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.