"happiness is a warm puppy, an umbrella & a side of french fries."

My title today comes from the mind of Charles Schulz, the man behind Charlie Brown, Snoopy and, me personal favorite, Linus. Now I don't know much about his life beyond the Sunday funnies and my favorite holiday specials, but this philosophy seems about right to me.

I've been think a lot about this concept of happiness lately (clearly) and how vital it is to our lives. Maybe it's that little Pollyanna side of my personality, but I am happy. And I know it. This idea has been in my head since high school when my history teacher Mr. Szmidt posted a quote for us to discuss one day.

The words were familiar enough - "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands." He did this every day, Mr. Szmidt did. We'd all walk into class after lunch, still bloated and breathless from dodging the seagulls that swarmed the quad hoping for dropped bits of pizza crust or a forgotten french fry (here's where Charles Schulz's umbrella begins to make more sense), and pull out our notebooks. Keeping tracks of daily quotes may have seemed tedious to my classmates, but for me it was my favorite part of the class period.

Sure, there are others that have remained in my mind, but this one in particular is something I try to remember every day because in so many ways, this concept could become as integral to keeping us alive as breathing. Why? Because with everything keeping us moving so fast, making our lives "easier" and seemingly more disconnected (I'm one to talk now having just purchased an iPhone, ha), it's important to stop and think about things. To allow ourselves the time to slow our breathing and realize the present moment and stay in it for a minute or two.

This was a life-altering thought to me, especially in high school when I was at my least happy point - always stressing about college applications, grade point averages, math class, chem lab... You get the idea. At the time I could look back on the past and think about happier moments (which is what helped me get through the, er, less happy times) or, my go-to way of coping: faking it. For a few years there part of my morning routine included these weird sort of pep-talks to myself in order to put on a good happy face for the rest of the world as I headed into the quagmire of high school. Oy.

Anyway, back to my point... Mr. Szmidt told us to really think about what made us happy. And when we found ourselves happy about something, to stop and enjoy it right then and there. Not to breeze right past it and just use it at a later date to boost our mood, but to take it in and BE HAPPY IN THE MOMENT!

What a revelation!

So fast forward eight years to now and, like my mother (and proudly so!) I appear to be walking around with carnival music playing in my head (thank you Sean for coining that, it's funny because it's true) Although in my case, it's not so much carnival music as much as Frank Turner or the likes. And do you want to know why? I'm happy.


Really, truly, over-the-moon, slap-her-to-snap-her-out-of-it, honest-to-God happy.

I admit, it took me a while to get here and with more than a few bumps along the way. No matter - those trials made it worth it and all the sweeter in the long run. And now, as I've said in the past, often I could just cry, it's so wonderful. Not to say that there aren't the troubling moments, but on the whole, what's the point in being anything other than happy? And I'm not talking about faking it now either because if I'm not feeling happy, that's okay too. I'm just saying that more often than not, I have an honest smile on my face and try to share that with the people around me. And I don't think it's unrealistic either, or that I'm living in a fantasy world. I'm merely focusing on what God has given me and being thankful for it.

Every. Day.

On that note, I've started doing something these past few months that I believe is adding to this level of outrageous joy. Each day when the pure moment of realization happens (and it does happen, you just have to be open to finding it) I stop, think about the moment I find myself in, and thank God for it. Thank Him for everything He has given me and for all the good things, people, everything in my life. Sometimes I even thank Him for the not-so-great things because even that is part of the great give-and-take of it all. Because without the bad, how could we recognize the good?

It's weird though because while this doesn't seem so unrealistic to me, others seem far more... I don't know... Pessimistic about it. Like it's so hard to find happiness. The current issue of Real Simple magazine is all about happiness and yet in the Letter-from-the-Editor, she writes about how she basically accepts that happiness is fleeting and that it's not something attainable on the grander scale unless you work hard at it, and how if she didn't take small steps to really find it on the small scale, she'd be in a grump most of the time.

What?


The whole thing had the complete opposite effect on me and left me feeling so sad for her. That she had to work so hard at it made me wonder what her life must be like. I mean, true, I'm not dealing with the stress of being a major magazine editor but still... Damn.  On the flipside, one article in the issue gets closer to my reasoning.

Anyway... I've gotten pretty longwinded here so I'll wrap it up. I'm grateful for everything and everyone in my life because you're all part of what makes me happy and I know I wouldn't be in this place (literally and emotionally) without you.

So thank you, I love you and I wish happiness for all of you. And if there's nothing else making you smile today, try this!

(photo of Kamdyn by Lauren Morton-Farmer)