Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of...BLISS! Not to be confused with perfection.

Okay- typically speaking, the famous phrase in the Declaration of Independence, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness". Which is said to have been paraphrased from an original work of John Locke. In my own personal pursuit of happiness, I stumbled upon some interesting findings. More on this later...

First, let's define happiness. According to the Noah Webster's 1828- HAP'PINESS, n. The agreeable sensations which spring from the enjoyment of good; that state of a being in which his desires are gratified, by an enjoyment of pleasure without pain; felicity; but happiness usually expresses less than felicity, and felicity less than bliss. Ah-ha! What better than happiness? BLISS! Although, realistically speaking bliss is not a feeling that can be enjoyed constantly, so I guess I can settle for a state of mere happiness with peaks of bliss.

Lately, I've experienced some moments that can be described as a state of less than happiness. What do we name those moments? I do not wish to toss a negative term out there, let's keep this blog clean. There will be no pollution found here, to distract from the point at hand- happiness. I have had some reflective time today to think about my past week, month, 2 months! The amount of time my husband has been in Alaska. 2 months now. Ugh, I can't lie - it's been rough. Enough said. So, during my reflective time I am pondering happiness. What does it mean to experience and enjoy it? What does it take to GET it? I think that's just it, many people just don't GET it! I refuse to be one in that number. In my own opinion, the key to happiness IS....(drumroll).... a simple change of perspective. Be positive, think positive, do positive = have positive. One cannot expect happiness at the moment of complaining. It's important to look within. Get to the heart of your discontentions - wait! Is that a word? Discontentness? Discontent. Point being, I've got to be real with myself. Having a few select, positive, trusted people in my life helps that tremendously. *key* I need to be able to make the call and spew my inner thoughts, just to be able to get to the root of the problem. Knowing when I make the call, MOST of my problem is my own skewed thinking. Don't get me wrong, I have happiness right here under my own roof, 24/7. An abundance of it! Sometimes it is blurred or polluted by my negative feelings at the moment. I am so thankful that my trusted sources are willing to help me sort things out. The change is astounding! I cannot tell you enough, it's almost instant. Just looking at a problem from a different angle changes so much. It's the whole "glass is half empty or half full" idea, taken to the extreme. Try it! But you have to go into it willing to accept a new idea. It's easy to dwell, feel sorry for yourself and whine about things. Sometimes I don't want to accept another's perspective simply because I want to continue the pity party. Go right on ahead. I guess it all depends on priorities. To me, happiness is a priority. While there are many other feelings that have their time and place, my ultimate goal in life is to enjoy happiness. There are always going to be a few bumps in the road- trust me I've driven the Yukon both in reality and in theory! Happiness and/or Bliss can be enjoyed on the bumpy roads, too. It's true what they say, you cannot give what you do not possess. That statement does not refer to material possessions in my book. My bottom line- Experience happiness and SPREAD IT!! Makes sense to me.