Handling Happiness......

I expect happiness to be a continuous state of mind....
And being!!

Perhaps because of the story books I read as a child..
They all ended with the line..
And they lived happily ever after....

Yet, in practice...
How long does happiness last?
A few weeks??
A day?
A few hours???
The wink of an eye???...

And like a willow-the-wisp..
Happiness wanders away!!!
It will not be held...
Sometimes, not even savored...

Often..
I recognize happiness only in retrospect....
As something that happened in the past!!!!...

Yet, like all of us..
I want to believe in the myth that it is long lasting...
That at some time in the distant future...
I will have it always!!!
Forever!!!!
Without a pause!!!!

We are all striving..in one way or the other..
To live happily happily ever after....

But truth is...
I live more intensely...
In times of trouble....
I notice my thoughts...my actions...
I plot..and sometimes plan..
And pray a lot!!!

And yes...
Though I may despise such times...
Wait for an end to come.....
To troubles...
Real or imagined or created!!!
And I certainly do not want more of it!!!!
I must admit...
I do feel more alive!!!
I do live more in the moment!!!

When happiness strikes...
I often do not experience it....
Fully...completely...
Maybe I need help..
On how to handle it??

Yet what is this state of being?
Could it be the warm glow that suffuses my being???

Winner tells me that when I am happy...
I smile to myself...
A lot!!!!....

For me..
Singing is the touchstone...
If I can burst into song...
Or hum some tune heard eons ago..
Then I must be happy!!!!!

Happiness is not a continuum....
It punctuates my life...

There are happy moments every day...
But often..
I do not notice......
I live life in a blur!!!
I wish I could learn to live in the moment!!!!
In happy times as well....

And when major happiness strikes...
I am almost wary of it.....
As it marks the end of one phase...
And the beginning of another....
I wait for the next trying challenge to take off!!!
I do not trust happiness!!!
It just will not last!!!

While..
Happiness is part of the stuff of life...
It is....
Only one of many ingredients....
That go to make life's rich broth!!!!

Life happens in so many other ways.....
And it has so much other stuff to offer!!!...

So many other moods and thoughts and experiences...
Await us...
To enrich us....
To draw the best out of us!!!

Happiness is just an incentive...
Like that big bonus that sometimes comes along!!!!
Often when we least expect it!!!
It helps us along....
As we move on.......

At least that's what I think!!
Adios!