Happiness
I used to think I knew what this word meant. But the older I get the more I think that most of us don't understand very many words at all.
The meaning I used to assign to "happy" can be described with words like fun, exciting, entertaining, new, and fresh. And those are all valid components of happiness. But none of them are required, nor are any of them particularly happy-promoting. Fun doesn't make people happy. It can assist, for sure! Exciting is easy to confuse with happiness... but it's not at all the same thing. Ditto for the rest.
Someone called out a solution to this: use the word "joy". Joy isn't nearly as easily confused with fun/exciting. People generally get the meaning behind "joy" a lot more accurately than they get what I mean when I discuss "happiness".
Enough definitions, faugh. I get so bogged down by those things.
So in my search for lasting happiness I'm gonna examine the things that bring me joy.
First of all is the most obvious and obligatory topic. It's the primary source of joy in my life. It can best be summarized in a single word: Benjamins.
If my kids fail to evoke joy in me it's because I'm seriously out of alignment with the universe. Their eyes, and smiles, and voices, and laughter - these are the colors that decorate the canvas of my life. I can't conceive of life without frequent doses of Benjamin. That'd be like work without pay, or kissing without a girl.
The next most frequent contributor to joy in my life is my friends and family. I love my peeps. Most of them are incredible people. Some aren't so much, but I still love 'em. I love having people I can trust with anything, and I love having people who trust me enough to let me know when I do something that bothers them. I love spending time with my peeps, and talking with them, and sharing my thoughts and ideas, and hearing their thoughts and ideas, and disagreeing and agreeing and discussing. I'm so much more of a people person than I ever was when I was a younger man.
People is also the primary way that Kazum brings joy into my life, by the way. Improving and being healthy and performing are all really cool and fun and exciting, but none of that evokes joy. The trust and love and bonding that grows between us, though... it's a vital source of joy in my life.
The third way that joy enters my life is through my senses... but that's always tied strongly to God for me. If I hear music or see a forest or smell a rose or taste something yummy, it invariably makes me incredibly grateful to my Father for providing all of these neat-o things as well as the senses that inform me of them. And by far the most reliable and accessible source of joy in my entire life has been spirituality and love for God.
I don't know if there's really anything beyond those three routes, for me. A great many other things entertain me or excite me. There are lots of great emotions that come from lots of different activities. But joy is pretty narrowly provided. That's so fascinating to me.
The meaning I used to assign to "happy" can be described with words like fun, exciting, entertaining, new, and fresh. And those are all valid components of happiness. But none of them are required, nor are any of them particularly happy-promoting. Fun doesn't make people happy. It can assist, for sure! Exciting is easy to confuse with happiness... but it's not at all the same thing. Ditto for the rest.
Someone called out a solution to this: use the word "joy". Joy isn't nearly as easily confused with fun/exciting. People generally get the meaning behind "joy" a lot more accurately than they get what I mean when I discuss "happiness".
Enough definitions, faugh. I get so bogged down by those things.
So in my search for lasting happiness I'm gonna examine the things that bring me joy.
First of all is the most obvious and obligatory topic. It's the primary source of joy in my life. It can best be summarized in a single word: Benjamins.
If my kids fail to evoke joy in me it's because I'm seriously out of alignment with the universe. Their eyes, and smiles, and voices, and laughter - these are the colors that decorate the canvas of my life. I can't conceive of life without frequent doses of Benjamin. That'd be like work without pay, or kissing without a girl.
The next most frequent contributor to joy in my life is my friends and family. I love my peeps. Most of them are incredible people. Some aren't so much, but I still love 'em. I love having people I can trust with anything, and I love having people who trust me enough to let me know when I do something that bothers them. I love spending time with my peeps, and talking with them, and sharing my thoughts and ideas, and hearing their thoughts and ideas, and disagreeing and agreeing and discussing. I'm so much more of a people person than I ever was when I was a younger man.
People is also the primary way that Kazum brings joy into my life, by the way. Improving and being healthy and performing are all really cool and fun and exciting, but none of that evokes joy. The trust and love and bonding that grows between us, though... it's a vital source of joy in my life.
The third way that joy enters my life is through my senses... but that's always tied strongly to God for me. If I hear music or see a forest or smell a rose or taste something yummy, it invariably makes me incredibly grateful to my Father for providing all of these neat-o things as well as the senses that inform me of them. And by far the most reliable and accessible source of joy in my entire life has been spirituality and love for God.
I don't know if there's really anything beyond those three routes, for me. A great many other things entertain me or excite me. There are lots of great emotions that come from lots of different activities. But joy is pretty narrowly provided. That's so fascinating to me.
Labels: excitement, fun, happiness, joy
posted by Scott | 4:36 PM
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