Day 15: On happiness
AJK: Is happiness even a place? Do you just “get there,” or is it more an outlook on life and its progress?
To believe happiness is supposed to be a steady state, or some ultimate destination of the human journey, is rigid thinking and reveals inexperience. Happiness is an emotion; a temporary experience humans enter in and out of, just like anger or grief. Happiness can be conjured (which is grand for our health), but undesirable emotions carry messages that over time—should we listen—lead us to an inner, safe bedrock. This in turn opens us up to receive more frequent or more potent experiences of happiness.
Bedrock interests me because to reach one’s own bedrock allows for flow. It changes the conversation entirely and how we relate to the feelings we experience. It’s all welcome, and it’s all good.
Along my journey, three men I have loved have gifted me three literary pieces that assisted in shifting my perspective to a healthier place:
“On Joy and Sorrow,” Kahlil Gibran
”The Guest House,” Jalaluddin Rumi
“Three Versions of You,” Nikita Gill, below
