Happiness

a few simple choices

Brian G. Fay — November 5, 2017

This month, after taking a couple months away from it, I have gotten back to weighing myself each morning. I had stopped because I kept having goals for that weigh in and, in the way that goals almost always work out, I failed at them. That left me beginning the day in a funk, unhappy, guilty, and doubting myself. This morning, as I have since the month began, I stepped onto the scale with curiosity (which turns out to weigh less than guilt), saw the number there, and nodded at it. Okay, I said, curiosity satisfied, happiness maintained.

I will walk the dog today. Silly little thing. She will yodel and sing as I get the leash out and ask, Who wants to go for a walk? I will lead her along as she sniffs everything we pass. I’ll put good music in my headphones and enjoy the warm November morning I’m passing through. The dog is good company, pure and honest, devoted in the extreme. It’s tough to be unhappy when I’m with her, when I’m moving my body. And that movement may ease the unhappiness of a stiff back, pain in my legs, and a general discomfort of not having moved my body nearly enough of late.

Being happy in the long term doesn’t seem to be much about resisting short term happiness. I don’t feel much inclined to be vigilant against sin, immediate satisfaction, hedonism. If happiness depended on willpower, I would be forever miserable. Instead I’m in search of the blessings of the moment and it turns out to be an easy search. I find them wafting off the mug of coffee, in the feel of a clean dish, and arriving on the soft sound of the pen moving across the page.

(I hope the links weren’t too distracting. I’ve been thinking about how I have found certain things that have made me happy and it seemed a good idea to show some of them to all of you.)

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