Happiness.

Happiness…is simplicity.
When you finish that dreaded biology exam.
When you’re singing at the top of your lungs in the car with the radio blaring (even though people are probably starring at you).
When the leaves are turning colors and it’s slightly chilly out.
When you go to Starbucks and the lady spells your name right (okay, she asked how it was spelled…but it still made me happy).
When you walk out of school on a Thursday night knowing the weekend has started.

Is that what happiness is?  Is happiness really that simple?

I wonder if the world has elevated happiness to a level where it can’t be reached.   Yes, happiness is one of the many words that we have made too complicated for us to grasp.  We become dissatisfied with the word because we watch movies and read books all about happiness and we’re just left empty inside because we don’t know where to find that kind of happiness.

But that’s just it; we think we have to find it.

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you – Nathaniel Hawthorne

I don’t think that happiness is a destination that we have to find.  Happiness is a feeling, rather fleeting at times, but that is what happiness is.  We can’t hold onto it and carry it around with us all the time.  Nobody and nothing is going to make us happy.  It’s what we make inside ourselves.  When we sit down quietly, it will alight upon us like a butterfly, but trust me, once you move the butterfly will fly away.  That’s what happiness is, it’s just a flutter that comes and goes. 

~ Trudi