Happiness Finds You When...

I live in a generation that thrives off of what I like to call: instant gratification syndrome. It's a common syndrome many of us are guilty of, myself included. We have this preconceived notion that we're going to have everything our parents have NOW... We forget it took our parents years and years to accumulate/save/etc. I'll give you a personal example. For awhile, I believed that as soon as I graduated from college, I would have the perfect life: house, car, amazing job, picket fence, puppy, man, children etc. Although we all know how my happily ever after crashed, I find myself happy. I think happiness is a mental mindset. Oftentimes we toss around this word so casually that it seems it has lost some of its meaning.

According to the Webster Dictionary, Happiness is defined as:

1. obsolete : good fortune: PROSPERITY

 2. (a) a state of well-being and contentment: JOY-*(my favorite word ever)

I think I'm going to go with 2(a) as the definition for my use of happiness today. I've realized that if I truly savor being 'in the moment' I get so much more out of my every day life. Yesterday, I took an adventure with my little M and we truly enjoyed our moments together! We went to the splashpark, ate snocones, laughed at whatever was funny, and at the end of the day we were both dead tired. The highlight of my evening was right before I put sweet boy to sleep. He grabbed my face and whispered, "Today was a lot of fun. I love you Wuby," and then he snuggled my face. There is no greater compensation than this. Of course, my heart melted. My untraditional life is filling and complete. This second chance at life and joy is what living is all about!

Definitely a choice... Choose to find that joy!

Today I want to encourage you to take a deep breath, find 3 things or individuals you're grateful for, and try really hard to let go of anything holding you back from truly enjoying your every day life. It has taken me years to let go of the past and to embrace my life as it is. I no longer wish or yearn for those things I don't have now because they will come.

Life without faith sounds so dull. I have faith that things will turn out as they must because life is just a pattern: a wheel that turns and returns.