Tracking happiness...

Am thinking about happiness. A word which when i think of sometimes seems like as if it only exists in some other galaxy. And then another thought, why does this topic keep coming up? In the last 2 weeks i have seen some of my closest friends battling with their hearts. And somehow they ask me what do i do? Have i done the right thing? And i ask, are you happy with your decision? Strangely not one has said yes. They all say, well not really but that is the best thing to do at this time.

Everyone seems to have their own share of battles, and most of them, no all of them are to do with finding happiness. Happiness why is this emotion so elusive? Was thinking, maybe it's because we associate happiness with a person or an event. If it doesn't go well then we are disappointed. We make all these plans of what we are going to do and what we are going to say. And then we are looking for the perfect moment and the perfect situation, and then it just slips away. Why am i so fussy?

Reminds me of Spencer Johnson's book The Present. He says that we are so caught up regretting about the past or worrying about the future that we forget to live in the present. Search for avenues that would make me happier, and forgetting to look right here. forgetting that happiness starts with me. Happiness happens when you least expect it. Happiest moments are so uncomplicated that we tend to cling to them. And once they get stale i am disappointed. So why do i not just let happiness come and go as it wants? Happiness has to be dynamic. It has to change. I can't be in a perpetual state of happiness. Often wonder why something that gave me much happiness before seems adequate now, but maybe it's just that i want to look for other things to be happy. Or maybe i was happy only with a dream something that was not really there and now when i revisit the moment i realise that it wasn't really the situation or the person that made me happy, but it was my thoughts. It was my attitude, my state of mind.

Sometimes i feel so low, and then i get out and see the snow- covered mountains, and i feel happy. All i had to do was leave my chair and look out. Come on Alison, you have to make a little effort. Like John Powell said, be an actor not a reactor. He says that happiness is inside me. I can't expect to be happy all the time, but if i want to be happy i have to decide to be happy. Sometimes i get up in the morning thinking, today i'm going to be happy, try and make the most of each moment. It works you know!