Happiness Runs in A Circular Motion . . .

       I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes for happiness. The founding fellows thought so much of happiness that pursuit became a declaration. The word has almost become undefinable yet we all have a vague feeling of what happiness can mean to our lives. 

       We recently watched an interesting movie, Hector and the Search for Happiness, in which a psychiatrist subjects himself to a journey of researching just what people think is happiness. One of several views in the movie seems to define the feeling for me, "Is happiness not the sum total of lots of small joys and pleasures?”  ― François Lelord, Hector and the Search for Happiness  I'll bet you can think of ten moments right now in your memory that compile a swell of happiness in you.

        

Egrets returning to Michigan

       Okay, listen up, and I mean that – listen inside you, a tune you know very well, while I tell you a special story of happiness.

       We were walking across the beautiful Lake Lansing Park near our home on a chilly morning when a child, a girl maybe 8 or 9 years old ran past us. She was on a mission. She ran into the depths of the wooden play structure at the south end of the park, a temple, a great cathedral for play.

        In the center of the structure is a large simple xylophone. I imagined this child in the early

morning rushing through a bowl of colorful cereal thinking over and over on what she was about to do. I imagined her raising the hammer above those heavy metal strips, first cautiously – two notes to start, up one, and up again another – two strikes, then gentle steps back down as she continued to play the song, until emotion filled in us as it must have in the composer.
       This song of victory, of nations, of workers humming in labor, this song presented by a child, rang out across the lake forcing every molecule in the cloud-like morning fog to echo the centuries old cry of Beethoven’s powerful Ode to Joy!

       Now I am happy to think that you have read and perhaps sing again this treasured piece. As Donovan Leitch reminded us, "happiness runs in a circular motion, thought is but a tiny boat upon the sea, every body is a part of everything anyway, you can be happy if you let yourself be".

Thanks as always for stopping by. I recently took a big step for me and opened a Facebook account. Fascinating.

love, helene (please check out A Homestead Decade, How Crunchy Granola Changed My Life, Amazon e-book, cheap 2.99)