Hope smiles
from the threshold
of the year to come,
whispering, ‘It will be happier.’
           ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

Do you think that every January we have this same thought… “the new year, it will be happier” or “next year, I’ll find happiness”?  It seems to be something that so many chase and chase – ever elusive.  But perhaps we have a screwed up sense of what will make us happy.  Do we think that we will happier if…

…. if we have a lover or even a new lover ?

    …………. if we lose weight ?

…… if we have that new job ?

…………. if we looked different ?

…. if we had a new car ?

………. if we won the lottery ?

Should we not first find happiness within ourselves and within our means?  Do we think these things are magical and freeing?  While any of the above might bring happiness, will it be a fleeting happiness or will it be lasting?  Maybe it is really just the whole naïve “grass is always greener” way of thinking?

Whatever the reason… whatever makes you search and search for happiness – I hope you will take a moment and try to determine just what makes you happy.  You might find that there are happy things currently in your life.  If you can find some sort of happiness even just here and there… perhaps you will find the next level of happiness more readily. Think about it – if you were looking for a partner/lover, wouldn’t you choose the happy one most of the time?  If you need to lose weight, won’t you need to work at it and that work will be much easier to achieve if there is something happy about the process.  If you want a new job, find out all you can about that job and don’t just jump into what could be a fire.  If you want to look different, try a new hairstyle.  If you want the new car, figure out what it might require to get it.  And if you think that winning the lottery will make you happy, watch one of those “where are they now” shows about lottery winners to see that it isn’t always about the happy.

Don’t get me wrong, I also look for “the happy” and this year, I hope to work on myself to find more happiness within.  I don’t think that anyone can make me happy other than myself, so I am going to make changes that will hopefully point me in the better direction.

2017 will be a year of weirdness to be sure but in my own little bubble, I am going to work on some things that will help me smile more often.

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