Are you? How do you know? Just as important – does your face know? That was not a sarcastic comment because we aren’t always aware of the statement our countenance makes. I am not going to define ‘happy’ because the definition can be incredibly personal. Happy appears to be an all encompassing feeling. But happy is definitely visible… just as the opposite is visible. My only recommendation is that your face reflect what you are feeling… this way there will be less of a chance for mixed messages.
When you consider, happy, what do you think? How does this word relate to what you are feeling at any one point in time? I’m beginning to think that happy is more of a mindset, an attitude than it is state. But, is happy something we can experience? With our complicated lives is it possible to enjoy the simple pleasure of… happy? And yes, it probably does depend on how we define this word operationally. One clue for me in determining if there is a relationship between feeling and expression is to look at eyes. Eyes truly are a mirror of the soul and rarely can be falsified.
I know there are those who attempt to provide a positive (happy) expression regardless of what they feel because they don’t want to … bother, upset, dismay, (whatever word you want to include) others. But if you aren’t ‘fooling’ them in the first place – why dissemble? Wouldn’t it be so much better to allow yourself to feel whatever it is and not lie to yourself or others? Wouldn’t you speed up the time you aren’t happy by acknowledging you really aren’t?
Part of my point is that when we aren’t happy, we lengthen its control over us by not acknowledging its existence. Unhappy, like angry or irritated or other such non-positive emotions, will express itself. But it is tempered when we allow ourselves to feel what we are feeling and, as soon as possible, determine what is happening and how we can ‘move on’. ‘Happy’ is much to be desired but it is enhanced by being a true reflection of what is happening for us. When ‘unhappy’, express it, deal with it, and discover where is your happy place.
In the final analysis… without denying or ignoring what is happening in your life, ‘happy’ is a state that you choose. Remembering Paul’s words (in relation to ‘content’) he said that he ‘learned’… Perhaps that’s the same for us as well. We have to learn to be happy.
