Happiness Is a Warm Puppy

That is the name of a Peanuts book my dad had in his nightstand when I was a kid. It was a simplistic version of what made a Charlie Brown character happy. Each page started with Happiness is.. then whatever it was that made the character happy. 

If only real life was that simple. Happiness is only one small part of what makes us who we are. A myriad of other emotions all play a role, each one just as important as the rest. 

I believe happiness exists, in moments of time. However, I don't believe one should strive to be happy all the time. We need to experience other emotional states. It makes more sense. 

There is no magic trick to putting the past behind you. Sometimes keeping one eye on it is what you need. It can be a struggle to balance past and present, one my son is battling again.  

As always, you've made me think. Something I appreciate. Thanks for sharing your thoughts tim.

you know, despite the simplicity of the implication buried within the word, there are few paths more varied.

Happiness

Once you get past the basic needs of shelter, food and water, the thing that comes next on the path to realization of an actualized life looks very different person to person.

The greatest sin is assuming someone else is the same as you. That they need the same thing(s) to be happy. So many lives have been wasted, so much pain inflicted in the pursuit of more, because this thing, whatever you've finally found that's supposed to make you happy just isn't working. So you keep pushing. you keep trying. you keep feeling like something is just ... wrong. Because you're not there. you're holding the golden key in your hand and it wont. fit. the. damn. lock.

Don't let others, no matter how good intentioned, decide what you need to be happy - or even what happy looks like. Nobody gets to define that.

Nobody but you.

xo

Powerful and impact full words.

Only you as an individual can decide when you want to feel happiness.

Thanks tim x

Wayne is right. What he says about who decides about what you need to be happy, may not seem to fit in with our lifestyle. 

I decide a lot of things for us. I hope I'm right. I hope you're happy. I hope my choices are right for us. 

I know I cannot make you happy. Only you have that power. I can offer suggestions, ideas, support and love.  And yarn ... lots and lots of yarn. 

I believe happiness can only be found within each of us. It's not a constant 'stepford wives' kind of thing.  It can be fleeting, and elusive.  It can be that piece of cake you've been craving for months, or seeing a nuthatch land on the balcony. It can be remembering your mom's rose garden.  

Happiness is made up of many and varied things. It makes me think of Dicken's A Christmas Carol and Marley's chain ... except this isn't an unimaginable weight. It is sweet moments, laughter, beauty and love that are sewn together with gossamer thread. We can wrap ourselves in it and call it happiness. 

you are on the right track, boy.  You should not live in the past. Keep on pushing it back and keep looking around you today. Tomorrow will look after itself. 

Btw, your latest order of yarn, shipped today. xoxo