On Being Happy....

I woke up happy this morning.  It then dawned on me I have been happy all week.  Then I began to realize that happiness looms in the background pretty much all the time and sometimes all it takes is the ability to recognize it.

But oh no.....  this is no Susie Sunshine blog.  I am certainly not here to remind you to always look at the glass as half full...   Nope.  I just don't believe in that.   That is a falsehood.  And to some degree I feel the effort to put a positive spin on everything in life is a total and complete lie.  We've been fed a line of crap that happiness is all in our attitude.  I just don't buy it.

If you are constantly looking for the half full glass, then you are denying yourself the victory in conquering adversity.  

Let's face it - sometimes life just sucks.  Sometimes it's just too daunting a task to find silver linings in the clouds that come our way.  Sometimes we truly need to wallow in our self pity.  There's a healing aspect to that and tears are so very cleansing.

If we deny ourselves those negative emotions, we glaze over our true selves.  Denying our true emotions does nothing but cause us to lose our identity. 

It's true there is a danger in that type of thinking - it's called depression.  It's real and its a definite battle.  But it does not have to be a defeat.  Even in the midst of that deep hole of depression, there are rays of sunshine.  Getting out of that hole requires seeing those and recognizing them for what they are.  That then produces a chain reaction and those rays become more noticeable.  The more you acknowledge those beautiful glistening rays of sunshine that touch your life, the closer you are to being out of that hole - until one day you look around you and the world is at your fingertips.  You push into that final boost out of the hole and you begin to walk around again......   seeing the light.....  feeling the peace.

There's nothing like the calm after a storm.  Nothing like the victory after a very tense, close ballgame.  Those are things we love to feel.  Sometimes all it takes to get there is recognizing that it is indeed within our grasp.

So yes - choose happiness - but don't forget to acknowledge what's real.  Take time to feel the rainbow of your emotions.  It enhances our good days and provides strength for the bad ones.