This is an assignment from the class I'm taking right now. To add a qualifier, I'm not sure this is where I wanted this to go - the words didn't come easily for this one, though I mean them just as much as if they had been written other ways.
This I Believe...
Happiness comes in small packages; in a thank you card from a friend, in a smile from a stranger on the street, or in an encouraging email from my mom. Happiness comes in moments; in stunning sunrises, in my dog greeting me excitedly at the door, or in quiet observation on a Missouri River bluff. Happiness comes in giving to others; in seeing a student have that ‘a-ha moment’, in helping a colleague carry a heavy load of books, and in donating what I have to others who have none.
In this society of speed, greed and the desperation to exceed, it’s not hard to forget the basic ability to make myself happy. Getting caught up in the go, go, go lifestyle prevents me from being able to stop and look around to appreciate everything I have. It seems that it’s popular to let myself be negative and pessimistic, and if I don’t feel that way, I feel guilty. I’m supposed to want more, want to BE more or bemoan the cards that life has dealt me.
I believe I create my own happiness and it is available to me easily, if I don’t try to search it out in the wrong places. Taking small joys in the everyday things is the root of contentment. So many people overlook the most simplistic pictures of beauty and pleasure because they distract themselves with a synthetic replacement. Feeling blessed to greet each day is the consequence of personal effort. In this world of instant gratification, most of us miss the awe-inspiring images and events right under our noses if it’s not pointed out to us. Slowing down and ‘smelling the roses’ shouldn’t just be a cliché, but a common practice.
