How to Be Happy

How to Be Happy

Such a mundane title.  So trite.  So simple.  Sounds like I’m going to write a self-help article.

Hang on.  I’m not.

When I was nine I wanted a new bicycle.  Christmas came and I got it.  I was happy, for a while.

When I was a high school senior, I couldn’t wait to get to college, 50 miles away.  I thought that would make me so happy.  It did, for a while.

Then I couldn’t wait to get married.  That would surely make me happy.

That happiness soon faded.

I’m an older man now.  Here’s the reality.

I carry around my own sense of ‘happy’.  There is nothing outside of myself that is responsible for my happiness.  Just this week, Carolyn and I took a 2-day trip about ninety minutes from here just to get away.  It was a charming town, a lovely hotel room, some incredible food and one of the best bookstores I’ve ever visited.  I was happy for those two days, and you know what?  I’m also happy sitting here in the privacy of my own home, listening to a little Diana Krall as I write.  I am warm.  I am rested.  I am well-fed, and I am happy.

I’m happy.

Gotta love that.

I’m learning to take happiness with me wherever I go.  It’s an inside job.

This is my morning reflection.

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