How Do You Define Happiness?
Posted: Saturday, April 23, 2011
by Brianna Popsickle
I held my nephew’s baby for the first time and as his tiny hand wrapped around my finger and his bright eyes stared into mine, I thought, this is heaven.
Not long ago, I was soaking up the sun on a beach, while sipping an exotic drink. I watched as my husband rode the waves yelling and laughing like a ten year old.
I smiled and thought, this is heaven
This is heaven I thought.
There are so many times I get caught up in the moment, when someone or something reminds me how good life can be. It’s a welcome retreat from the daily headlines about all the suffering and tragedy in the world.
After five months of cold, wet weather, the snow has finally melted and the days are growing longer. Today we enjoyed our first barbeque and cocktail hour on the deck.
I’d just commented on how wonderful it was to be enjoying the outdoors again when my husband looked up from his paper and said, “Tiger Woods is selling his yacht for twenty-five million.”
I shook my head in disbelief.
“And I was just about to say how exited I was that soon it would be warm enough to sit on the front porch to call my mom each evening,” I laughed.
I spend much of my time feeling guilty for all my blessings as it is. I don’t think I could handle a twenty-five million dollar yacht. How do you justify something like that? For all of you saying, “You don’t have to justify it.” You’re right. It’s a bad habit of mine. Some might call it a curse.
I recall shopping for my first fridge and stove. The salesman encouraged me to buy a self-cleaning oven. I declined only because I couldn’t justify it, having watched my mother hand-clean her oven for years.
Where do we draw the line? How do we distinguish what we need from what we want, and what we can be happy with?
When I think of what makes me happy, I think of the phone call I received from my twenty-three year old daughter today. She’d been driving when a song came on the radio that we used to dance to in the kitchen when she was a little girl. She said the song reminded her of those times and she was calling to say she missed me.
When I think of what makes me happy I think of the look of pride on my elderly neighbor’s face as she tells me for the third time about her granddaughter’s latest achievements.
I think of my sister-in-law who considers it a good day if she’s made someone smile.
I think of the two women with Downs Syndrome who came into my store for makeovers and their giggles when they looked in the mirror.
I think of get-togethers with friends who know me for who I am and love me. They know when I’m joking and when I’m serious, and feel comfortable enough to share their innermost thoughts.
Those are the things that bring me happiness, things that make an ordinary day, a good day. Simple pleasures, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
When I think of Tiger Woods and all his possessions, and then recall the turmoil he and his family experienced. I can’t help but think he lost the ability to see the pleasure in the simple things. Money can make life easier, more enjoyable for sure. It can buy things. But it can’t buy happiness.
A friend, upon seeing the photo of Tiger’s yacht said, “I wonder what it’s like to have everything you want?”
But, despite his twenty-five million dollar yacht, his mansions and cars, I don’t think Tiger has everything he wants. He certainly doesn’t have everything he needs.
I think he needs what we all need to be happy. And I don’t think it can be bought.
In the end though I guess it really depends on how you define happiness.
How do you define happiness?
This Article has been viewed 1,633 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (8 total)Brianna.... perfectly said. I can't really add anything to that!Thanks for reading and commenting Jean. Something tells me you would relate to this perfectly. I know you value the important things in life.Thanks girlfriend! If we ever end up in the same city, we are going to have coffee!!
Bruce likes to ask me what I envision as the "perfect life" but then he gets very frustrated because I genuinely can't answer that question in concrete terms. There are many ways to define "perfect". Are my children doing well? Is our marriage close? Do we enjoy what we're doing? Are there some people I love to hang with? That's pretty much perfect. I can be happy in a wide variety of circumstances after those first questions are answered. So he keeps asking and I keep giving him vague answers that drive him crazy. :)Coffee sounds good! :)
I am so cynical sometimes but I must say this is a very true article. It is very well written as I must say I wanted to bash it, but with each line I got more sucked into the truth that you state. It truly is about the simple things in life that bring you happiness. The simple things are what you remember the most and bring you the most joy. 90% of the time those moments of happiness did not involve money or a purchase, but they almost always involve someone you care about. Great article!!Thank you! (Glad you decided not to bash me) :)
I am totally soaked into your definition and experience of happiness, Brianna. Happiness is already in your hand the way it does. Family value and work and people define happiness.That works for me to Hilda. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Well Brianna, to answer your question "How do you define happiness" I feel happiness when I see good things happening in the world such as peace, love and so on.Sounds good to me David. Thanks for reading and commenting. Happy Easter.
Hi Brianna.
Great article! Well written!
I think we must define happiness in a very similar way.
Not that this really relates, but it does sort of speak to the money issue. I have a friend whose favorite saying is: "Security is not what you have, but what you can live without." I think you could modify that a bit and apply it to happiness. And I do not for one moment think that having lots and lots of money insures happiness.
One more time and with emphasis ... GREAT ARTICLE!
Hugs,
DianneTHANK YOU DIANNE! (With great emphasis right back) :)
Happiness is a state of heart and thankfulness - thanking the Lord for each and every day He has given us and blessed by those that shine brighter than others....sometimes those shining days were in the middle of Guatemala in a poverty stricken orphanage just to see a child's smile in spite of it all....God's love....Right on Marijo! Thanks for commenting.
Another great article--happiness means so many different things to so many people but it really has nothing to do with possesions and money...but unlike you I guess I'd take Tiger's yacht...shame on me I guess but I'd invite everyone from SearchWarp on a great free cruise--we'd have a ball!!!....by the way....check your facebook messages!!!Wouldn't that be a blast? All of us SearchWarpies in one place! Well the yacht is selling for twenty-five million, maybe we can all pool our resources. I will check my messages Steve. As you can probably tell, I am rarely on Facebook. By the way, thanks for reading and commenting.
Very nicely done. Happiness to me is not wanting more than I have. Great job, as always.You're very lucky to have figured that out Michael, being happy with what you have, and realizing what you have. Thanks for reading. It's nice to hear from you.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.