When you ask yourself what happiness really looks like, more often than not, you don’t exactly know. You come in this universe without a clue. Genuine happiness isn’t defined by what you have in life. It is a mindset and courage to choose. It is not something to find; it’s something to be created. That’s why some people aren’t happy in life because they always want and find something more in their lives.
But true happiness is:
True happiness is seeing the silver lining on the cloud of stormy situations in life. It comes from the calmness in the middle of chaos, on sidewalks or busy streets and in soaring clouds. It’s remembering that we are all here on earth and we’re not going to live forever.
To be truly happy means indulging in things you love doing.
To be truly happy means being honest to say you’re not fine when you feel like crap. It means that the sun always comes up tomorrow and then goes down. And when it starts to rise again, it’s another ray of hope. It’s another life. It’s another new day. It’s another possibility. It’s another blessing.
Happiness means falling in love with so many things. The way you love your best friends when they give you a warm hug and when you hear the warm voice of your Mom and Dad over the phone. It’s the way you fall in love with the way the sun sets in September. The way you fall in love with the smell of earth after the summer rain. When the feeling of joy hangs out while you watch the sight of the green and vibrant earth, freshened by the afternoon’s rain. It’s when the birds that begin to call at each other – louder and louder and fly over the treetops, wave by wave, coming from the south then disappear into the silence. Or when it’s dusk, and even when the sun is gone and the horizon is streaked with pink, red, salmon and lavender – there’s still an amazing and beautiful light.
Happiness is realizing that in every bad day there’s always a good day.
It’s getting sick and being grateful that you feel better the next day. Being rejected by the ones you love and being thankful that you don’t have to guess what’s going on in their hearts so you could tell yours.
It is the music that squirms between spaces, or the music you hear from the house next door that sends a shiver up and down your spine. It’s seeing your grandmother’s face coated with a fine trickle of tears, noticing how they find their way down her wrinkled cheeks like jewels.
Happiness is when you hear those familiar voices and raindrops falling on the roof, or when you feel the warm sunlight that shines through the window. It’s when twinkling lights shine in windows of all the houses scattered across the hillside. When in the distance, you hear the cows lowing, dogs barking, and the distant croaking of frogs. It’s the monotone of the cuckoo and the cat that purrs in its sleep, dreaming of slick fish swimming straight to its mouth.
Happiness is when you’re in a place where you can carry a cup of coffee while listening to nature’s stillness.
When you can enjoy the smell of your surroundings – the earthy grass and fragrant flowers, the lemony tang of eucalyptus trees saturating the air. Only the twittering of small birds and the faint rustling of leaves under the soft breeze can break the silence.
Or, when you’re in a place where you can sit down and remember the sweetest things in your life. It is the moment when you feel an early winter wind blow or when the sky lays perfectly clear. The stars are the chilled points of light.
It’s the moment you watch the maple leaves that curl into fits and drop away and the rain that grounds them into an auburn paste. Happiness is watching the squirrels that scurry down from their drey nests, built of twigs and dry leaves and grasses. And while watching the bluebells, bracken and bilberry mingling; they are all so sweet and their fragrances fill the air.
Happiness is realizing that joy can blossom in the most unexpected places.
Like letting go of the things we cannot have, like the unrealistic expectations in life that you try to keep. Happiness is when you consciously choose to let go of the people you cannot have because not everyone you meet along the way will be with you forever.
To be truly happy means accepting that you still have room to grow, places to go, and chances to meet people along the way. When you figure out your own life, bit by bit, in each passing day. When it’s easy to think about life in the middle of the night. When the future will no longer scare you. And when it’s easy to wake up in the morning, welcoming all the challenges that come.
Happiness is realizing that we are all beautiful even in our brokenness. Just like how broken things stay the way they are broken but still gleam. It means that you can’t get discouraged quickly when all hope seems lost. Because you can always, always try again tomorrow or the next day.
J.K Rowling original ‘Harry Potter’ pitch was rejected by 12 publishers before finding success. Asked how she kept motivated and she said, “I had nothing to lose and sometimes that makes me brave enough to try.” Jack London received over 600 rejections before selling its first story. And yes, the great thing about failure is that you learn from it, regardless of the difficulty you endure in the process.
What happiness really looks like is the truth that time heals all wounds.
You are given the opportunity to experience heartbreak and the opportunity to mend your own heart back together. Welcome the pain as it comes; it is something to be felt, not avoided. Letting go of fears, breaking free from your comfort zone, and jumping from cliffs have everything to do with the steps along the way to genuine happiness.
Happines means extending it to other people. Sharing your happiness is always a blessing. It’s dancing barefoot across the kitchen’s floor while admiring the imposing beauty of cold morning. To be truly happy means holding December’s joy in your palms- full of promises, gratefulness, and excitement.
Happiness is not always like sunshine, rainbows and the blue vault of heaven bound by cloistered walls, and the green earth extended in the hill and dale to the round verge of the horizon. It means being comfortable with the unknown which is a crucial part of life but it makes all the decisions much easier. It’s not the grandest gestures or the biggest ways.
True happiness means that no matter how hard life gets, being grateful is a must.
To be thankful to God for the first cup of coffee every morning, for all the nice little things in your life, for the love that conquers all and the people who walk alongside you.
Featured Image Credit: Andrea Vehige