The Search

If the amount of tears I've shed the past few days is any indication of my happiness level lately, I would say it is pretty low. This week I went to see Gretchen Rubin speak about her Happiness Project. She reminded me that simple things can make us happier. So I am going to start making the bed and emptying out the sink. Happiness is in the little, everyday things that make life a little more pleasant.

Two days later, I went to listen to Elizabeth Gilbert read from her new memoir. Her first memoir Eat Pray Love is the story of her personal journey toward happiness. It is one of the only books I have ever read twice. Happiness journeys are filled with hope that there is something better out there and the determination to find out where it lives.

Both of these women seem happy. Both of them talked about being and accepting yourself. The not so secret, secrets to happiness. They make it sound so simple yet they both embarked on a serious search to discover this. Is happiness a conscious decision? Can we decide to be happy? Have all happy people had to search for it or are some people just born happy? Is it only those of us with a certain nature that must work at happiness?

Art by Cathy Nichols makes me happy.