I am on a journey to learn about happiness. I have decided that life is too short to spend it being unhappy or discontented.
It seems like there are basically two kinds of people – those who are naturally happy, and those who are naturally unhappy. Some would call them optimists versus pessimists.
But strangely enough, the people who lead the most difficult lives aren’t always the people who are perpetually unhappy. Likewise people who lead relatively simple lives – lives free of extreme stress and tragedy – aren’t always happy.
Why is it that some people struggle to be content even though they appear to have everything going for them? Is that because we as human beings always want something that is just out of reach? If so, it seems that we are doomed to a lifetime of discontent.
Other people like me struggle to be happy after suffering many losses in a short amount of time. Life is difficult, after all.
Some would say I have a right to be sad – losses are painful and sometimes require grieving.
But being full of sadness and self-pity doesn’t do me or my family any good.
Others with even more difficult circumstances than I have experienced still manage to be happy.
I know people who have led lives full of disadvantages and tragedy, yet they have still managed to be happy more often than not – people like Helen Keller and Christopher Reeve and Stephen Hawking.
What is it that allows these people and others like them to be happy in spite of loss or disability?
When a loved one said to me recently that she couldn’t remember ever being happy in her life, I realized that I had much to learn.
And it’s time to do something about it.
I need to learn about happiness.
I am not an expert.
I am a seeker. And this is my journey.
