“Wisdom begins with wonder”
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Suddenly, happiness can overtake us. Or we think it always gives us a wide berth. That's why I've put happiness under the microscope this month, because I'm all about the little happiness, the little moments of happiness. In the text below, I have listed a few things that make me happy. What else would you like to see on this list? Write it to me and I will add it to the list in the online version.
Finding happiness
I believe that ultimately we all want nothing more in our lives than to be happy. We often only notice whether we have found happiness when it is gone again. Happiness is something fleeting and only a very small part of it depends on externals. The biggest part lies in our own inner attitude. We can change this, open our eyes to the small happiness on the way to work or in the shopping centre. Often we run after what we think is great happiness, such as winning the lottery. We think life would not be perfect if we had not experienced it. But even every very big happiness can and will evaporate, suddenly we are no longer satisfied with it.
Moments of happiness
I prefer to collect small moments of happiness, enjoy them and let them pass. Because I know: small happiness is quite often along the way. Small happiness can be almost anything that makes us happy, that opens our hearts and puts a smile on our faces. I can make myself receptive and accessible to small happinesses.
Hurray for small happiness! Here is my personal collection of happiness from the last few weeks:
A good phone call
A little appreciation from the unexpected side
Watching clouds chase each other in the sky
The sight of a job well done
Having your own little garden
When everything grows and thrives in that garden
Harvesting and eating your own lettuce
The radiance of a flower in the sunlight
The tiredness after a busy day
When the cat reappears after a few days' absence, healthy and hungry
The cat's soft fur under your hands
Dipping into cool water on a hot, sticky day
Watching children playing
Seeing something develop under your hands
Having a good idea that can be realised
Seeing the sun rise after a stormy night
To simply be alive and safe after all the recent catastrophes.
Receiving an indescribably beautiful birthday card
Doing something together with friends, just doing it, without much talking.
Physical closeness and security, the clarity of space (e.g. tidy flat) where there is room for something new.
Sex;-)
Happiness as a condition
If I should encounter really great luck, I hope that I will then be so practised in recognising luck that I will be able to grasp it. Otherwise, it just passes by and moves on. And I stick to the many small moments of happiness, they are nice and handy.
Whereby I am convinced that happiness is more a state than an event. When all basic needs are satisfied, one can live happily. Happiness is found through a serene inner view of life and death, of beginning and end. It is said that happiness cannot be forced. But the inner attitude of happiness can be approached through reflection and meditation, through the way one looks at and evaluates one's life.
In the studio
This month I am once again doing a workshop with Helen Hiebert: Paper & Light.
Every Monday comes a new task, every week a new challenge that stretches and strengthens the creative muscle.
Search moments of happiness!
I look forward to many small and big moments of happiness that you would like to share with me. I hope that your suggestions will make my list much, much longer and that we will all become more open and clear in recognising happiness in our lives.
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