Building a Happy Life
I’ve been on one lately about the things that make me happy; the little things that are within my power to produce and reproduce at will. In researching this topic, I reached out to people I know and those who would listen and participate. I started by asking them to list five to ten things that make them happy with the caveat that they cannot list what others must do. They needed to be things they could control.
What surprised me was how much of a challenge it was for some people to even provide a list of five things. Often their choices were esoteric and nebulous, therefore defeating the purpose of the question due to them being something they could not control. Examples like faith and family are good social answers but how do you wield them to create happiness? Do they instead control you? Whether are not you are willing to allow it is yet another conversation.
The next question is whether you create happiness consistently and on purpose. If you know certain things/situations make you happy yet you do not do them or bring/keep them in your life what good is that knowledge? For example, if you like camping but seldom do it, how effective is this at keeping you happy and what do you do when camping is not an option?
It gets deeper. I asked if they were truly happy. Often the answer was, “I’m not unhappy…” Were people choosing to accept a perpetual state of less than happiness with the occasional moments of happiness being few and far between? Is it too much work to be happy more often? Is the juice not worth the squeeze? Is it because you do not feel you have enough control over it? I’ve said in the past to beware of falling in love. If you fell into it and did not consciously choose it, you might also have no control when you fall out of it. Are you a victim of what life brings you or do you bring to yourself what you would like life to bring?
Alas, my initial studies yielded more questions than answers but for myself, this is where I am right now. I have created an ongoing list of the things that consistently make me happy and smile. As I plan my day, my week, and my life, I bring and keep those things/experiences in my present and my future. I only have a certain number of heartbeats left. I’d like those beats to be as joyful as possible.
