C'mon, Get Happy!

    It's true...you can buy happiness!  I bought some a few weeks ago just because somebody said you can't.  The package of facial powder says it contains a specific mineral (which I can neither spell nor pronounce) that is a proven mood elevator.  It promises to improve the look of my skin and lift my spirits. Well who couldn't use some of that?  The stuff smells fantastic and that immediately made me happy.  And it has a little heart-shaped section of pink blusher which gives me rosy cheeks.   Have you noticed that smiley icons, the textual symbols of happiness, have rosy cheeks?
     In retrospect while wearing the Happy Booster powder, I have been quite happy.  I pointed this out to my daughter who asked, "Weren't you happy anyway?"  Well, duh.  Of course I was and I know that, while certain elements do lift the spirits, happiness is a state of contentment and joy that actually comes from the inside.  We can be influenced by pharmaceuticals, alcohol, herbs, people and other material things which put us in temporary states of contentment, but after they wear off, leave and are no longer new we are still left with one thing... our self.  The artist Andy Warhol once said, "You have to be able to get happy about nothing."  That is The Truth.

     I have gotten into the habit of making myself find a good for every bad that comes along.  It is very difficult at times because, like every other adult I know, I have bills to pay and a house to keep up and a job to do and it gets hard to keep looking at the big picture instead of focusing on the tedious details.  I find that the things that are easiest to get happy about are the things that are closest to me...my children and the flora and fauna around our home.  These are the daily blessings that I count first.  When I ask God for something, I thank Him for three things first.  I have healthy children, a safe and comfortable home and an environment full of natural beauty.  A couple of weeks ago, I helped a friend pick figs and it was so hot and humid that I almost quit and went inside, but then I noticed the critters in the fig trees.  There were grasshoppers scoping out overripe fruit and this greedy little yellow jacket pigging out on a perfect one.  I just stood there for a while with sweat rolling down my neck and watched, tickled that my iPhone takes better close-ups than my regular camera.
     At the farm there are all sorts of critters around and I can't help but feel content when I watch them all hanging out together like family.  Even the obnoxious guineas don't run the bunnies off and every morning I get to see them all as they check out the latest contributions to the mulch pile.  Soon the deer will start coming up to nibble the pears on the trees behind the house.  I just adore watching them.  And don't get me started about that big red rooster that lives out here.  I named him Hoss and I heart him like whoa!

     When Sam and I went to the lake I did nothing but float around or sit on the dock, content with just being.  The only sound was the laughter of the kids and an occasional splash as I launched myself on a floatie.  I get happy about a good floatie, but it is hard to not be happy with a scene like this one.  The simple pleasures of childhood and the joy of being a parent with a happy child.  That kind of made the looming tuition bill and anxiety over my job changes seem like minor obstacles instead of the joy-suckers they can be if I let them.
     We choose to be happy or not.  It really is that simple.  We have to want to be happy and realize that it comes from within and it comes from our own ability to look around and really see what we are already blessed with.  Awful things happen to all of us at times but we get through them.  I have close friends who have lost children, but over time they have been able to find joy in their lives again.  I don't know how they do it as I don't think I could breathe in and out again after such a loss, but they do.  One of them told me she feels blessed to have had the child for any length of time and the joy of that blessing carries her and helps her see she still has much to be happy about.  How amazing is that?  If that woman can find joy and happiness, then who am I to complain about anything?
    So buy the Happy Booster.  I am fresh-faced and perky, but not giving it the credit for my happiness.  I got  that from inside myself.  I look for the blessings daily and thank God for each one.  My friends and family are a tremendous support system and my children keep me going, but it is up to me to be grateful for the life I have, realize I am worthy of it and live it in such a way as to continue to be blessed.  It's as simple as looking around.