What Makes People Happy?

Did you ever wonder?

I’ve come to believe that happiness comes from within.  Nothing and no one can make anyone else happy … choosing to be happy is like a birthright.  But whether we accept it or not is a choice each of us has to make .

That’s not to say people and situations can’t be conduits for happiness.

“Since I found this new job, I’m so much happier.” or
“Tomorrow we’ll be married and I’ve never been happier!”

There are some who, for whatever reason, just can’t seem to catch a ride on the happy train —they seem to be perpetually unhappy and I feel sorry for them.

Can we, will we, allow ourselves to feel happy?  Or, are we still looking outside of ourselves for something or someone to make us happy?

I’m 74 and I’ve found a lot of things to feel happy about. I have to be honest though. I’m much easier to please now than when I was younger –-that’s made a big difference. One reason is, things change as we age. We have less to stress over and worry about.  We aren’t trying to impress anyone, climb the never-ending rungs on a success ladder, or trying to keep up with the Joneses, Smiths, or anyone else on the block.

We’ve accepted and mostly even like who we are. As the Virginia Slims commercial used to brag, “We’ve come a long way, baby.” The road was hard and bumpy a lot of the time —want to see the bruises? But we did it. We made it and we can now pass the baton to the next generation.

Like a snowball rolling down a hill picking up speed and gathering more snow, we’ve picked up a lot of wisdom along the way. We’re here to help anytime they need it, and happy to share what we’ve learned.

Our kids are grown and raising kids of their own. Now it’s their turn to be watchful, worried, and stressed, but also proud and happy parents with lessons, homework, appointments, camps, and sports —and it’s their turn to drive kids wherever they need to go.

That’s liberating. It’s given our generation time to do the things we always wanted to do, but had no time for. Those were our days in the sun, when we were young and busy being responsible role models.  Now it’s their turn.

I have a lot to feel happy about —just waking up every morning and finding I’m still grass-side-up is a high. Then coffee on the lanai sharing coffee-flavored kisses with Robert and the doggie-flavored ones from “Ree-Ree” are another strong high.

That’s several happies within the first half hour of my day. That’s not half bad … it actually feels pretty damn good. 

Poet/Writer/Author of 5 books.
Quora Top Writer 2018.
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