Words from my Mother

Tell me how you were taught to be happy when you were young. I think we were taught from a young age that happiness can only be formed from what success is viewed through another set of eyes. We were always told that happiness needed to be something larger than ourselves. Out of the ordinary. A large escape from others realities.

We're left waiting. Patiently wanting to see when this large connection to happiness will fill our souls with the joy and laughter we see in movies, and read about in books. We are left waiting, and while we wait, we become empty.

I think our perception of happiness can be changed. I don't think happiness needs to be an overjoying experience. It doesn't need to be this 'aha' moment. Happiness is always inside of us. It's infinitely changing forms. I believe that we need to accept those changes. Real happiness, true happiness, is believing.

Believing. You are here because you believed in your happiness. Your small joys, and dew drops of cheer. The moments that creep a smile of pure joy.

I think that happiness comes in different forms that we don't always see. You know when you're walking down a street and you receive some sort of nostalgia. Sometimes it comes from a pastry fresh out of the oven in a bakery, or a candle being lit, or maybe it's a wave of laughter from that one table you always sat at. You receive that feeling of warmth of a treasured memory. Then it's our choice what we do with those memories.

Do we choose to believe in those waves of nostalgia? To enjoy the small moments we know we will treasure and create lengthy stories shared over wine and sunsets.

Are we going to believe in the chance for our future changing these hard times into beautiful recollections? I think we can. When we live in the moment we allow ourselves to form a nostalgic moment for our future selves to thank us.

I think happiness comes in small and big ways. It comes from different people and various experiences. In the end it's our choice to look back and smile at those memories. Thanking ourselves for believing.