We all know about the elusive fountain of youth, but what about the fountain of happiness? Where is it? How warm is the water? How do I get there? Will I ever find it?
All valid questions and one thing is for sure – that pompous fountain statued with cherubs and angels spouting water to the heavens is probably not where you are going to find happiness.
There is no magic pill or hiding place, no all inclusive happy club with secret meetings and code language, nor is happiness related exclusively to riches and heaps of gold. It is within us all and we hold our own keys to unlock our smiling potential.
Now what pocket is that key in!?
It may take some deep searching and depending on how many pants, coats, purses and bags you own, it is going to take some time. Perhaps it should even go without saying that the less you own, the sooner your chances of finding happiness within. There are as many fountains as people in the world and snowflakes in the sky, what makes me happy may make one shake their head in disbelief.
Look back into your further past, say your childhood, and think about what made you smile.
For me, Girl Scout camp was a treasure to behold every summer – being a pioneer at Camp Dean, canoeing down the Rock River at Camp McCormick or learning to tie knots and navigate with a compass at Camp Greenwood. Hiking at state parks with my family and stumbling up and down the back hill of my grandparents wooded property in Wisconsin brings back the smell of autumn leaves, the excitement of searching for arrowheads and dreaming of discovering/exploring caves.
My fountain of happiness has changed waters since then, more than once. It is different in every way, shape and form.
The water in my fountain has become more clear, the well has been dug deeper with experience and time, my senses have become atuned – not only to my happiness, but to the happiness of others.
It is the little things in life that make me smile:
- sipping a mommy-cino, tati-cino, baby-cino beside my husband and daughter at the kitchen table, the center of our universe.
- Mamo combing Csermely’s hair and helping to clean her ears after her bath in a copper pot, much to her delight.
- organic garlic from our own garden that keeps us healthy throughout the winter.
- clabbered milk to soothe our tummies.
- a property free of garbage (no plastic, metal or glass) so that we have the freedom to walk barefoot, if only on our five hectares.
- the self taught knowledge of spinning and the fibers that flow graciously through my fingertips.
- a stack of dry firewood for cooking and baking, every meal, every day.
- a steaming mug of raspberry tea.
- sitting on a handwoven rug, writing and dreaming of a month-long Italian vacation…
If some of these things make absolutely no sense to you, remember they are part of my happiness, the love I share with my family and the place I call home – your happiness comes from another fountain.
It is within each and every one of us to let happiness come and go, don’t be disillusioned – happiness is not a constant. There will be great days, bad days, better days and just plain old okay days, so smile every chance you get!
That key to happiness? Go find it. Dig around, put on another pair of pants, rustle in your pockets to find that familiar jingle, the one that brings you home with a lighter heart.
Think of something (or someone) that makes you ridiculously happy, because surely you can find a moment of peace or exhilaration in each and every day.
What does your fountain of happiness look like?
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About Cheryl
Mine?
Sailing on a beam reach in the perfect wind.
Rasberry chocolate truffle coffee.
Doing the right thing in the most difficult of circumstances.
:-)
I am definitely with you on the coffee! Perhaps we will meet one day!
It occurred to me earlier in the day that what makes me happy, as in giddy-cannot-stop-smiling happy, is strange indeed. Innovating. I feel utterly infused with delight when I can successfully trump a situation. Like today when the kids and I biked to the Post Office to pick up a package. I thought it would be a small delivery I have been awaiting, only to get handed a heavy, large box. I could have left it for another day, but was actually excited to lug the thing home. It is why I have a cargo bike. So I strapped it on the deck with the bungees, got my 5 year old settled in her spot and off we went, arriving home without issue. It made me just want to say humph! The feeling of capability is heady.
Apart from that I do feel joyous connection when I am walking alone in perfect rhythm to a good music beat. I usually end up laughing at the image of myself to others -dancing along in my own world. But I feel free. And there is also no substitution for snuggling up on the sofa with icy cold ice cream and a good read.
Packages are always loved, yes, even if hauled by bicycle! Love it!