Happiness

Happiness is not an individual matter. When you are able to bring relief, or bring back the smile to one person, not only that person profits but you also profit."  -Thich Nhat Hanh

When you look up definitions of happiness, thousands of quotations and sayings arrive. 

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony" - Mahatma Gandhi

"Getting what you go after is success; but liking it while you are getting it is happiness." - Bertha Damon 

"Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them." - Leo Tolstoy 

Eleanor Roosevelt felt happiness was a by-product, not a goal. She said, "Someone once asked me what I regarded as the three most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others."

Does saying the word feel a lot like Love as its rhythm sparkles through the chest and arms?

Hafiz advised, ever since happiness heard your name it has been running through the streets to find you." Do we often race through our days too fast to get caught?

Paramahansa Yogananda advises, "if only you would turn your mind inward, in deep daily meditation, you would find the source of all true, lasting happiness existing right within the innermost silence of your own soul."

In the 1960s Charles Schultz promoted happiness as a warm puppy in one book and a warm blanket in another. 

Write about happiness.  Ask questions.

What provides happiness for you? What negates it?  

Is it relationship driven? Will reciprocity set off your happiness switch? 

How do expectations get in the way? Do you take happiness for granted? 

Is happiness a search for balance or contentment  that we desire?

Does happiness have a sound, scent, taste, colors?

Close the eyes and design a happiness scene.

Immersion in a natural setting provides moments of tranquility. Sharing smiles and laughs brightens the spirit and engages the human connection.

Watching a cormorant nesting gentles the mind.

When laughter conquers the day's mishaps and exercises the stomach muscles, contentment circulates.

Love is the bridge 
between you and everything. - Rumi

Play with notions of happiness and see where the adventure leads.