Hello Dear Ones,
Eons ago, there was a
stand-up comedian who opened his act with the question, “Is everybody
happy?” Happiness—a fleeting feeling
that humans chase after in one form or
another all their lives. Call it joy,
contentment, bliss, whatever label, we all yearn for it. Press our noses against the pane of life and
look for it.
One guy, Eric Weiner,
wrote a book called “The Geography of Bliss”
He went on a hunt for the happiest place on earth and took the reader
along for the ride. It’s a fun trip and
Weiner often leaves you giggling and laughing at his experiences. In fact, while reading this, I venture to say
you’ll be happy. Of course happiness we
all know is subjective. I can only say I
chuckled my way through the chapters.
Weiner describes
himself as an unhappy soul who’d like to find happiness. Hence the book. His conclusions; happiness is 100% relational
and there are many paths to it.
It’s not what we
believe that makes us happy but the act of believing in anything. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Which gives weight to an observation by
another Eric, Eric Hoffer, “The search for happiness is one of the chief
sources of unhappiness.”
So what about
money? Can you buy happiness? I admit financial security is a comforting
thing to have, but how much is enough?
According to a study published
in 2011 in Time
Magazine, the magic number is $75,000.
That’s the income at which happiness peaks. Exactly what that means I’m not sure. How can happiness peak? Its not bread dough we’re talking about. It’s an elusive state of mind. In fact, are we capable of judging our state
of happiness? Sometimes we don’t even
realize we’re happy…we take it for granted.
Happiness
is a trembling thing
Like
a hummingbird wing
You
can’t hold it or tame it
Or store it
in a cloud
To retrieve on demand.
So don’t
hold out your hand.
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