The Bones definition of Happiness
I just watched the tv show Bones from this past Thursday. Bones is one of my absolute favorite shows. I love the characters, I love the writing, I just love it. The episode I just watched ended with Temperance and Booth having a drink to celebrate a job well done of solving the case of who killed the victim. Booth had a little stick doll thing that a coven gave him telling him that if he thinks of whatever person and makes a wish for them as he burns the doll the wish he wished for that person will come true. He tells Temperance that he is going to make a wish for her and lights the doll on fire. After the doll burns Booth asks Temperance if she wanted to know what he wished, she said no, it's all just silly superstition anyway. And then these lines are said:
Booth: I wished that you could find happiness.
Temperance: I don't know what that means.
Booth: Happiness: love, laughter, friendship, purpose, and a dance.
I think that is the best definition of of happiness I have ever heard of. I can't think of anything else in life that could possibly bring more happiness than those five things listed above.
I suppose laughter is a by product of happiness, not an actual cause, but I believe that if one is laughing they can't help but be happy on some level. When one is happy laughing is so much easier. I know when I'm truly happy with everything in me, I can't help but laugh often.
Having a purpose also brings happiness. Every day, even though I'm mostly exhausted all the time by the end of the day, I feel pretty content. Each day I have a purpose, sure, it's a pretty small purpose in the grand scheme of things, but it's a purpose every day. I have various pools that need servicing. I have hundreds of lives to guard. They are small purposes, but if I fulfill them and do them well, I get a sense of self-satisfaction. And that makes me happy.
Friendship. A person's friends make their world. My friends are people that I treasure. Mostly because they make me so happy. Granted, my friends can also make me crazy and sometimes I wonder what on earth I was thinking when I decided to give them a little living place in my heart. But every day I'm grateful that I have the friends I have.
Then there is love. Being loved is a wonderful thing. I love being loved. Knowing that other people love me makes me feel that I'm worth being loved. That makes me happy. But I think that it's in loving other people that I get the most happiness. Loving on my nieces and hearing them giggle and laugh, or even scream in joy, makes me so happy. I can't wait for my nephew and niece to come from the west coast. I feel like I don't know them at all because I see them so little. I just want to spend time with them and love on them and here their laughter and see their smiles. Just imagining it makes me smile and happy. There are more types of love than just the love I have for my nieces and nephew or my family. There is the love I have for my friends. And there is the love I have for SB. Loving him... it brings me so much joy. I can't imagine anyone making me as happy as he does. That's a good thing.
And then there is a dance. Dancing makes me so happy. The entire time I'm dancing I can't help but smile and even laugh. A couple weeks ago I had the closing shift at the RecCenter. After all the closing duties were done the three of us were waiting for the manager to come sign us out so we turned the radio up and danced around the guard office for a while. It was a bit ridiculous, yet so fun, and the three of us spent the whole time laughing and smiling. I was truly happy in those moments. While in Hawaii SB and I were channel surfing while we had some down time. We came across what I suppose was a public tv station. On it was a show of an orchestra playing big band music. SB pushed the couch out of the way to make more space and then started dancing with me. We danced, we (I) twirled, and it quickly became one of my very most favorite memories of the two weeks there. I was happy, SB was happy... and it was a perfect time.
So yes... love, laughter, friendship, purpose, and a dance. That is happiness in a nutshell.
Booth: I wished that you could find happiness.
Temperance: I don't know what that means.
Booth: Happiness: love, laughter, friendship, purpose, and a dance.
I think that is the best definition of of happiness I have ever heard of. I can't think of anything else in life that could possibly bring more happiness than those five things listed above.
I suppose laughter is a by product of happiness, not an actual cause, but I believe that if one is laughing they can't help but be happy on some level. When one is happy laughing is so much easier. I know when I'm truly happy with everything in me, I can't help but laugh often.
Having a purpose also brings happiness. Every day, even though I'm mostly exhausted all the time by the end of the day, I feel pretty content. Each day I have a purpose, sure, it's a pretty small purpose in the grand scheme of things, but it's a purpose every day. I have various pools that need servicing. I have hundreds of lives to guard. They are small purposes, but if I fulfill them and do them well, I get a sense of self-satisfaction. And that makes me happy.
Friendship. A person's friends make their world. My friends are people that I treasure. Mostly because they make me so happy. Granted, my friends can also make me crazy and sometimes I wonder what on earth I was thinking when I decided to give them a little living place in my heart. But every day I'm grateful that I have the friends I have.
Then there is love. Being loved is a wonderful thing. I love being loved. Knowing that other people love me makes me feel that I'm worth being loved. That makes me happy. But I think that it's in loving other people that I get the most happiness. Loving on my nieces and hearing them giggle and laugh, or even scream in joy, makes me so happy. I can't wait for my nephew and niece to come from the west coast. I feel like I don't know them at all because I see them so little. I just want to spend time with them and love on them and here their laughter and see their smiles. Just imagining it makes me smile and happy. There are more types of love than just the love I have for my nieces and nephew or my family. There is the love I have for my friends. And there is the love I have for SB. Loving him... it brings me so much joy. I can't imagine anyone making me as happy as he does. That's a good thing.
And then there is a dance. Dancing makes me so happy. The entire time I'm dancing I can't help but smile and even laugh. A couple weeks ago I had the closing shift at the RecCenter. After all the closing duties were done the three of us were waiting for the manager to come sign us out so we turned the radio up and danced around the guard office for a while. It was a bit ridiculous, yet so fun, and the three of us spent the whole time laughing and smiling. I was truly happy in those moments. While in Hawaii SB and I were channel surfing while we had some down time. We came across what I suppose was a public tv station. On it was a show of an orchestra playing big band music. SB pushed the couch out of the way to make more space and then started dancing with me. We danced, we (I) twirled, and it quickly became one of my very most favorite memories of the two weeks there. I was happy, SB was happy... and it was a perfect time.
So yes... love, laughter, friendship, purpose, and a dance. That is happiness in a nutshell.