What is happiness?
Yes, middle age crisis has come just a touch early for Janis (actually, the fucker is right on time).
My brother and I were talking today about our joint experience of looking through the photos we saved from the remains of my parents collection. He mentioned that his wife looked at one in which I was 19 and he was 25 (and being raised to be Master of his lodge, a very happy occasion on which I was very proud of him) and said, "Wow, she's really angry there." The conversation then went on and his contention is, with no judgment, that I am pretty much angry all the time. I pointed out that I consciously try to focus on reasons for gratitude and things that make me happy and his question was whether or not either he or I really knew what it was or could identify that emotion 2 out of 3 times if it crossed our paths.
Good question.
Parenthetically, I have been wrestling a bit with the knowledge that, even when I am feeling fairly contented or what I would describe as "happy" inside, my face is not reflecting it.
So, friends, what is happiness and how do you know you are happy, as opposed to not actively unhappy? And where the hell did that guy Socrates go?
Apropos of nothing else in this post, I had my first asthma attack in 16 years. Turns out that the beta blocker I am on is known for triggering them. It's been so long that I had forgotten I had ever been diagnosed as asthmatic. This med, combined with a fast walk in a chilly wind seems to have done it. Now there's an argument against spending too many more decades in Northeastern winters.
My brother and I were talking today about our joint experience of looking through the photos we saved from the remains of my parents collection. He mentioned that his wife looked at one in which I was 19 and he was 25 (and being raised to be Master of his lodge, a very happy occasion on which I was very proud of him) and said, "Wow, she's really angry there." The conversation then went on and his contention is, with no judgment, that I am pretty much angry all the time. I pointed out that I consciously try to focus on reasons for gratitude and things that make me happy and his question was whether or not either he or I really knew what it was or could identify that emotion 2 out of 3 times if it crossed our paths.
Good question.
Parenthetically, I have been wrestling a bit with the knowledge that, even when I am feeling fairly contented or what I would describe as "happy" inside, my face is not reflecting it.
So, friends, what is happiness and how do you know you are happy, as opposed to not actively unhappy? And where the hell did that guy Socrates go?
Apropos of nothing else in this post, I had my first asthma attack in 16 years. Turns out that the beta blocker I am on is known for triggering them. It's been so long that I had forgotten I had ever been diagnosed as asthmatic. This med, combined with a fast walk in a chilly wind seems to have done it. Now there's an argument against spending too many more decades in Northeastern winters.