Art by Anna, 8 years old

Where do you seek your happiness?  Is it on payday when your direct deposit reaches your checking account and you know the bills will be covered?  Is it at work when you know you have done an outstanding job on a project?  Is it in the face of your child when he/she gives you that toothless grin that causes you to have a perma grin (permanent smile you just can't wipe off your face for awhile, my husband and I came up with that word when we 1st fell in love with each other)?  Is it when your child runs to you with excitement and joy because he/she found a worm in the dirt or just did something for the very first time?

We seek happiness out in all aspects of our lives.  If you look for it you will find it.  Especially within the passions you hold in your life.  Whether your passion is in your career, your children, your husband, your family, your gardening, your cooking or even how well you clean.  We all have different passions in our lives that make us each unique.  I don't think that happiness is just in one place or in one item that we believe if purchased will just complete us.  I think happiness can be found in anything around us and more importantly any person around us.  If we open our eyes to the joy in our lives and stop concentrating on what needs to be fixed, finished, better or completed and just see what is now and how good it all really is right this second.  We can find happiness in the here and now instead of in the then and there.

Today as you go about your daily routine at work or at home take a moment to think about your passions. What makes you smile and where you seek your happiness?  Give yourself permission to have a permagrin even if that sink is still dripping, or the grass is still not cut or that one project you keep nagging your husband about is still staring you right in the face.  Just take a second and spend a little more time on that passion or with that person or people today and seek out your happiness in your family, friends, and coworkers, loved ones and in God.

Copyright 2010 Lori Hadorn-Disselkamp