Looking out for Happy

I was born into a neighborhood of homes all built in the late 50's.  Our homes were similarly outfitted with linoleum floored kitchens and patchwork carpeted bedrooms and hallways of various colors. There were usually 3-4 bedrooms on one level sharing one bathroom.  How did we live like this?  Deplorable and inadequate by my standards today.  I've since been spoiled by too many houses with master suites containing separate jacuzzi tubs and big showers.  I've stepped out onto porcelain tile with in-floor heating.  Comfort not even imagined in our childhood homes.

Because there were so many kids in every home, we spilled out over the neighborhood and had friends in just about every home.  Of course everyone got to know the bathrooms of every home because you would have 'to go' wherever you were playing.

The neighbors across the street had a fairly large, long bathroom.  It could accommodate about 4 kids at once to easily use the toilet and then wash hands.  This home had pink fixtures, linoleum tile of pink with black accent tile.  I remember being part of making up games to get from the toilet to the sink pretending that the black tiles were rocks and the pink tile was the swamp.  The swamp held alligators that would grab your leg and pull you in if you couldn't hop from one safe black tile 'rock' to another.  Thank goodness the 'rocks' were close enough for most little kids to hop to the safety of the vanity. I don't recall anyone being lost to an alligator.

This entire memory came to me today as I was walking the dog this morning.  I do a lot of thinking when walking Robbie.  Why this happened started from the stream of thought I'd been immersed in about happiness.  I read some insightful email messages that inspire me to think and work through all sorts of emotions and just ways we can think ourselves into living better lives.

Do you ever get asked, "Are you happy?"  Do you ever ask yourself the same question? If you were to be asked that question, I'll bet you can come up with all sorts of reasons your life sucks and that you are not happy, but if this or that were to occur then BAM you'd be happy as a clam.

Early this morning I stumbled across the thought that being happy is not a static state that we can ever, ever get to or live in.  Not gonna happen.  But here's the light bulb that clicked on in my head this morning:  I asked DM if he were happy.  "Well, maybe if or when(blah blah blah blah blah) comes about then I'll be happy," he answered.  That's when I realized I asked the question the wrong way and so I tried again.  "No, I mean are you happy right NOW- in this moment?"  And he answered "Yes. Being here with you, I am happy."  Of course this made ME happy too!

You probably know where I'm going with this.  These little acknowledgements of being happy are like the black tile 'rocks' that let us hop just beyond the reach of the alligators in life's swamp.  You have to look ahead to see the next one.  You have to be ready and you have to LOOK for them.

I can't force myself to 'BE happy' anymore that I can tell DM to 'BE Happy'.  But if we LOOK for those tiny moments of happy in our day and make sure to feel it and be aware of it, I think it could get us to a place where we can then see other future happy moments.  String these together and you've got a pretty satisfying life to look forward to.  
 :o)