Happiness

…posted by Bones

Can happiness truly be found anywhere?

I am sure that there are some places that happiness can not be found, such as the death of a loved one. But in most situations I like to believe that happiness can be found. You just have to look for it.

When my older brother was taking a psychology class as part of his nursing degree, one of the topics was happiness.

“Do you know what happiness is?” he asked me.

I thought about it a moment and told him what I though happiness was.

“To you perhaps, but your happiness it not necessarily someone else’s happiness. Take for instance the homeless person that lives under the bridge. His happiness will be completely different than yours”, he told me.

Wow! I never really thought about it like that before. I am the kind of person that likes to see happiness. You know, I like to see people smiling and laughing. In my previous opinion before the conversation with my brother, if you were not smiling and laughing, I just assumed you were not happy. Kind of like my mom. Don’t get me wrong she smiled and laughed, but she complained all the time. It was interesting to hear her complaints and it wasn’t until my brother and I had that conversation that I realized that “complaining” was a key component to her happiness. If there was nothing for her to complain about she was not happy. It made me see things totally different for the first time.

I deal with people on a daily basis, from all walks of life and ranging from all ages. Some I have relationships with and others are just passing strangers that I might have a small interaction with. Never a moment goes by that I don’t think about what makes one happy. I often think there must be something wrong with me, because it is rare that I get sad or get let down by a situation. I would love to tell you what makes me happy, but I can’t, because I truly don’t know. It is so much easier to say what makes me sad.

As mentioned earlier… the death of a loved one or the loss of a family pet. I have had many of them and I am just as sad now as the first time I experienced it. It also saddens me when I see someone I love unhappy or sad and there is nothing I can do help. Shannon would say “you can help by just listening" I am a problem solver. I always assume that if someone comes to me with a problem, it’s my job to fix it. It is not always easy to just listen.

Guys… remember, sometimes when our wives complain to us…they just want us to listen.