Happiness

Let’s see if I can finish this blog before the Nyquil kicks in.

I’m going to be honest, “Happiness” is a subject that I saw as a challenge to take on. Only because it’s something that often eludes me time and time again. Now that I think of it, I’m the best person to write about this topic. I’m someone who’s only really experience it from the outside looking in. Of course I did take the time to think this through and try to think of the times in my life when I was most happy. However I couldn’t think of one in particular, even as a child I can’t think of one chapter in my life that I could say I was truly happy. I mean of course I’ve had the emotion of happiness hundreds of times in my life, but being happy and finding happiness are two completely different things.

First of all I’d like to point out that happiness can’t be found, in which I’ll explain later in this blog. That’s something I never realized until now, I’ve spent my life pursuing everything I could to find a life of happiness. I can say that I’m no where closer then where I started. Every time I’d find a measure of peace in one aspect of my life, another aspect would get corrupted. It’s been nothing but a never ending cycle of trying to fight fate, trying to seek and end and my ultimate goal, trying to sleep. Now when I say I’m trying to sleep I don’t mean in the sense of resting your body. I’m mean it in a more spiritual sense, in which I’ll explain in a future blog; that’s a-whole-nother topic.

Now happiness is something we’re all striding for, it’s the American dream. We’re all working so hard in out lives, building a foundation of life family and friends. It’s accomplishing your life’s goal, it’s getting married having a family, living a meaningful life then retiring at an old age, while watching your children find their happiness until the day you pass on. That’s what most would call happiness, something you work so hard to find, yet the way I see it the truth is far from that.

In truth happiness can’t be found, because happiness, like life, is a gift. No it can’t be given either, because it’s already been given. At some point in our life happiness was given to us all, freely and without consequence. Now here’s the secret that few, if not none, truly understand. You can only achieve happiness, by accepting it.

We are all offered happiness several times in our lives, but many of us refuse because we fail to see what it truly is, because of fear. We fear our faults, we fear the future, we fear not being in complete control of every aspect of our lives, and the worst of all we fear letting go. We often see letting go of our fear, as letting go of our dreams or our ambitions, but it’s really the exact opposite. To let go of your fears is to let go of your worries, it’s to live your life in the moment and accept the current blessings that are put before you rather then wait for something better. In other words it’s living in the here and now, just as my previous blog explained.

But before you start to lay it all out on the table there’s one thing you need to understand. Letting go of your fears will not end your ambitions, it will not end your dreams. You’re still be the exact same person on the exact same path, only now you will accept yourself for who you are in that moment, accept the life you live, the paths you took, and most importantly, accept the mistakes you’ve made and look upon them for guidance. The only way to become a better person is to first accept the person you currently are, and accept true happiness.