"So, are you happy?" An old friend and I were having dinner, and I was completely unprepared for the question. My first knee-jerk reaction was to say, "Yeah, of course! Why do you ask?" But the more I thought about it, the more unsure I was. I mean, how do you know if you're happy?
We've all felt happiness before -- on a wedding day, with a promotion at work, or after winning a softball game -- but does this mean we have a happy life? Is it as simple as tallying up your 'happy points' and your 'sad points' and seeing which is higher? It seemed like there must be more to it than that.
Over the years I've discovered the secret to answering that question, "So, are you happy?" The secret to being happy is: Realizing happiness when you feel it!
So, I started by tuning in my 'happiness detector' to pick up every single high point in my day. And you know what? There were a lot more high points than I was expecting! Before I knew it, each day started to feel like an endless stream of small but satisfying victories. And by comparison, my daily obstacles seemed much less intimidating. And this totally makes sense when you think about it.
In a football game, every point is a small triumph, and the final score is merely a summary of these triumphs. If the scorekeeper decided not keep up with individual points & focused only on the final score, he'd have nothing to add up at the end of the game. Neither team would know how the game went. It works the same way in our lives. If we don't notice the good things in our lives (no matter how small), our days will become unremarkable drudgery. Pretty hard to be excited about that.
So my challenge to you is, look for the little pleasures in your day. Notice a sunset. Smile when gas prices go down. Rejoice when traffic is light. Tell a silly joke. Who knows -- you might be happy already and just not know it! And the next time someone asks you if you're happy, you'll know!
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