Yesterday…Bertha…whispered to me…
The happier I am…the less it matters why I am…happy…
Hmmm…she went on to explain…being happy…or…joyful…is the real…goal in life…not all the things…that I think will make me feel that way…not the new car…bigger house…killer figure…not even a pair of…Pradas…
She reminds me…of the lime green swing coat…that…I had to have last year…envisioning how happy I would be wearing it…and…truly…I was so happy when I found it…when it was my size…and…on sale…and…I had Christmas money to pay for it…and…how I beamed the first few times I wore it…
But…
After that…I plucked it from the closet with barely a second glance…only thinking of…getting out the door…and…on to my next task…
So…if…the coat was to be my source of…happiness…it was short lived…and…that if I needed a new coat…every few weeks…to feel happy…that soon…I’d need a bigger closet…which…soon…would mean a bigger house…which…would require…a bigger paycheck…which would require…a more stressful job…which…all makes me unhappy just to type…
Her point…was…happiness…is short lived…whether it’s from an event…or a thing…it doesn’t last…and…besides…it really doesn’t matter why I’m happy…it’s the feeling that is important…
She suggests…that I look for happiness all around me…all the time…like…the touching moment with a friend yesterday that brought us to happy tears…the celebration with a student who got the hang of opening their locker…the hummingbird nibbling at the lavender during dinner…rather…than centering my happiness…on a single moment…or thing…
So…I guess I’m off…to find moments of happiness…tucked inside my day…but…now that she’s got me thinking about it…I do wish it wasn’t gonna be in the 90’s and I could wear that coat…but…it won’t be long until winter…when I can do just that…and…I can find a lot of things to be happy about…until then…
Jane
