Be Happy

Our pastor and her husband showed a movie after worship service a couple of Sundays ago, a documentary called "Happy."  The movie features interviews with people from around the globe as they define what happiness means in their lives.  Laced with other interviews with researchers, the documentary reminds us that it isn't what we own, it isn't what we do for a living, it isn't the trappings of our society's definition of success that make you happy.  Happiness is attainable simply by looking at our lives through a lens of gratitude.  Taking care of oneself.  Finding meaning as you work to make the world a better place. Having deep, lasting relationships with family and/or friends.  Many of the people in the film who described themselves as happy had very few personal belongings.  Some of them lived, in fact, in what I would normally describe as poverty.  Yet, these same people who I would describe as outwardly poor saw their lives to be inwardly rich.  Even those who had had something precious taken away from them or abandoned a former lifestyle of comfort and wealth saw happiness in their newfound lives.  I hadn't realized quite how much I needed to see that movie in order to bring balance and perspective into my life.  Being happy.  What a concept.