Seeking Happiness
Time again for another Poem of the Month, and it’s on a subject that we’ve almost forgotten the meaning of… HAPPINESS…
… the seeking of, to be more specific.
I think sometimes we use the word, “happiness,” incorrectly…
When we mean “disappointed” or “displeased,” we use the word “unhappy,” when we actually are not unhappy… but just stumbling for a moment until we figure things out and find the right description.
Marcel Pagnol said that the reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.
Bottom Line! Happiness is an inside job!!!
It does not come from reaching a particular goal, or from inheriting a large sum of money, or from winning a popularity contest… No, it is either inside of you or it is not… and the person who can put it there is none other than you.
Yes, the onus is on you (and you, alone) to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination, according to Buddha. And happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions; it is governed by your mental attitude.
And the best way to be happy is to think more about others than you do about yourself. Mother Teresa teaches us to let no one come to us without leaving better and happier.
Also, as I close… remember, whatever the question, love is the answer…
SEEKING HAPPINESS
Is happiness what you seek above all else?
Is it the goal you pursue every waking hour?
If you’re not feeling happy, is it someone else’s fault?
(I can’t believe you give someone else that much power.)
A lifelong search, if that’s your style,
To go chasing after happiness all over the land??
Happiness is like a cloud that evaporates in time…
It’s a by-product — not a thing to hold in your hand.
Herman Hesse explained happiness another way:
“Happiness is a ‘how,’ not a ‘what.’”
…it’s “a talent, not an object,” he continued to say.
From another perspective, it cannot be bought.
“We can only be happy now,” it is said,
“And there will never be a time when it is not now.”
Gerald Jampolsky shared this wisdom with us.
(He clears up some questions about time, somehow.)
“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”
Omar Khayyam is credited with this thought.
You are the carrier of all your own joy, and so
You can enjoy it only if it is what you’ve brought.
Describing happiness and how to have it
Is best explained by what it is not.
Happiness is the absence of striving for it!
Stop your desperate search and ‘follow the dots.’
The ancients suggested that the chiefest point of happiness
Is that a person is willing to be what he/she is.
Choose to be happy. It is good for your health.
I suggest it strongly (with much emphasis).
You’re more apt to find happiness when you help others find theirs.
Do not worry about who’s ahead in the score.
To forget oneself is to be happy, it is said,
And the happiest of all are those who give more!
