in life.
But it ain't always easy to change direction.

Change takes more steps and more time than we might initially think are needed.
Its those steps and that time that too often keep us from the goal.
That is most unfortunate.

But...don't be too scared of opening a new door...walking a new road...changing your life's direction.

When life is good…and when it is not…Change can happen. 

When things go our way…and when they do not…Change can happen.  

When we are hemmed in by troubles…and when we are not…Change can happen. 

However, Change does require Change.



Pain can be involved in Change.
Loss can be involved in Change.
Still, Change does require Change.

Change may present itself as a possibility in unexpected places where we least expect to find it.
Unexpected places that when we are in them overwhelm our attention.
Change may present itself as a possibility in unexpected times when we would rather think about anything but change.
Unexpected times when we least expect to discover a new path, a new direction, a new purpose.
Change may present itself as a possibility in unexpected people.
Unexpected people who offer a passing comment, a memorable quote, a revealing insight.
And yet, Change does require Change.

If we are here…with our disappointments
But we would like to be there…
We will have to Change Direction.

If we are here…with our incredible burden of guilt
But we would like to be there…
We will have to Change Direction.

If we are here…with our dead-end job, or relationship, or future
But we would like to be there…
We will have to Change Direction.

If we are here…wandering, wondering, floundering, failing
But we would like to be there…
We will have to Change Direction.


Always, Change does require Change.
And we will need to be aware that we can change the things that we can change

but we will have to work at it…

And it most likely will not happen over-night.