What's Happiness Look Like and Feel Like For You?

I encountered something surprising while interviewing people for my SOMEDAY book.

?When asked, “What does happiness mean to you?” many people gave me a blank look.

In fact, one woman said, "Who's got time to be happy? I'm working a full time job while trying to raise my kids and pay the bills. I'm just doing the best I can to get through the day."

?Yikes. If we can’t define happiness, how are we supposed to know it when we see it?

And if we're not modeling it, how can we teach it or expect others around us to feel it?

I'll always remember attending a presentation on this subject presented by a professor who'd spent years researching the topic. He spent most of his hour-long session quoting Aristotle, Socrates and Plato. He left time for one question.

The man next to me raised his hand and asked, “What’s your definition of happiness?”

Blink. blink. The professor looked like a deer in headlights. He finally said he didn’t have one. There was an almost audible gasp from the audience when he confessed this.

The questioner wasn’t about to let him off the hook. He said, “You’ve studied this topic for twenty years. Surely you have your own definition.”

The professor realized he wasn’t going to dodge the question and admitted, “Well, if I have to give a definition, I guess I agree with Stendahl, “To describe happiness is to diminish it.’

And that was it. End of session.

I turned to the man next to me and said, “I so disagree with that. I think defining and describing happiness helps us be more alert to it and appreciative of it.”

He nodded in agreement.

I asked, “When was the last time you were happy?”

He thought about it and then smiled, “My daughter decided to follow in my footsteps and become a physician. Plus, she decided to go into my specialty of internal medicine.

She called last week to ask for my advice. One of her patients was really sick, and even after multiple tests, they didn't know what was wrong. After hearing his symptoms, I asked if they’d tested for a rare disorder. They hadn’t. She called back to say my hunch was right, they’d started treatment and it looked like they caught it in time and he’d recover.”??

I told him, “That’s happiness. To have a daughter who respects you enough to go into your profession, who seeks your advice which saves a life, and the two of you to get to share it."

"Yes, it was one of the most satisfying moments of my life, as a dad and as a doctor."

How about you?

What does happiness mean to you? When was the last time you were happy??What did it look like? What did it feel like??Did you say anything to imprint it and appreciate it?

The clearer you are about what happiness means to you, the more likely you are to notice it when it happens, and be grateful for it as it happens.

Thought these happiness quotes could kick-start your brainstorming of what happiness looks like and feels like to you. Hope you write out your definition and post it where you'll see it, so the next time all's right with your world, you realize, "Actually, I'm happy right now."

12 Happiness Quotes to Brighten Your Day and Your Life

1.?"My happiness depends on me, so you're off the hook." - Esther Hicks

2. "More is not better. NOW is better." - Sam Horn

3. "She was twice blessed. She was happy. She knew it." - Jan Struthers

4. "You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather." - Pema Chodron

5. “What a wonderful life I’ve had. I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” – singer Colette

6. “To do what you love and feel it matters; how can anything be more fun?” K. Graham

7. "There is only one happiness in this life: to love and be loved.” – George Sand

8. “Folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

9. “I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness; it’s right in front of me if I pay attention and practice gratitude.” – Brene Brown

10. "Success is not about wealth, fame or power, but how many shining eyes I have around me." - Ben Zander

11. "Abundance is not something you acquire; it's something you tune into." - Wayne Dyer

12. "The meaning of life is to find your gift; the purpose is to give it away." - Pablo Picasso

My definition of happiness? Appreciating what's right with my world, right here, right now.

And it's remembering that:

* Happiness is a choice and a skill.

* It's not selfish to do more of what makes us happy, it's smart.

* Happiness is available anytime we want, for a moment's notice.

* If we want to be happier - right here, right now - all we have to do is look around and see someone or something as if for the first or last time. We will be filled with appreciation - which is the alpha and omega of happiness.?

Try it, right here, right now.

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Want a four minute quiz that can help you identify ONE thing that can help you be happier, not, not someday?