Happiness

Just a few thoughts on paper...so to speak.

Is happiness a choice or a state of mind brought on my some outside stimuli? It is said that folks choose to be happy or choose to be in a funk, but I have a tendency to believe that a choice is not going to necessarily make a magical state of mind become a reality. For me, happiness tends to be more of a spontaneous emotion rather than a determined act. I have to ask myself just what is happiness? Happiness is like a car. It comes in many different shapes, sizes, and colors. I can choose to be happy about someone else’s good fortune, but it is not the same happiness that I experience from a fat, juicy cheeseburger. I can be happy I don’t live in North Korea, but that doesn’t mean I am happy where I am at the moment. If you were to ask me if I was happy while I was in the middle of a busy dinner rush, in a kitchen where the air temperature was 90 degrees +, barking orders to cooks and managing temperamental wait staff after just having shortened my index finger by 1/8” while chopping onions, I’d be likely to answer “Yes.” If someone were to ask me the same question while I was seated, awaiting a fancy meal on a crowded cruise ship, my answer might not be the same. That being said, I could conclude that happiness is whatever trips your trigger. Now, if I could go through life and have control of where and when my triggers got tripped, then surly I would have happiness by the short hairs!

   Maybe in the long run it is better to allow happiness to remain the unexpected guest. The surprise of sudden happiness has a much sweeter aroma than does the happiness that comes from a recipe.

Reviews

[Suze]

I really enjoyed this essay very much. You express the different facets of happiness so well, I completely agree with what you wrote. I like thinking of happiness being the unexpected guest, a nice surprise rather than a goal to be achieved.

[MoriartyMesa]

The best review I can honestly do tonight, will be this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEyoJKSPL_I&feature=colike

call me slightly strange, but i enjoyed this on a different level than the bulk of your more educated writers.