Like all of us, I am wishing people a Happy New Year.
But in doing so, I feel a frustration in that I am powerless to make it so. It is out of my control. It leaves me feeling like there is a void that those simple and hopeful words cannot fill.
2020 has given us more time to think and reflect on our lives. Who is important, what is important, what to add and what to subtract.
I realize each of us has the gift of happiness to give, especially in small and meaningful ways one person at a time. It can change the world.
Happiness never decreases by being used. It can only grow.
I have read many books and articles and have listened to many lectures and talks about happiness since we all define it differently.
I have found it can be distilled into three basic truths:
- Someone to love (to which I would add that that person loves you in return).
- Something to look forward to.
- Something to belong to that is greater than ourself.
The best part is that none of these tenets costs anything!
Joy, kindness and gratitude precede happiness.
Joy is in all of us. It is up to us to find it, use it and spread it. We have a choice.
We can make ourselves miserable or make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.
What is joy? It is the experience of knowing you are unconditionally loved and that nothing…sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war and even death can ever take that love away.
We may not always be happy, but we can always feel joy.
What I hope for you is not so much a Happy New Year which begins by a tick of a clock and flip of a calendar page, but rather joy in each new day that is measured by the beat of a good and kind heart which dwells in each of us.
May the New Year bring you all peace and joy and may you always know and feel that you are unconditionally loved!