Happiness

Happiness

I believe happiness is an acquired taste. I have lived long enough to realize that happiness is not just something that happens. Like so many things in life, you have to work at being happy. I don’t mean walking around with a smile pasted on your face. Rather, it is a life quality that is often learned through hardship.

Growing up, I didn’t hear the word very much. I remember every once in a while, my mother giving me that look that spoke volumes. Her nonverbal communication was “whatever your problem is, put that smile back on your face” or if it was a bad day “take that smile off your face.” Back in those days when children were seen and not heard, appearances were everything.

Adult life with its accompanying responsibilities made it more challenging to find the path to happiness. Moments of marital bliss, having enough money to pay the bills, driving a car that doesn’t need repair, children doing well in school, staying healthy in mind and body; all opportunities to be happy.

Somewhere along life’s path I began to realize that happiness is not the absence of difficulties but a conscious choice that no matter what the circumstances, I could be happy. If I waited until all my ducks were lined up, happiness wasn’t going to happen. Problems weren’t the problem; I was the problem.

I found the following quote on Facebook of all places. It rattled my cage and provided one of those ah moments. I hope it does the same to you.

“Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It can only come from you.”

Ralph Marston

Happy face!

Happy Brain

Happy Brain

On passing through the kitchen one morning, I overheard a conversation that my wife, Judy, was having with our three-year-old grandson, Ben. She was questioning Ben about body parts: legs, arms, fingers, eyes, and ears. He's a smart kid so he had all the right answers. When Judy pointed to Ben’s head, he answered “happy brain.” That stopped me in my tracks.

I've always associated “happy” with a different body part, the heart, never the brain. I couldn't get this idea of a happy brain out of my head. I wondered whatever made a three year old make the connection between happy and brain. Later I went back and asked Ben and Judy what they meant about this happy brain business. They looked at me as if something was wrong with me.

The more I thought about this the more curious I got. I got my dictionary out and looked up the definition of happy: “feeling pleasure or enjoyment because of your life; being content and not needing more.” I guess that when you are three and all your needs are being met, your brain can get stuck on happy. My brain is usually on overload with life issues that don't have much room for happy.

My problem is that I can't shake the thought that my brain can be happy. Being the kind of person who is preoccupied with getting all his ducks lined up and keeping them that way, there is not a lot of room left room for happy in my brain. Could it be that my brain needs to get a little closer to where my heart is? Maybe Ben is onto something.

Jesus has something to say about this: “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom.”

I purpose to let my heart leak into my brain!