Happiness

Here is a line from a blog by Mark Vernon that I read on January 23, 2011.
He seems to be a thinking kind of guy, and I think I like this guy and the way he thinks.
His blog or site, is about Philosophy and Life.
See what you think.

Happiness is more like a moment of grace”

What does that mean to me?
From the moment of conception life is a struggle. Mother is struggling just to stay alive... To keep that forming life inside her safe and healthy.
At birth there is the struggle for air. Then the struggle to get nourishment. Then the big battle against bacteria and germs that want to destroy us.

Move on to childhood and we add more struggle. We begin to make that dangerous move into society and the world.
Ugly minded people who want to do who knows what with us. Hungry creatures that may think we would make a great meal. The battle to learn good and helpful things. The struggle to learn the difference... The struggle of trying to figure out how to erase the word no from the human language, or at least from the minds of mom and dad. The struggle against everything that could make us unhappy.

Teen years seem to be the worst when we're there. We struggle with learning about other people and how they can make us feel. The change in our bodies that awakens the urge that leads us to the eternal search for love. The painful struggle to learn that there are many users and abusers that we must learn to stay away from, or at least mentally or physically keep at a distance. The desperate struggle to try and understand why people can be a friend one minute and a back stabber the next. The search for answers to questions that many adults seem to find dumb... The struggle to figure out why no one seems to understand. The absolute confusion about life, love and happiness as we continue to live on towards adulthood. The seemingly hopeless struggle to understand why adults say this is the happiest time of our life...

Then we get to adulthood. Not only are we still struggling with each and every struggle we have had since birth but now, oh no, “We find we're on our own”.
That basic food... No one feeds us any longer! Now we have to struggle to find a decent job just to eat. We need money to buy transportation so we can get to that job and then the expense that causes. We also need a place to dwell. The needs of things to cook with, pots, pans, dishes, silverware... Now we need a place to keep food.
We don't want to sit or sleep on a floor so we need furniture. Sitting on a comfy sofa in the dark isn't very nice so we need lamps. And who can live without entertainment, now we need to buy our own Stereo and Television. Uh oh, I still need clothes. Then there are those pesky taxes that seem to take more of our pay than we get for ourselves...
We get sick, need a doctor, and have to pay for that or health insurance our self too.
Never mind that we still have those same feelings from childhood. The same questions from the teen years are still with us. The same lost feelings... “Now”, is a struggle just to exist! And still no one understands...
So maybe we've found lasting love, but who can know for sure? In a fit of happiness we get married and have children.
Now not only is our struggle for our self but we must take care of our sweet little, helpless baby. We, without understanding it all, or even at all, must try and teach and guide our precious offspring.

Where does it end...
It doesn't! Life goes on with all the same loss for total understanding we've always had. We live, we struggle...

There are sad times, but there are happy times.
It didn't take me more than a very few minutes of contemplating Mr. Vernon's line, “Happiness is more like a moment of grace”, to find it is so true...
Memories of Christmas as a child. Memories of the safety and love that mother gave. Memories of the fun given by a grandparent. Those of childhood play. That first bicycle. That first time I just watched as a bird sat and sang a tune.
The experience of that first kiss, then that first love. That little baby that came into my life and made me feel so proud. And other moments twixt and tween lifes struggles...

Our minds have the ability to push sad times aside when we experience happiness. Maybe a reason of so much sadness is that we tend to dwell on the sad. All the time feeling that we should always be happy... But if not for the sad, would we even know what happy is? Even if some time during life we found total bliss, could it not become just boring? Then where would we be? What would be left to live for?

Life is a struggle. But, is it not the “happy moments” that make it worth while?
The happiness of making a new friend. That joy when we do find love? Or a new love? The feeling of accomplishment when we finally do succeed at something we've struggled for? The acquiring of all the small things during our pursuit of the bigger? The feeling of self fulfillment as we stand on our own?
Then later in life as we look back and remember. We smile as all those little tiny moments wander through our minds and we finally begin to feel that, hey, life was fun. Maybe it was really worth while...

I don't think I'd want to even start trying to add all the happy and sad moments up to compare. That would probably only make me feel sad. I'll just be glad that I can push those sad times aside and enjoy the happy. Maybe even that is why I can seem to enjoy my life so much. Without even knowing it, I've learned to live with this realization of happy moments.

Sounds like a crazy idea but... Just maybe we should adopt this line from Mr. Vernon's site, “Happiness is more like a moment of grace”, and enjoy, the pursuit of happiness.

Who knows, we may all begin to feel happier!


2 comments:

  1. Hi, I am from Australia.

    Please find a unique Understanding of Happiness as our primary need and motivating force via these references.

    http://www.dabase.org/happytxt.htm

    http://www.dabase.org/dualsens.htm

    http://www.dabase.org/freedom.htm

    ReplyDelete
  2. I find it hard to send anyone to sites I'm not relatively sure are safe. So I don't usually put links here on my site. But I do try and check all comments. Like I've said before, I'll delete anything bad or ignorant.
    These suggestions from John!
    I copied and pasted these suggestions and found nothing unsafe or bad.
    Mater of fact they were interesting...
    So use your judgement and visit if ya want.
    They may educate ya...
    Ivan D

    ReplyDelete