Happiness

Happy Halloween!! It doesn't even seems like Halloween even though I'm pretty sure all my blood was replaced with sugar tonight...hmmm anyways.

I'm at work and I'm reading a book I got (from work) called the happiness project. I mentioned it in my previous post (which I'm sure you ALL read with wild abandon) tonight as I was reading, I'm only six pages in btw, I read something that really struck a cord in me. Im going to quote it best I can from my iPad.

"Aristotle declared happiness to be the summum bonum, the chief good; people desire other things, such as power or wealth or losing ten pounds (if only!my personal note), because they believe they will lead to happiness, but their real goal is happiness. Blaise pascal argued, all men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. One study showed that, all over the world, when asked what they want most from life--and what they want most for their children--people answered that they want happiness. Even people who can't agree on what it means to be happy can agree that most people can be happier according to their own particular definition.

She goes on to explain that the opposite of happiness is unhappiness, not depression. There is a difference.

I'm trying to be happier but it's hard, especially when you don't have a firm grasp on what it is exactly that makes you happy. Some find comfort in food and mistake it for happiness, when in reality afterwards you often feel guilty and beat yourself up (personally). Others find happiness in running, or crafting, or spending time with family etc. the list goes on because we all find happiness in different ways.

I was asked a few weeks ago by one of the leaders in my church who I look up to a lot. He asked me what I was Up to, what I was living for. I answered my usual, I work a lot, I take a lot of pictures. He said that's not what I mean, what I want to know is what you live FOR. What gets you out of bed in the morning? The truth is, there's not much else in my life besides work, church, photography. Those things can and do bring happiness but there has to be more. I am on a quest to find my happiness.

What makes you happy?