Happiness

Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. --Jane Austen
It has been too long since I last wrote. Or, I should say, since I last wrote on here. I have been putting nearly all my creative energy into editing my novel. When I was not busy with that, I was reading. Yes, I have a hard life. ;)

This post may be all over the place. Just to warn you.

In thinking up topics for my next article, my mom suggested I write about happiness. So I have been thinking about that topic lately.

Ever since I turned 19, I have become increasingly happier. I've always been a very happy person, but nowadays it seems I'm in a nearly constant state of bliss. It really doesn't make sense; there are things happening in my life that, while out of my control, are frustrating and by all accounts should be leaving me in a constant state of something ranging from apathy to depression. And yet, my smile remains as genuine as ever. I can't explain it. I know when it started, but I don't know how or why. Not that I'm complaining, of course.

This train of thought is interesting to me. I see it in myself, and I see it in friends. The moment we find someone is happy, we want to know why. You have a grin on your face, something good must have happened to you. I know I can't explain my own recent happiness, because I've tried. I've thought about it a great deal. I can come up with no reasonable explanation.

So this makes me wonder...do we need a reason to be happy? If I need reasons, here they are: I'm alive and comparatively healthy, the same is true for my family and friends, and God is a loving God who is in charge of the big things and the small things. The same can be said at just about any moment of my life, so why am I not blissful always? Two years ago I was near the opposite end of this bliss. In general, not a lot has changed since that point. Just my attitude, which has been altered with God's help alone.

I don't have a startling new theory for you, or any other inspiring thought to leave you with. These are just some thoughts I've had, and I have no answers, no conclusions. I know that I'm happy, and I know it's not because of anything I have done. And that's enough for me.