“Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.”
–Storm Jameson.
Let’s break this quote down in our exploration of the word and concept of ‘happiness’ as it pertains to our common human experience:
Happiness comes of the Capacity to...
Feel deeply
To feel deeply takes a dedication to both courage and truth: courage to risk that which could break us (temporarily)—courage with the unabashed truth. To feel deeply is the unconditional acceptance of the emotive force of life; come what may, we take it on!
Enjoy simply
There are too many common, bugging distractions in this ordinary life; stuff that invades our space, subliminally at times. When we wise up our awareness and become piqued to the truly important, a world of simplicity blossoms before our eyes. Voila!
Think freely
A world of simplicity dawns to the emergence of clear, free thought. We attain ourselves. We get to be ‘normal’ again or perhaps for that very first time. This must surely be one of the greatest gifts—mental freedom.
Risk life
Is there any riskier life enterprise than giving up what we’d normally term as “life” for the greater good, even a hidden good that’s not easy to see? The happiest risk little for more; they don’t hoard what they can’t keep.
Be needed
Underpinning each other, we live not in a vacuum—interdependence is such an undervalued and underplayed concept in our human experience. We don’t live it.
When we’re needed, and others come to healthily rely on us, we’re blessed with a function; we have a purpose in life. We have an innate, self-evidenced reason for existing—to serve another.
The previous four attributes give ‘being needed’ valuable context. To be needed is to be loved. To be loved is to know love and therefore to love. It’s blissfully requited.
In sum...
Happiness depends on effort. The more we invest the better and more joyous the returns.
© S. J. Wickham, 2009.
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