Some days it is easy to identify why you are happy. Some days you have to stretch your mind to find the happiness and other days you are happy just because.
Today was a “just because” happy day for me. Buddhism calls this a mind of virtue and indeed we can have a virtuous mind even when things are falling apart around us- that is actually the goal.
On my way to the airport at the crack of dawn, I silenced the radio and gave pause to reflect on how happy I felt inside- this virtuous mind. What a gift these moments are! The key is really to observe your happiness and enjoy it and NOT second-guess it, which I can sometimes do. Have you ever caught yourself thinking “Wow! Life is really good! Oh no! It is too good!”- what the hell is that anyway? Thinking about the “other shoe which might drop” can stomp your happiness and keep you operating from a place of fear or non-virtue. When the unnecessary ugly tries to trump my happy, I am working on kicking it to the curb but it is a process.
This morning, I thought about how lucky I am to be able to pick up the phone and call my dad. I thought about my puppy and how cute he was cuddling with the warm towels fresh out of the dryer while I was trying to fold them last night. I thought about my son blurting out “I love you so much mom” while we were on our hike on Sunday. I thought about my husband and how he will go get me a Starbucks in the morning just because. I thought about my 17-year old daughter and how she has come full circle from just 12 months ago when I thought either her or I would not survive the ugly teenage phase. I thought about my 10 year old’s beautiful creative soul and how lucky I am to witness each DIY project in spite of the mess it brings to my kitchen.
I thought of many more things but the point I am trying to make is that the cause for happy can rest in the smallest of gestures and the meekest of moments. We must remember to be present to receive them- to turn off the radio or the white noise of life and bask in the lightness as it is given to us, to charge us to refuel us, to renew us.
Abundance 