"Happiness is a mood, not a destination..."

“Happiness is a mood, not a destination. There are times when you are happy and times when you are not. But you cannot catch a mood or earn it; you simply go through them. If you start thinking and focusing this way, maybe happiness will be your mood more often than when you are struggling to obtain it.”

Those are some wise words right? You can thank my cousin for them. This morning I woke up, in a not so happy mood. I was feeling pretty down actually. My usual routine is to get up, get some water, juice, coffee, or tea (whatever I am feeling like that day) and then I turn on my computer and give facebook a look over. As I sat there seriously considering going back to bed, my home page shows her status at the very top of the list and I just stopped and read it over a couple times then smiled. Don’t you just love with G-d reaches down and swats you upside your head and says “See those words? That’s me telling you to snap out of it.” OK...so maybe He doesn’t do it exactly like that but you get the idea.

I have heard so many people that make plans for life. A list of To-do’s if you will. “When I accomplish all this then I will be happy”. “When I get to this point, then I can be happy.” There’s always a bigger and better reason to be happy isn’t there? I, myself, have done this. You picture exactly where you want your life to be and you DECIDE that you can’t be totally happy till you hit that point. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with working toward a goal. I encourage it! But why can’t we be happy as we are getting there? Why does our “happy” have to depend on our present situation? We all have ups and down. Life is never going to be perfect but it seems like when people can only see happiness in the things that are to come rather than what they have now, don’t you think there is something wrong with that? To me that says that when one goal is achieved, another will be right behind it and “the happy” is always going to be out of our reach. Don’t get me wrong, being happy with what you have is in no way settling. We can always reach and improve anytime we really want to. We have it in all of us. But the reaching and improving is going to be a lot more tolerable and maybe even feel a little easier if we can be genuinely happy through it all. Even in bad times...I know we can’t all sit and smile through some them. I know I certainly don’t. But what if we changed our train of thought? Instead of, “This place is too small! I can’t wait till I can buy a bigger home!” try saying, “I am looking forward to buying a bigger place some day but at least I have a roof over my head right now.” Instead of, “I hate this job! They don’t pay me enough to do this!” try saying, “At least I have a paycheck coming in while I look for something better.” Instead of, “This homework is so stupid! When am I ever going to use this?!” try saying, “This may not be my favorite subject but at least I have the time and the means to get an education and work toward the career I want.” FYI... that last line...I actually said to a teacher in high school, and she then proceeded to assign a paper for all of us to write and explain how we WOULD be using algebra at times in the future. I was not popular among my peers that day.

The point is that G-d doesn’t mean for us to be happy when we get to a certain point in our lives. He means for us to be happy right now! He wants us to find joy and fulfillment in what we have or do. Like my cousin said, “Happiness is a mood...you simply go through them.” We are all going to have times that we feel happy as well as times when we are struggling to be happy. The good times are always there to be found and we are equipped to see the bad times through. G-d promised us that. And if there are any promises you can count on in life...they are His.

G-d Bless!

K