Friday, January 29, 2010

Immediate gratification

What is happiness? What is it to you? Is it love? Is it a life without worries? Is it good health? Or is a family of your own your definition of happiness? Sometimes I ask myself: am I happy? I believe that is one of the most difficult questions to answer, because it has so many different definitions.

Little things can make me happy as a clam at high tide. A phone call from a dear friend, an interesting encounter with a total stranger, a glimpse of the sun behind the grey clouds, our new puppy welcoming me home. Does happiness last? It feels more like come and go. I compare it to the question: how is your diabetes management? Then I feel like saying: "at this very instant? this morning? before or after lunch?" Do you know what I mean? You can't feel happy all the time, can you?

The immediate gratification of a piece of Polish apricot cheesecake makes me happy.
My daughter performing ballet on stage makes my eyes tear up with happiness.
Endless conversations over lunch with a close friend, warm my heart.
Roaming around markets in a foreign country brings me pleasure..
Three great numbers in a row on my glucose meter make me proud and lead to a happy moment.
Sometimes, happiness is so overpowering that it's scary. It is scary, because you know it can't last for ever. That thought may dim your instant happy attitude, because you are aware of the fact it may be over soon. But please don't let it spoil the pleasure of the moment. We should enjoy and taste the good times we can have.

Our world is a world of abundance. We have too much luxury. We believe financial comfort makes us happy. And it will, to a certain point. It goes wrong when you are devastated once you run out of money. If you can still be happy after having lost all of your financial safety, it is considered true happiness. Because your happiness comes from within. You make your own happiness and it's not depending on materialism or someone else's mood. That's the kind of happiness I'm looking for..


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