During fifteen years perambulating this circuit (and in the preceding decades of walking and musing), I have occasionally pondered the idea of "finding happiness", looking far out into the distance like happiness is a destination to be reached; like it's a gleaming city whose glow can be seen just over the horizon--like Oz. And like Oz, there would be no doubt in your mind when you got there.
It struck me tonight that this image of happiness is undoubtedly wrong and dangerously misleading. The happiness I've always looked for is more likely already all around me, like jewels hidden in the long grass along my path, waiting to be discovered and plucked up. It's ever-so-cliche, but it occurred to me that happiness should be the journey, not the destination. You don't reach happiness--you find it. But to find happiness, you have to be looking for it. And you have to believe you deserve it.
Before every yoga practice, you are encouraged to set an intention for that practice--something you specifically want to focus on during your time on the mat. Because practice can sometimes be challenging, I often set the intention of finding joy in every pose I attempt. I find when I remember my intention I can smile even when my quads are screaming or when I'm falling again and again out of a balancing pose (any balancing pose). I want to bring that concept off the mat and incorporate it more fully into the rest of my life. Maybe that's my first resolution for 2012--find the joy.
It struck me tonight that this image of happiness is undoubtedly wrong and dangerously misleading. The happiness I've always looked for is more likely already all around me, like jewels hidden in the long grass along my path, waiting to be discovered and plucked up. It's ever-so-cliche, but it occurred to me that happiness should be the journey, not the destination. You don't reach happiness--you find it. But to find happiness, you have to be looking for it. And you have to believe you deserve it.
Before every yoga practice, you are encouraged to set an intention for that practice--something you specifically want to focus on during your time on the mat. Because practice can sometimes be challenging, I often set the intention of finding joy in every pose I attempt. I find when I remember my intention I can smile even when my quads are screaming or when I'm falling again and again out of a balancing pose (any balancing pose). I want to bring that concept off the mat and incorporate it more fully into the rest of my life. Maybe that's my first resolution for 2012--find the joy.
Speaking of 2012, the little chime on my Casio G-Shock watch just told me that midnight is now in the rearview mirror, making these the first moments of the last day of 2011. Let the journey continue. Keep your eyes open. Find the joy.
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Love it. For me, happiness started to reveal itself not only when I looked for it & believed I deserved it, but when I stopped focusing and giving so much energy to negative things (and people). Looking for the good/happy even in seemingly negative things seems to help me feel more balanced.
ReplyDeleteHere's to a year of health, happiness, balance and finding the good in "screaming quads".
P
As you know, I'm not one to wax philosophically, but it's near impossible to find happiness when searching for it. It's there in the little things. When i (who am I? ee. cummings here?) get angry with Nick and Char or do the passive - aggressive thing with Jeannine, happiness is taking a break. But, when the day is over and Char has done one of her silly dances or Nick has completed a lego project made for 14+ year olds or Jeannine is sitting next to me on the couch, I realize how happy I am, how good life is - bumps in the road be damned! Aside from this pain in the ass health issue, I'd venture to say that you are happy with your life. It's there when you post about Robbie or Liz or the choir or whatever. As I said, it's in the little things. It is, as you said, in the journey. It's that subtle buzz one might get after partaking of certain natural substances, when the edge is taken off your mind and you are suddenly more aware of things. Of course, this reference comes from reading about the experience, not (oh, who am I kidding). Anyway, you don't need to search for joy or happiness, you just have to acknowledge it. As the philosopher Robert McFarren said, "Don't worry. Be happy."
ReplyDeleteMy joy and happiness includes:
ReplyDelete1. A chance to periodically read this blog and know that Tim is still Tim - a philosophical humorist if you will.
2. My loving and, shall we say patient, wife and two daughters who somehow have turned out beautiful in spite of my DNA's best attempts otherwise.
3. Eastern NC Bar B Q.
(Editorial Note - list not necessarily in priority order).
Happy New Year to you, my friend.
- Meno